U.S. Individual Income Tax Return

2019

Instructions for Form 8615

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

Tax for Certain Children Who Have Unearned Income
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless
otherwise noted.

Future Developments
For the latest information about developments related to Form
8615 and its instructions, such as legislation enacted after they
were published, go to IRS.gov/Form8615.

Reminder
Change in tax rates. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
modified the tax rates and brackets that you will use to figure the
tax on your 2019 unearned income. Your tax rate is no longer
affected by the tax situation of your parents or the unearned
income of any siblings. Instead, all net unearned income over a
threshold amount of $2,200 for 2019 is taxed using the brackets
and rates for estates and trusts. These are shown in the
following chart.
2019 Estate and Trust Income Tax Rates
IF your taxable income is...

THEN your tax is...

not over $2,600

10% of taxable income.

over $2,600 but not over $9,300

$260 plus 24% of the excess over
$2,600.

over $9,300 but not over $12,750

$1,868 plus 35% of the excess over
$9,300.

over $12,750

$3,075.50 plus 37% of the excess
over $12,750.

General Instructions
Purpose of Form

Use Form 8615 to figure your tax on unearned income over
$2,200 if you are under age 18, and in certain situations if you
are older. See Who Must File, later.

Unearned Income

For Form 8615, “unearned income” includes all taxable income
other than earned income. Unearned income includes taxable
interest, ordinary dividends, capital gains (including capital gain
distributions), rents, royalties, etc. It also includes taxable social
security benefits, pension and annuity income, taxable
scholarship and fellowship grants not reported on Form W-2,
unemployment compensation, alimony, and income (other than
earned income) received as the beneficiary of a trust.

Who Must File

Form 8615 must be filed for anyone who meets all of the
following conditions.
1. You had more than $2,200 of unearned income.
2. You are required to file a tax return.
3. You were either:
a. Under age 18 at the end of 2019,

Sep 27, 2019

b. Age 18 at the end of 2019 and didn’t have earned income
that was more than half of your support, or
c. A full-time student at least age 19 and under age 24 at the
end of 2019 and didn’t have earned income that was more than
half of your support.
(Earned income is defined later. Support is defined below.)
4. At least one of your parents was alive at the end of 2019.
5. You don’t file a joint return for 2019.
These rules apply if you’re legally adopted or a stepchild.
These rules also apply whether or not you’re a dependent.
These rules don’t apply if neither of your parents were living at
the end of the year.
Support. Your support includes all amounts spent to provide
you with food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental
care, recreation, transportation, and similar necessities. To
figure your support, count support provided by you, your
parents, and others. However, a scholarship you received isn’t
considered support if you’re a full-time student. For details, see
Pub. 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing
Information.
Certain January 1 birthdays. Use the following chart to
determine whether you meet condition 3 under Who Must File,
earlier, for certain January 1 birthdays.
IF you were born on...

THEN, at the end of 2019,
you are considered to be...

January 1, 2002

18*

January 1, 2001

19**

January 1, 1996

24***

*You aren’t under age 18. You meet condition 3 only if you didn’t
have earned income that was more than half of your support.
**You meet condition 3 only if you were a full-time student who didn’t
have earned income that was more than half of your support.
***Don’t use Form 8615.

Your parent may be able to elect to report your interest,

TIP ordinary dividends, and capital gain distributions on his

or her return. If your parent makes this election, you
won’t have to file a return or Form 8615. However, the federal
income tax on your income, including qualified dividends and
capital gain distributions, may be higher if this election is made.
For more details, see Form 8814, Parents’ Election To Report
Child's Interest and Dividends.

Additional Information

For more details, see Pub. 929, Tax Rules for Children and
Dependents.

