You normally must pay income tax on your investment income. That is also true for a child who must file a federal tax return. If a child can’t file his or her own return, their parent or guardian is normally responsible for filing their tax return.

Special tax rules apply to certain children with investment income. Those rules may affect the tax rate and the way you report the income.

Here are four facts from the IRS that you should know about your child’s investment income:

1. Investment income normally includes interest, dividends and capital gains. It also includes other unearned income, such as from a trust.
2. Special rules apply if your child’s total investment income is more than $2,000. Your tax rate may apply to part of that income instead of your child’s tax rate.
3. If your child’s total interest and dividend income was less than $10,000 in 2013, you may be able to include the income on your tax return. If you make this choice, the child does not file a return. Form 8814, Parents’ Election to Report Child’s Interest and Dividends.
4. Children whose investment income was $10,000 or more in 2013 must file their own tax return. File Form 8615, Tax for Certain Children Who Have Investment Income, along with the child’s federal tax return.

   Starting in 2013, a child whose tax is figured on Form 8615 may be subject to the Net Investment Income Tax. NIIT is a 3.8% tax on the lesser of either net investment income or the excess of the child’s modified adjusted gross income that is over a threshold amount. Use Form 8960, Net Investment Income Tax, to figure this tax. For more on this topic, visit IRS.gov.

For more on this topic, see Publication 929, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents. Visit IRS.gov to get this booklet and IRS forms. You may also have them mailed to you by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Additional IRS Resources:

• Tax Topic 553 – Tax on a Child’s Investment Income
• Find out if Net Investment Income Tax applies to you
• Questions and Answers on the Net Investment Income Tax
• 1040 Central

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced the availability of the winter 2014 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin, which features preliminary data for individual income tax returns filed for Tax Year 2012.

The Statistics of Income (SOI) Division produces the SOI Bulletin on a quarterly basis. Articles included in the publication provide the most recent data available from various tax and information returns filed by U.S. taxpayers. This issue includes articles on the following topics:

Individual Income Tax Returns, Preliminary Data, 2012: Taxpayers filed 145 million individual income tax returns for 2012. The adjusted gross income (AGI) reported on these returns totaled $9 trillion, a 9 percent increase from the previous year. Taxable income rose almost 12 percent to more than $6 trillion, accordingly, total income tax increased 15 percent to $1.2 trillion. Although taxpayers reported $29 billion in alternative minimum tax, an increase of almost 8 percent compared to the prior year, the number of returns reporting the AMT fell one percent.

Sales of Capital Assets Panel Data Reported on Individual Tax Returns, 2004-2007:  The SOI panel study of individual taxpayer trends in taxes and income showed the following increases from 2004 through 2007.

• Net gains and losses increased 84.7 percent, from $496.3 billion to $916.5 billion.
• Capital gains rose 69.2 percent to $1.1 trillion during this same period.

For all 4 years of the study, taxpayers realized most combined short- and long-term net gains less losses from passthrough entities (partnerships, S corporations, and fiduciaries).

Split-Interest Trusts, Filing Year 2012:  Tax preparers filed 113,688 Forms 5227 to report the financial activities of split-interest trusts to the IRS for Filing Year 2012, a 3.4-percent decline from 2011. Split-interest trusts reported 16,500 distributions of principal ($2.5 billion)  and 15,580 distributions of income ($1,793.7 billion) for the year. Asset contributions rose to more than $5.2 billion, a 74 percent increase over the previous year. Charitable remainder trusts continued to be the most common split-interest trust, accounting for 93 percent of the returns filed.

Nonprofit Charitable Organizations, 2010: Tax exempt public charities (501(c)(3) organizations) filed almost 270,000 Forms 990 and 990-EZ and reported $2.9 trillion in assets for Tax Year 2010, an increase of 9 percent from the previous year. These organizations reported $1.6 trillion in total revenue, nearly three-quarters ($1.2 trillion) of which came from program services. They reported $1.5 trillion in expenses.

The Statistics of Income Bulletin is available for download at IRS.gov/taxstats. Printed copies of the Statistics of Income Bulletin are available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. The annual subscription rate is $67 ($93.80 foreign), single issues cost $44 ($61.60 foreign).

For more information about these data, write to the Internal Revenue Service (RAS:S), Director, Statistics of Income, 1111 Constitution Ave., NW (K-Room 4112), Washington, DC 20224-0002.

Related Items:

• SOI Bulletin: Winter 2014