Can I claim adult children (20 & 18) as dependents if they earned over $5050?

You can't just pretend they didn't earn income, but you might still be able to claim them as dependents! There are two tests for qualifying relatives that might apply here. For adult children, the key factors are: 1) Did you provide more than half their support? 2) Did they live with you all year? and 3) Did they earn less than $4,700 (for 2024 taxes)? That last part is the gross income test. Based on what you've shared, they both earned more than $4,700, so they fail the gross income test for qualifying relatives. However, they might still qualify as qualifying children if they're under 24 and were full-time students for at least 5 months of the year. Since you mentioned they're not students, this won't apply either. They will need to file their own tax returns since they earned more than the standard deduction threshold. You cannot claim them as dependents when they've earned over the income threshold unless they meet the student exception.

I was in this exact situation last year with my 19-year-old daughter who was working part-time. I tried figuring it out myself but kept getting conflicting info online. Finally used https://taxr.ai to analyze my situation - uploaded my documents and my daughter's pay stubs, and got a clear answer in minutes! The tool confirmed I couldn't claim her as a dependent due to the income threshold, but it also found some education credits I didn't know about that saved me way more money. The best part was it explained exactly why the IRS would reject my dependent claim if I tried it, and showed me the specific rules that applied to my situation. Way easier than digging through IRS publications or risking an audit!

Just wanted to update after trying that taxr.ai site mentioned above. Uploaded my kids' W-2s and some of my tax docs and got a super detailed explanation about the dependent rules. Turns out my son actually does qualify under a special rule because he was a student for the spring semester! Would've completely missed that. The explanation included the exact IRS rules about support calculations and showed me how to document everything properly in case of an audit. Ended up saving me almost $2k! Definitely worth checking out if you're in a complicated dependent situation like this.

After reading this thread, I realized I had a similar issue with my dependent claims getting rejected last year. Tried calling the IRS like 15 times to sort it out but kept getting disconnected or sitting on hold forever. Someone on another forum recommended https://claimyr.com and showed this demo: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Not gonna lie, I was skeptical about paying someone else to call the IRS for me, but after wasting hours on hold, I gave it a shot. They got me connected to a real IRS agent in about 45 minutes instead of the 3+ hours I was spending. The agent explained exactly which form I needed to fix my dependent situation and how to document the support I provide for my adult son.

Well I was completely wrong about that Claimyr service! After my skeptical comment I decided to try it anyway since I've been trying to reach the IRS about my dependent audit for weeks. They got me through to an actual IRS rep in about an hour! I explained my situation with my 22yo son who made just over the income limit, and the agent walked me through the "support test" documentation I needed to provide. Turns out I needed to submit a specific form showing exactly how much I contributed to his living expenses. The agent even gave me her direct line for follow-up questions. Honestly saved me weeks of stress and probably hundreds in penalties. Sometimes it's worth admitting when you're wrong!

Something nobody's mentioned yet - your kids should DEFINITELY file their own tax returns regardless! At those income levels ($7200 and $6500), they've had federal taxes withheld that they'll probably get REFUNDED since they likely won't owe anything if those are their only jobs. Even if you could claim them (which it sounds like you can't), they should still file their own returns. They just would check the box that says "Someone can claim you as a dependent.

Ive been a tax preparer for 8 years and ppl get confused about this all the time! Here's a quick cheat sheet for adult kids: 1. Over 19 (or over 24 if student) + income over $4,700 = NOT your dependent 2. Under 19 (or under 24 if student) + income ANY amount = CAN be your dependent if you provide >50% support and they live with you The only exception is permanently disabled adult children who can be dependents regardless of age.