Incomplete Information for Filing

If your taxable income, filing status, or your net unearned income
isn’t known by the due date of your return, reasonable estimates
can be used. Enter “Estimated” next to the appropriate line(s) of
Cat. No. 28914R

Form 8615. When the correct information is available, file Form
1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

Earned income. Earned income includes wages, tips, and
other payments received for personal services performed.
If you’re a sole proprietor or a partner in a trade or business in
which both personal services and capital are material
income-producing factors, earned income also includes a
reasonable allowance for compensation for personal services,
but not more than 30% of your share of the net profits from that
trade or business (after subtracting the deduction for one-half of
self-employment tax). However, the 30% limit doesn’t apply if
there are no net profits from the trade or business.
If capital isn’t an income-producing factor and your personal
services produced the business income, all of your gross income
from the trade or business is considered earned income. In that
case, earned income is generally the total of the amounts
reported on Form 1040, line 1; Schedule 1 (Form 1040 or
1040-SR), lines 3 and 6; or Form 1040-NR, lines 8, 13, and 19.
Earned income also includes any taxable distribution from a
qualified disability trust. A qualified disability trust is any
nongrantor trust:
1. Described in 42 U.S.C. 1396p(c)(2)(B)(iv) and
established solely for the benefit of an individual under 65 years
of age who is disabled, and
2. All the beneficiaries of which are determined by the
Commissioner of Social Security to have been disabled for some
part of the tax year within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. 1382c(a)(3).

Instead of using estimates, you can get an automatic 6-month
extension of time to file. For details, see Form 4868, Application
for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income
Tax Return.

!

An extension of time to file isn’t an extension of time to
pay.

CAUTION

Amended Return

If your income changes after your return is filed, the tax must be
refigured using the adjusted amounts. If your tax changes, file
Form 1040X to correct your tax.

Alternative Minimum Tax

If your tax is figured on Form 8615, you may owe the alternative
minimum tax. For details, see Form 6251, Alternative Minimum
Tax—Individuals, and its instructions.

Net Investment Income Tax

If your tax is figured on Form 8615, you may be subject to the
Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT). NIIT is a 3.8% tax on the
lesser of net investment income or the excess of your modified
adjusted gross income (MAGI) over the threshold amount. Use
Form 8960, Net Investment Income Tax, to figure this tax. For
more information on NIIT, go to IRS.gov/NIIT.

A trust won’t fail to meet (2) above just because the trust’s
corpus may revert to a person who isn’t disabled after the trust
ceases to have any disabled beneficiaries.

Specific Instructions
Lines A and B

Unearned Income Worksheet—Line 1
Keep for Your Records

If your parents were married to each other and filed a joint return,
enter the name and social security number (SSN) of your parent
who is listed first on the joint return.

1. Enter the amount from your Form 1040, line 7b, or
Form 1040-NR, line 23, whichever applies . . . . . . .

If your parents were married but filed separate returns, enter
the name and SSN of your parent who had the higher taxable
income. If you don’t know which parent had the higher taxable
income, see Pub. 929.

2. Enter your earned income (defined earlier) plus the
amount of any penalty on early withdrawal of savings
from your Schedule 1 (Form 1040 or 1040-SR),
line 17, or Form 1040-NR, line 30, whichever
applies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If your parents were unmarried, treated as unmarried for
federal income tax purposes, or separated by either a divorce or
separate maintenance decree, enter the name and SSN of the
parent with whom you resided for the greater part of the calendar
year. See the definition of custodial parent in Pub. 501.

3. Subtract line 2 from line 1. Enter the result here and on
Form 8615, line 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Line 2

Exceptions. If your custodial parent remarried and filed a joint
return with his or her new spouse, enter the name and SSN of
the person listed first on the joint return, even if that person isn’t
your parent. If your custodial parent and his or her new spouse
filed separate returns, enter the name and SSN of the person
with the higher taxable income, even if that person isn’t your
parent.
If your parents were unmarried but lived together during the
year with you, enter the name and SSN of the parent who had
the higher taxable income.

If you itemized deductions, enter the larger of:
• $2,200; or
• $1,100 plus the portion of the amount on Schedule A (Form
1040 or 1040-SR), line 17 (or Form 1040-NR, Schedule A,
line 8), that is directly connected with the production of the
unearned income on Form 8615, line 1.

