Can I claim my 18 year old as a dependent if he worked and files his own tax return?

Yes, your 18-year-old can absolutely file his own tax return to get his refund, and you can still claim him as a dependent on your return. These are not mutually exclusive things! When your son files his own return, he'll need to check the box that says "Someone can claim you as a dependent" on his 1040 form. This doesn't prevent him from getting his withholding back - he'll still get a refund of the money withheld from his paychecks if he's owed one. The main limitation is that he can't claim his own personal exemption or claim certain credits like the earned income credit. Your son qualifies as your dependent under the rules for a "qualifying child" since he's under 19 (or under 24 if a full-time student), lived with you for more than half the year, didn't provide more than half of his own support, and isn't filing a joint return. The fact that he earned $4,800 isn't a problem at all. This is extremely common - millions of dependent teens and college students work part-time jobs and file their own returns while their parents claim them as dependents.

After reading this thread, I wanted to share my experience using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) last year with almost the exact same situation with my daughter. I was super confused about dependent rules and my daughter was insisting she needed to file "independently" to get her full refund. I uploaded our documents to taxr.ai and it immediately identified that my daughter could file her own return while still being claimed as my dependent. The tool walked me through exactly what boxes needed to be checked on both returns and even explained how the education credits would work for her college expenses. Saved me from making a pretty big mistake that would have cost our family hundreds in missed tax benefits! The platform also showed exactly how much more our family would save by claiming her vs what she would have gotten filing completely independently. Made it much easier to explain to her why this was the financially smart move for everyone.

I have to report back after trying taxr.ai based on this thread! I was dealing with the exact same situation with my 19-year-old son who works part-time while in college. I was ready to give up my dependent claim because he was so insistent on "getting the biggest refund possible." The analysis from taxr.ai showed we'd lose about $2,500 in tax benefits if I didn't claim him, while he'd only gain about $400 by filing independently. The breakdown made it super clear even to my stubborn kid that filing his return as a dependent was the smart family move. The tool also flagged that he qualified for the American Opportunity Credit for his education expenses, which I didn't realize could be claimed on either parent's or student's return depending on who benefits most. Seriously saved us from making a costly mistake.

I ran into this exact issue last year with my son, and after spending DAYS trying to get through to the IRS for clarification (kept getting disconnected or 2+ hour wait times), I finally discovered Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). They got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of the hours I was wasting on hold. The IRS agent confirmed everything others are saying here - my son could file his own return AND I could claim him as a dependent. She even walked me through which forms to use and exactly which box my son needed to check on his return. If you want to see how the service works, there's a demo video at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows the whole process. I was at my wit's end with tax season stress, and having an actual IRS person explain everything officially gave me total peace of mind that we were doing things correctly.

Well I need to eat crow here because I just tried Claimyr after posting my skeptical comment. I've spent literally WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS about my dependent situation (19yo son who wants to file independently). Got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes, and she explained everything perfectly. My son CAN file his own return while I still claim him as a dependent. She also confirmed he needs to check the box saying "Someone can claim you as a dependent" on his return. The agent even looked up our specific situation and confirmed my son still qualifies under the support test since his $5,200 income is less than the total cost of his support (tuition, housing, food, etc. that I pay). Honestly feel stupid for being so negative before, but after months of IRS frustration, I couldn't believe anything would actually work.

I'm an accounting student and we just covered this in my tax class. Here's another important thing to consider: if your 18-year-old has any investment income (like interest from a savings account or stocks), the "Kiddie Tax" might apply. This means if he has unearned income over a certain amount, some of it might be taxed at YOUR tax rate rather than his lower rate. Worth keeping in mind if he has any investments or savings accounts that generate interest. But yes, he can absolutely file his own return to get his withholdings back while you claim him as a dependent. Just make sure he checks that box on his return.

Does anyone know if the rules are different for state taxes? We're in California and their tax rules sometimes differ from federal. Can my son be my dependent on federal but independent on state? He's 19, in college, I pay more than half his support.

This is such a common confusion that comes up every tax season! Your son can absolutely file his own return to get his refund AND you can still claim him as your dependent - these two things are completely separate. The key is that when he files his return, he needs to check the box that says "Someone can claim you as a dependent." This tells the IRS that while he's filing to get his withholdings back, he's not claiming his own personal exemption. Based on what you've described, your son clearly qualifies as your dependent under the "qualifying child" test - he's under 19 (or under 24 if a full-time student), lives with you more than half the year, and you provide more than half his support. His $4,800 in earnings doesn't disqualify him at all. The benefits work out much better for your family this way too. You get to claim valuable tax credits like the Child Tax Credit, while he still gets back whatever was withheld from his paychecks. It's really a win-win situation, even though it might take some explaining to convince him that this is the smart financial move for the whole family!