Q. My child is a student attending college and working part-time. Does he have to file a tax return?

A. Whether he has to file a tax return for 1996 depends on his filing status, age, and gross income. Assuming he is not blind, he must file a return if he can be claimed as a dependent on another person's return, he had any unearned income, and his total income was more than $650. Examples of unearned income are taxable interest, dividends, capital gains, and trust distributions. A dependent with earned income must file a return only if his or her gross income is more than his or her standard deduction amount. Examples of earned income are wages, tips, and salaries. For more details, refer to Tax Topic 351, Who Must File, or the instructions in your tax package, or Publication 929, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents, or Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

Q. Can Form 1040EZ be used to claim the earned income credit?

A. The earned income credit can be claimed on Form 1040EZ, however, several requirements must be met to use Form 1040EZ. If you do not meet all of them, you must use Form 1040A or Form 1040. For additional information on the requirements, refer to Tax Topic 352, Which Form - 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ.

Q. I'm single, live alone, and have no dependents. Can I file as head of household?

A. No. To use this filing status, you must have paid over half the cost of keeping up a home for you and a child or other qualifying person for over half the year. For detailed information, refer to Tax Topic 353, What is Your Filing Status, or Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

Q. Although we supported our unmarried, 19-year-old daughter, she spent most of 1996 away from home at school. Can we claim her as a dependent?

A. Yes. The time your child spends at school or on vacation counts as time lived with you. For additional information, refer to Tax Topic 354, Dependents or Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, and Publication 929, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents.

Q. What criteria must be met to claim an individual as a dependent?

A. If you want to claim someone as your dependent, there are five tests which must be met:

1.Member of Household or Relationship Test

2.Citizenship Test

3.Joint Return Test

4.Gross Income Test

5.Support Test

Member of Household or Relationship Test: A person must live with you for the entire tax year as a member of your household or be related to you.

A person is not considered a member of your household if, at any time during the tax year, your relationship with that person violates local law. The Form 1040 and 1040A instruction booklets contain a listing of all relatives who may qualify under the relationship test. Your spouse is never considered your dependent.

Citizenship Test: Your dependent must be a U.S. citizen or resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico for some part of the tax year.

Joint Return Test: Generally, you are not allowed to claim a person as a dependent if he or she files a joint return. However, you may claim a married dependent who is filing a joint return solely to claim a refund of tax withheld. This exception applies if neither the dependent nor the dependent's spouse is required to file a return and no tax liability exists for either spouse on separate returns.

Gross Income Test: Generally, you may not claim as a dependent, a person who had gross income of $2,550 or more for 1996. There are two exceptions to the gross income test. If your child is under age 19 at the end of the tax year or a full-time student under the age of 24, the gross income test does not apply.

Support Test: To claim someone as your dependent, you must provide more than half of that person's total support during the year. A special rule applies to children of divorced or separated parents.

If you claim a dependent who was born before December 1, 1996, you must include that dependent's social security number on your tax return or you may be subject to a penalty. For more information on dependents, refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, and Publication 929, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents.

Q. What can I do to make sure I will not owe the IRS on my 1997 income tax return?

A. You can either increase the amount of income tax withheld from your pay or make estimated tax payments for 1997. You may change the amount of income tax withheld from your pay by filing a new Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate. Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, has a worksheet to see if you need to make estimated tax payments. For more details, refer to Tax Topic 355, Estimated Tax, or Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.

Q. My husband passed away in 1996, and I will be filing a joint return. Are any special return notations required to indicate my husband is deceased?

A. If you are a surviving spouse filing a joint return and no personal representative has been appointed, you should sign the return and write in the signature area, "filing as surviving spouse." The final return should have the word "Deceased," the decedent's name, and the date of death written across the top of the return. For additional information, refer to Tax Topic 356, Decedents.

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