IRS instructions for form 8615 state:
Who Must File
Form 8615 must be filed for any child who meets all of the following conditions.
- The child had more than $2,200 of unearned income.
- The child is required to file a tax return.
- The child either:
- Was under age 18 at the end of 2021,
- Was age 18 at the end of 2021 and didn’t have earned income that was more than half of the child's support, or
- Was a full-time student at least age 19 and under age 24 at the end of 2021 and didn’t have earned income that was more than half of the child's support.
(Earned income is defined later. Support is defined below.)
- At least one of the child's parents was alive at the end of 2021.
- The child doesn’t file a joint return for 2021.
For these rules, the term “child” includes a legally adopted child and a stepchild. These rules apply whether or not the child is a dependent. These rules don’t apply if neither of the child’s parents were living at the end of the year.
Support. Your support includes all amounts spent to provide the child with food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental care, recreation, transportation, and similar necessities. To figure your child’s support, count support provided by you, your child, and others. However, a scholarship received by your child isn’t considered support if your child is a full-time student. For details, see Pub. 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.
The question I am having is what reasonably constitutes
"earned income that was more than half of the child's support"?
If a 23 year old student had $1,000 of earned income for the year, can it be argued that his earned income provided more than half his support? How about less, or more? Where does one draw the line? And if child chooses not to file form 8615 because he believes that his earned income provided more than half his support, is that an automatic audit trigger? (The unearned income in question is all from Unemployment)
What if he puts as his main occupation the source of his self-employment earned income, even though the bulk of his income was from Unemployment Insurance, and he was enrolled in Yeshiva and received a Pell grant?