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Teen parent filing taxes?

Hi, I am 16 and I just got my first job in May of this year and I have a 15 month old son. I live in my mom's house and she usually pays for everything but she tells me that I can't claim my son as an exemption because I'm not technically head of household and because I'm a minor. So when I got my job I claimed "0". At the end of the year can I claim the child tax credit and how do I file my taxes and everything?

Because you live with your mother, your mother pays the bills for the most part, and you are under 19, you are still a "qualifying child" of your mother for 2007. Since you are a qualifying child, you yourself cannot claim a child. So on this part, your mother is correct. She will be able to claim you and your child, and may receive deductions and credits based on her dependents.

You should file your taxes using Form 1040EZ. You check the box showing you can be claimed as a dependent, and use the worksheet attached to the form to figure your deduction.

You did your W-4 correctly.

You would not be able to file as Head of Household since it is your mothers home. If you can prove to the IRS that you supported more then 50% of your child, which includes food, clothing, utilities, rent, etc..then yes you can claim the child, but if your mother has basically supported both of you, then no you cannot claim him. Depending on how much money you make at the end of the year you can file your taxes as single and not claim yourself and still receive a refund and your mother can still claim you and the baby. If you claim the baby and your mother also claims him, the IRS can open up an investigation, and basically you both will have to show what each of you supplied to the child throughout the year.

If you want to start claiming head of household and claim your child as a dependant, then you need to move out and fully support you and your baby.

Your mother claiming the child is a way for her to recoup some of the money she has put out supporting the 2 of you. Why would you want to prevent her from doing this?
She's pretty close to right. Since you are living with her and you are not paying over half of your own support, she can claim you as a dependent, so you can't claim yourself whether or not she actually claims you. And since you are a dependent, you can't claim a dependent. Your mom can claim your son as a dependent and get the child tax credit for him. She'll get the child tax credit for you also as long as you don't turn 17 before the end of the year.

You'll file your taxes as single and as a dependent. You are not head of household, not because you are a minor, but because you aren't paying over half the cost of supporting a household for the year for a dependent - that's required to claim head of household.

If you want to be able to claim yourself and your son, move out on your own and support yourself, then your mom won't be able to claim you.
The way you file would depend on various circumstances. (1) What is your gross income for the year (2) What would be your earned income credit claiming the child (3) How much would the dependency exemption effect your refund (4) Do you need to take the credit for child care expenses (professional daycare is the most common).

You would be better off asking a tax professional how it would best benefit both you and your mother.
Rule for Your Own Exemption. You can take one exemption for yourself unless you can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer. If another taxpayer is entitled to claim you as a dependent, you cannot take an exemption for yourself even if the other taxpayer does not actually claim you as a dependent.

Your mother can claim you as dependent, so you can鈥檛 claim your own exemption. Your mother can also claim your son as her dependent. Your mother is eligible for child tax credit for your son and for you (if you are not 17 at the end of the year).
You've got a bit of an interesting situation. Under the circumstances, you would not be considered head of household, but not because you are a minor, but insted because you did not provide 50% of the total household support for the year. If you are not married at the end of the tax year, then your filing status would be 'single'.

In order for your mom to claim you as a dependent (qualifying child), several tests need to be met. (I'm assuming your mom is not a dependent herself. I'm also assuming you are not married, and you are a US citizen or resident of US, Canada, or mexico).

Let's look at them tests one by one.

1> Relationship. Your mom meets this test for you.
2> Residency - You've lived with your mom over 1/2 the year, so your mom meets this test for you
3> Age. Since you'e under 19 (or 24 and a student), your mom meets this test for you
4> Self-support. Since you don't supply over 50% of your own support, you mom meets this test for you.

Based on the tests, you are your mother's dependent, and therefore cannot claim a dependent yourself. Your mother can also claim your child, since if you run the same tests above with your mother and your child, she also qualifies to claim your grandchild as a dependent.

Interestingly, though, there is a way to claim the child tax credit for your child. However, it would require your mother NOT to claim your child on her taxes. IF she choses not to claim your child, then although you still CANNOT claim your child as a dependent, you can claim the $1000 child tax credit by filing form 8901 with your tax return. Here's a link to the form. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8901.pdf...

I want to emphesise that although it is possible to claim the child tax credit using the form above (if your mom agrees not to claim your child), typically it isn't the best way to go, as usualy your mother would lose an exemption ($3400 income reduction in 2007), and she would lose the child tax credit ($1000 tax credit), and reduce or eliminate possible Earned Income Credit.

In short, she'd mostly likly lose more money than you would recieve. In rare circumstances, such as if she has very high income it would make sense to run the calculations both ways and see which way it works out better.

Hopefully this helps. In almost all circumstances, the smartest thing from a tax perspective would be to have her claim both you and your child on her taxes.

Feel free to follow up with additonal questions.
H&R Block tax professional