Taxes on sons SSI benefit

[Ghostriderphoto]

Florida

My 9 year old son receives $227 a month since his father retired. Does he or myself as his representative payee need to claim this money on taxes?

 

[Taxing Matters]

Social Security payments made to the child (that is, the child is the beneficiary) are income to the child. So if there was any tax to pay or return to file for that income, it would be on the child’s return. If the benefit is supplemental security income (SSI), which is a welfare type program, those payments are never subject to tax. If the payments are old age, survivors, or disability payments then whether any portion of the payment is subject to tax depends on what other income the child had. The taxation of Social Security benefits is explained in detail in IRS publication 915.

 

[Janke]

Your title is wrong. Your son does NOT receive SSI since his father retired. Your son gets Social Security Auxiliary benefits or Child's benefits. If your child were himself disabled and you and his father had limited income and resources, then your child would be getting the welfare SSI benefits.

SSI is not subject to income tax. It is a welfare benefit. Social Security can be subject to income tax if your son had other income sources, usually not.

 

[LdiJ]

The rough formula for determining if any SS benefits are taxable, for a single filer, is if 1/2 of the yearly SS benefits plus all of the rest of his income is less than 25k, the benefits are not taxable. The odds of a minor having income above that level are quite slim.