Line 4

Enter on line 4 your taxable income from Form 1040, line 11b, or
Form 1040-NR, line 41.

Line 1

Filing Form 2555. If you file Form 2555 (relating to foreign
earned income), the Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet (in
the Form 1040 instructions) is used to figure your tax. Enter the
amount from line 3 of the Foreign Earned Income Tax
Worksheet as your taxable income on line 4.

If you had no earned income (defined below), enter your
adjusted gross income from Form 1040, line 8b, or Form
1040-NR, line 35.
If you had earned income, use the Unearned Income
Worksheet to figure the amount to enter on line 1. But use Pub.
929 instead of the worksheet to figure the amount to enter on
line 1 if you:
• File Form 2555 (relating to foreign earned income),
• Have a net loss from self-employment, or
• Claim a net operating loss deduction.

Line 6

Subtract line 5 from line 4. The result is your “earned taxable
income.”

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Instructions for Form 8615 (2019)

• Single—$434,550.
• Married filing separately—$244,425.
• Head of household—$461,700.

Note. The amount shown on line 6, while meeting the statutory
definition of earned taxable income, may include an amount of
unearned income because it is reduced (but not below zero) by
your net unearned income.

4. Line 44. Complete the 2019 Line 7 Tax Computation
Worksheet again, using the amount from line 21 of the
Schedule D Tax Worksheet instead of the amount from line 4 of
Form 8615.
5. Line 46. Figure the tax on the amount on line 1 of the
Schedule D Tax Worksheet using the 2019 Line 7 Tax
Computation Worksheet.

Line 7

Figure the tax on the amount on line 4 by first using the 2019
Line 7 Tax Computation Worksheet.
Enter the tax amount on line 7. If the Qualified Dividends and
Capital Gain Tax Worksheet (in the Form 1040 or Form 1040-NR
instructions), the Schedule D Tax Worksheet (in the Schedule D
instructions), or your actual Schedule J (Form 1040 or 1040-SR),
Income Averaging for Farmers and Fishermen, is used to figure
your tax, check the box on line 7. See below for more
information and for modifications in figuring your line 7 tax.

Using the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet for line 7 tax. If you use the Qualified Dividends and
Capital Gain Tax Worksheet to figure the line 7 tax, complete
that worksheet in its entirety but with the following modifications.
1. Line 8. Add Form 8615, line 6, and $2,650. Enter the
smaller of the result and the amount listed below for your filing
status.
• Single or married filing separately—$39,375.
• Head of household—$52,750.
2. Line 15. Add Form 8615, line 6, and $12,950. Enter the
smaller of the result and the amount listed below for your filing
status.
• Single—$434,550.
• Married filing separately—$244,425.
• Head of household—$461,700.
3. Line 24. Complete the 2019 Line 7 Tax Computation
Worksheet again, using the amount from line 7 of the Qualified
Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet instead of the
amount from line 4 of Form 8615.
4. Line 26. Figure the tax on the amount on line 1 of the
Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet using the
2019 Line 7 Tax Computation Worksheet.

Qualified dividends. Qualified dividends are those dividends
reported on Form 1040, line 3a, or Form 1040-NR, line 10b.
Net capital gain. Net capital gain is the smaller of the gain, if
any, on Schedule D (Form 1040 or 1040-SR), line 15, or the
gain, if any, on Schedule D, line 16. If Schedule D isn’t required,
it is the amount on Form 1040, line 6, or Form 1040-NR, line 14.
If line 4 of your Form 8615 includes any qualified dividends or
net capital gain, see Using the Qualified Dividends and Capital
Gain Tax Worksheet for line 7 tax below to figure your tax,
unless the Schedule D Tax Worksheet or Schedule J must be
used instead.
Schedule D Tax Worksheet. If you have to file Schedule D
and line 18 or 19 of your Schedule D is more than zero, use the
Schedule D Tax Worksheet to figure your tax. See Using the
Schedule D Tax Worksheet for line 7 tax next for modifications in
figuring your line 7 tax.
Using the Schedule D Tax Worksheet for line 7 tax. If you
use the Schedule D Tax Worksheet to figure the line 7 tax,
complete that worksheet in its entirety but with the following
modifications.
1. Line 15. Add Form 8615, line 6, and $2,650. Enter the
smaller of the result and the amount listed below for your filing
status.
• Single or married filing separately—$39,375.
• Head of household—$52,750.
2. Line 19. Enter the smallest of the following four
amounts:
• Line 1 of the Schedule D Tax Worksheet,
• $160,725 if single or married filing separately,
• $160,700 if head of household, or
• The sum of Form 8615, line 6, and $9,300.
3. Line 26. Add Form 8615, line 6, and $12,950. Enter the
smaller of the result and the amount listed below for your filing
status.

