Gunnip Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Child’

IRS has $1 billion of unclaimed refunds

Friday, March 9th, 2012

refund checkThe IRS announced that more than $1 billion in tax refunds for the year 2008 remain unclaimed by a million taxpayers who failed to file a return for that year. The tax law provides a three-year period for claiming a refund when no return is filed. That means these individuals must file a tax return for 2008 no later than Tuesday, April 17, 2012, or their refunds will be lost.

You might know someone who was below the filing threshold, yet they had withholding that they are entitled to receive as a refund.  This is common when children have a summer job, they don’t make enough that they are required to file, but their employer withheld federal and/or state income tax.

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Does my child need to file a return for their summer job?

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Does your child have a job this summer?  Are you wondering whether he/she will have to file a tax return?

The answer depends on several factors, including the amount of W-2 wages, self-employment income, tips, interest, dividends and stock sales.  For instance, if wages are the only source of income, your child can generally earn up to $5,800 during 2011 before a federal return is necessary.

However, most employers will withhold federal and/or state income tax, therefore a return may be required even when the wages earned are lower than the filing requirement.  That’s because filing is the only way to claim a refund of overpaid taxes.

Additionally, your child may have a state filing requirement even if he/she does not have a federal filing requirement.  This is due to not all states follow the federal threshold for filing.

 

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