Filing taxes as a dependent

[evazan]

Sorry for making another tax related question but I have searched this forum and haven't found anything related to this. About half of my earnings have came from a job which I file a W2 for and the other half has come from poker and I am still a dependent of my parents. I've been doing some research lately about filing taxes and found this article from the 2006 tax season, http://money.aol.com/bankrate/taxes/...8125209990001.

The thing that stood out was "If a child (or any unmarried dependent younger than 65) has unearned income of more than $850, that person has to file. A return is also required if the dependent's earned income is more than $5,150."

So my question is, if as long as I am a dependent does that mean that I don't even need to file as long as my income is under 5000 dollars? Thanks.

[TheOpus]

You want to read IRS Publication 17.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/index.html

[evazan]

I read the section about filing as a dependent and it said the same thing, "If a child (or any unmarried dependent younger than 65) has unearned income of more than $850, that person has to file. A return is also required if the dependent's earned income is more than $5,150." This statement to me seems to make it clear that I don't even have to file a tax return but I am going to be filing the W2 from my job. I really have no idea if I need to report my poker earnings if they total less then 5 grand. I have essentially no knowledge on taxes and I am guessing that your reply is a sarcastic remark to that fact, so if you could just tell me what someone in my situation should do or point me to the section in those hundreds of pages I should read I would really appreciate it.

[TheOpus]

It wasn't meant to be sarcastic. It was meant to be helpful. But clearly THAT didn't work, so I'll try again. Yes, if you made under $5,150 you do not have to file. However, if you received a W2 and had federal income tax withheld from your pay, you can file to get that returned. Your poker earnings are income that has not been taxed yet. Thus you would need to file to report that income. So although you made under the $5,150, a portion of it was not taxed and you will need to file because it is earned income (as opposed to unearned). Was THIS more helpful? (<--not sarcastic.) I hope so (<--still not sarcastic.)

[evazan]

Sorry for being hasty in my judgment and thank you for your replies. So by what your saying you would only not file if all of your wages are taxed W2?

[jively]

No, I think what they are saying is you should file if:

A) You owe tax.
B) You don't owe any tax, and you are due a refund from W-2 income where tax was withheld.

If you are under the thresholds, and owe no tax, and are due no refund, then you don't have to file.

If you are filing, you should report your gambling income correctly, with winning sessions and losing sessions separated and not netted.

-Tom

[TheOpus]

Kind of. If you received a W2 (that shows you paid taxes) for all of your earnings/income and the earnings/income is under $5150 (and you're claimed on someone else's taxes as a dependent) you are not required to file (but if you do file you will be refunded the amount that you had already paid in taxes).

If you have earned income (from poker or elsewhere) that hasn't been taxed, you're supposed to file a return to declare that income.

If your taxed income and poker income together are below $5150 (and you're claimed as a dependent on someone else's taxes), you shouldn't owe anything else even having not paid taxes on the poker earnings.

As I re-read my response here, I'm thinking it might sound confusing. And that would actually make sense, considering we're talking about IRS rules. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] If I try to clarify myself at this point, I'd probably only make it worse. So, does any of that make sense and/or help? I hope it does. Was there a reason you didn't want to file? Or was it that you were concerned that if you claimed your poker earnings you'd owe? Just wondering.