Instructions for Form 8615 (2019)

Using Schedule J (Form 1040 or 1040-SR) for line 7 tax. If
line 4 includes any farming or fishing income (including certain
amounts received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation)
and doesn’t include any net capital gain or qualified dividends,
use it to figure this tax without modifications. The tax may be less
if you use Schedule J.
Filing Form 2555. If you file Form 2555 (relating to foreign
earned income), don’t enter the amount from Form 8615, line 7,
on Form 1040, line 12a. Instead, enter the amount from Form
8615, line 7, on line 4 of the Foreign Earned Income Tax
Worksheet. Then complete the rest of the Foreign Earned
Income Tax Worksheet to figure your tax.

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Keep for Your Records

2019 Line 7 Tax Computation Worksheet
1.

Add Form 8615, line 6, and $2,600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.

2.

Enter the smaller of Form 8615, line 4, or line 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.

3.

Enter the smaller of line 2 or the amount listed below for your filing status.
• Single or married filing separately—$9,700.
• Head of household—$13,850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.

4.

Multiply line 3 by 10% (0.10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.

5.

Enter the smaller of line 2 or the amount listed below for your filing status.
• Single or married filing separately—$39,475.
• Head of household—$52,850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5.

6.

Subtract line 3 from line 5. If zero or less, enter -0- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6.

7.

Multiply line 6 by 12% (0.12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7.

8.

Enter the smaller of line 2 or $84,200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8.

9.

Subtract line 5 from line 8. If zero or less, enter -0- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9.

10.

Multiply line 9 by 22% (0.22) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10.

11.

Add Form 8615, line 6, and $9,300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11.

12.

Enter the smaller of Form 8615, line 4, or line 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12.

13.

Enter the smaller of line 12 or the amount listed below for your filing status.
• Single or married filing separately—$160,725.
• Head of household—$160,700 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13.

14.

Subtract line 8 from line 13. If zero or less, enter -0- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14.

15.

Multiply line 14 by 24% (0.24) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15.

16.

Enter the smaller of line 12 or $204,100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16.

17.

Subtract line 13 from line 16. If zero or less, enter -0- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17.

18.

Multiply line 17 by 32% (0.32) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18.

19.

Add Form 8615, line 6, and $12,750 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19.

20.

Enter the smaller of Form 8615, line 4, or line 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20.

21.

Enter the smaller of line 20 or the amount listed below for your filing status.
• Single or head of household—$510,300.
• Married filing separately—$306,175 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21.

22.

Subtract line 16 from line 21. If zero or less, enter -0- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22.

23.

Multiply line 22 by 35% (0.35) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23.

24.

Subtract line 21 from Form 8615, line 4. If zero or less, enter -0- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24.

25.

Multiply line 24 by 37% (0.37) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25.

26.

Add lines 4, 7, 10, 15, 18, 23, and 25. Stop. If the Qualified Dividends and Capital
Gain Tax Worksheet, Schedule D Tax Worksheet, or Schedule J (Form 1040 or
1040-SR) is used to figure your tax, see the instructions, earlier. Otherwise, enter the
result here and on Form 8615, line 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

26.

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Instructions for Form 8615 (2019)