To claim your child as your dependent, your child must meet either the qualifying child test or
the qualifying relative test:
• To meet the qualifying child test, your child must be younger than you and either
younger than 19 years old or be a “student” younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year.
• There’s no age limit if your child is “permanently and disabled” or meets the qualifying relative test.
In addition to meeting the qualifying child or qualifying relative test, you can claim that
person as a dependent only if these three tests are met:
1. Dependent taxpayer test
2. Citizen or resident test, and
3. Joint return test

An unmarried dependent student must file a tax return if his or her earned or unearned income exceeds certain limits. To find these limits, refer to Dependents under Who Must File in Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction and Filing Information. You can also refer to Do I Need to File a Tax Return? to see if your income requires you to file.
Even if you don’t have to file a federal income tax return, you should file if you can get money
back (for example, you had federal income tax withheld from your pay or you qualify for a refundable tax credit). See Who Should File in Publication 501 for more examples.

No, one of the conditions of your installment agreement is that the IRS will automatically apply any refund (or overpayment) due to you against the taxes you owe. Because your refund isn’t applied toward your regular monthly payment, continue making your installment agreement payments as scheduled.
If your refund exceeds your total balance due on all outstanding tax liabilities including
accruals, you’ll receive a refund of the excess unless you owe certain other past-due amounts,
such as state income tax, child support, a student loan, or other federal nontax obligations which are offset against any refund. For more information on these non-IRS refund offsets,
you can call the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) at 800-304-3107 (toll-free).

Generally, to qualify for head of household filing status, you must have a qualifying child or a
dependent. However, a custodial parent may be eligible to claim head of household filing
status based on a child even if he or she released a claim to exemption for the child.
See Noncustodial parent is claiming an exemption for my child; do I still qualify as head of
household?

It depends on the type of mistake you made:
• Many mathematical errors are caught during the processing of the tax return and corrected by the IRS, so you may not need to correct these mistakes.
• If you didn’t claim the correct filing status or you need to change your income, deductions, or credits, you should file an amended or corrected return using Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
When filing an amended or corrected return:
• Include copies of any forms and/or schedules that you’re changing or didn’t include with your original return.
• To avoid delays, file Form 1040-X only after you’ve filed your original return. Generally, for a credit or refund, you must file Form 1040-X within 3 years after the date you
timely filed your original return or within 2 years after the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.
• Allow the IRS up to 16 weeks to process the amended return.

A split refund lets you divide your refund, in any proportion you want, and direct deposit the funds into up to three different accounts with U.S. financial institutions. Use Part I of Form 8888, Allocation of Refund (Including Savings Bond Purchases) to request to have your refund
split. The accounts must be in your name. You may also use part or all of your refund to buy up to $5,000 in paper or electronic U.S. Series I Savings Bonds for yourself or someone else by using Part II of Form 8888.

For highlights of the tax changes for the current tax year, refer to the “What’s New” section of
the following:
Individuals – Instructions for Form 1040 and 1040-SR.
Businesses – Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide , or the instructions of your current business tax forms.