Income Tax 2022: Do minors need to declare?

Minors may be required to file an income tax return. If the minor is not included as a dependent in the statement of one of the parents, and also complies with at least one of the conditions that compel a person to submit IR 2022.

When it comes to children or adolescents, the most common cases are when child support was received over R$28,559.70 in the last year or a minor inherited property more than R$300,000 from a deceased relative. Being under the age of 18 does not prevent or exempt a teenager or child from making a statement to the Federal Revenue.

There are cases where the minor does not have to declare, but it may be more interesting for him to make a separate declaration than to place him as a dependent of his parents. See more details below.

Placing a child as a dependent can increase IR if they have income

Most parents declare their children dependent to take advantage of deductions allowed by law, such as health and education expenses.

However, when declaring them in this way, parents are obliged to include the final income of the children in the declaration. These amounts will be added to the parents’ income, which may cause them to pay more taxes.

For example, consider a divorced couple in which the father is responsible for paying child support and the mother has legal custody of the child.

The mother normally declares the child a dependent and incurs school and medical expenses (unless it is a legal obligation of the father along with alimony). That way, if you choose the full declaration form, the mother can take advantage of these statutory deductions to reduce her tax or increase her reimbursement.

The problem is that alimony will have to be declared by the mother and will be added to employment earnings.

In this case, the higher income will likely result in the mother’s declaration falling into a higher tax bracket. Perhaps the deductions for the child’s education and health do not cover the tax gap when the pension is added to the total income.

Simulate your child’s declaration separately or as a dependent

The way to do this is to simulate. First of all, fill in your statement with your child as an addict. Write down which is the best result, whether with the complete or simplified model.

Then remove your child from your statement. Exclude the addict’s record, deductible income and expenses. Again, note the result.

Then explain to your child separately, no longer as your dependent. Minors’ earnings will be taxed separately. In addition, it will be possible to enter health and education expenditures in the declaration. See what the result is for the full and simplified model. Write the best.

Finally, add up the results of your child’s separate declaration with the result of your declaration without him as a dependent. Then compare this sum with the initial simulation of your expression that includes the child as your dependent. Choose the format that provides the least tax payable or a higher refund.