Turbotax forcing Form 8615 for unemployment income - tax for certain children with unearned income?

Thanks for explaining that! I was so confused because the TurboTax interface kept pushing me toward Form 8615 when I answered truthfully about my income sources. So if I understand correctly, since I cannot be claimed as a dependent (I provide more than half my own support and live independently), I shouldn't need Form 8615 regardless of how much of my income is "earned" vs "unearned"?

That's exactly right! Form 8615 only applies to individuals who CAN be claimed as dependents. Since you provide more than half your own support and live independently, you don't meet the dependency requirements, so Form 8615 doesn't apply to you. The confusion in TurboTax likely stems from how the questions are sequenced. When you indicate that much of your income is "unearned" (unemployment), it might be triggering the kiddie tax form without fully considering your dependency status first. I'd recommend answering "yes" to supporting yourself, since you do support yourself overall, even if some of that support comes from unemployment benefits. This should bypass the Form 8615 requirement and accurately reflect your tax situation.

How does taxr.ai work with unemployment income specifically? TurboTax keeps giving me weird prompts about my unemployment too, and I'm worried I'll mess something up or get audited.

That sounds interesting but I'm skeptical. Does it just give general advice or does it actually look at your specific numbers? And is it secure to upload your tax info to some random site?

It works really well with unemployment income because it identifies how TurboTax is categorizing that income and whether it's affecting your filing status correctly. The tool specifically looks for situations where unemployment is being mischaracterized for dependency purposes. Regarding your questions about security and specificity - it analyzes your specific tax situation, not just general advice. You can upload documents or enter information manually, and they use bank-level encryption for security. It's not just "some random site" - they're a legitimate tax analysis service used by thousands of people confused by tax software. They helped me identify exactly where TurboTax was leading me down the wrong path with my unearned income.

How does this Claimyr thing actually work? I thought it was impossible to get through to the IRS without waiting like 2+ hours these days.

Yeah right. No way this actually works. The IRS phone system is completely broken. I've tried calling them like 5 times this year and either get disconnected or told to call back later. If this worked everyone would be using it.

It works by using their system to navigate the IRS phone tree and wait on hold for you. When an agent picks up, you get a call connecting you directly to them. So instead of personally waiting on hold for hours, you just get alerted when an agent is actually available. I was super skeptical too! I had tried calling the IRS three times and kept getting the "call volume too high" message or disconnected after 40+ minutes. But with Claimyr I got through in about 20 minutes. They basically have a system that keeps redialing and navigating the phone tree until they get through, then they connect you. It's not magic - they're just handling the frustrating part of the process for you.

This makes so much sense now! I think I was overthinking the questions because unemployment feels different than a regular job, but from a dependency perspective, I'm still supporting myself. Did you end up just answering "yes" to the question about supporting yourself with earned income even though unemployment was part of your support?

Yes, I answered "yes" to supporting myself with earned income, even though a good chunk of my income was unemployment. The key is understanding what TurboTax is really asking - they're trying to determine dependency status, not doing a technical breakdown of income types. For dependency test purposes, the important thing is that you're supporting yourself (versus being supported by parents), not the technical classification of each income source. Once I answered "yes" to supporting myself, TurboTax correctly skipped Form 8615 and everything else fell into place. Form 8615 is specifically for children/students who ARE dependents and have unearned income above certain thresholds. Since you're not a dependent, that form shouldn't apply to you regardless of how much of your income is "earned" vs "unearned.

No, unemployment benefits are definitely considered unearned income for tax purposes. Even though you might have paid into the system while working, the IRS classifies unemployment compensation as unearned income - similar to interest, dividends, or other income you didn't directly work for. This distinction matters for things like the Earned Income Tax Credit (which requires earned income), but in OP's case, the key issue isn't about earned vs. unearned income - it's about dependency status. Since they support themselves and can't be claimed as a dependent, Form 8615 wouldn't apply regardless of how their income is classified.