Every year the question comes up:  My son (daughter) is 17 and in school and worked a part-time job this year.  Does he/she need to file a tax return and can I still claim him/her as a dependent?  The answer goes like this:  For the 2010 tax year if your child is under age 24 and a full time student that lived with you or lived on campus (if their permanent home is your home) you can claim them as your dependent.  They will need to file a tax return if they earned more than $5700 and may want to file a tax return if there was any federal or state tax withheld from their wages.  Remember that if you claim them as your dependent they will not be allowed to claim their own exemption on their income tax return.

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