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My daughter is a college student and has money left over every semester from her scholarships and Pell Grant (which the school refunds to her). I've done Worksheet 1-1 and the only taxable portion of it is $1465. Does she even have to file at all? I just cannot seem to find then answer to this in any of the IRS's billions of pages of information!
Added: The total of her scholarships/grant for 2015 was $10,287.
Last edited by Luvvarkansas; 03-24-2016 at 01:33 PM..
it doesnt hurt to file... i mean filing is not the same as owing taxes...
but fafsa requires tax filing i think since it is income based. if not filed, they may not give her money for next semester? unless you claimed her as a dependent? i forget how that works
at least with that little of "income", the tax hit would be low if any. use it as a chance to teach her how to do her own taxes?
When I was in college, which was 15ish years ago, I was required to file if I made any income over $600. So I actually had to file in 2 states, because I had "earned income" in my home state from a job worked over the summer, and also had to file in my college state, because I had received a housing grant for $900, which counts as "unearned income". Fairly complicated, so I not only filed, but had to hire an tax preparer to help me get all the paperwork right. I think I paid under a dollar in tax on it.
It was the most complicated my taxes have ever been in my adult life, over a measly $900 grant.
Looking at the IRS links posted, it looks like that number has raised to $1050 now. If your daughter has $1465 in taxable "unearned income", I would say a return probably needs to be filed.
Incidentally, it says "if the gross income is more than the amount listed in the following table". Gross, not taxable. You said your daughter actually had $10,287, which is definitely more than $1050. I don't know if you would normally count all of that or not, but in this case, either number is higher than $1050, so I would think she should need to file.
Thanks to you all...I finally just started a return for her on FreeTaxUSA and when I got through she didn't owe any money, so I'm not going to bother filing. (I also used the handy link provided by Iggier and it also said she didn't have to file....just making doubly sure, I don't want to mess with the IRS!)
Someone mentioned the FAFSA....there is a place where you say whether you have filed, are going to file, or are not going to file. I guess this year we will just say "not going to file".
For the ones who said maker her do them herself.....My daughter drives 2 hours/day back and forth to school and also has lots of art projects to do at home, so I take care of this for her for now. When the time comes for her to be able to do them herself I will know and will do so. This is what works for us, for now.
Thanks again, everyone.
(FYI, only the portions of scholarships/grants that are not used for qualified educations expenses, i.e., tuition, books, etc., are taxable, and they are apparently considered "earned income", as that is where the software put it. In case anyone was wondering and just wanted to know.)
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