Form 8814: Parent's election to report child's interest and dividends
Form 8814 allows parents to report a child's investment income on their own tax return instead of filing a separate return for the child. This election is generally available when the child is otherwise required to file, has only eligible interest and dividend income, and gross income does not exceed $13,500 for the 2025 and 2026 limits.
Parents attach the IRS Form 8814 to Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR when they choose to report a child's interest, dividends, and certain capital gain distributions on the parent's tax return rather than filing a separate return for the child.
For families comparing the kiddie tax form 8814 with a child-filed return, the key issue is usually whether the convenience is worth the extra tax. Form 8814 covers only the parent's election for eligible interest and dividends.
What is Form 8814?
Form 8814 is a tax form used to report a child's investment income on a parent's tax return. When a child has enough unearned income, the child may otherwise need to file a separate return.
This threshold amount changes from time to time and is set by the Internal Revenue Service.
For tax years 2025 and 2026, the threshold amount is $2,700. More precisely, the form uses a $2,700 base amount, with the first $1,350 generally not taxed and the next $1,350 taxed at 10%. For the election itself, the child's gross income must also be less than $13,500.
However, parents have the option to include the child's eligible investment income on their own tax return by filing Form 8814.
This convenient option for parents allows for reporting the child's income on the same return as their own, simplifying the filing process. That is what Form 8814 is used for, and it is why many families search for the federal tax form 8814 each filing season.
Who can elect to file Form 8814 and when?
Parents can elect to file Form 8814 if all of the following conditions are met:
| Eligibility requirements for Form 8814 | Details |
|---|---|
| Child's age | Under 19 years old, or under 24 if a full-time student |
| Income type | Only interest and dividends, including capital gain distributions and Alaska Permanent Fund dividends |
| Investment income limit | Gross income less than $13,500 for the 2025 and 2026 tax years |
| Unearned income threshold | The child is otherwise required to file a return; for 2025 and 2026, that usually means unearned income over $1,350 |
| Marital status | The child cannot file a joint return |
| Tax payments and withholding | No estimated tax payments were made for the child, no prior-year overpayment was applied to the child's current year, and no federal income tax was withheld under the backup withholding rules |
| Parent filing status | Parent files Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR |
| Which parent can elect | You are the parent qualified to make the election, or you file a joint return with the child's other parent |
Attach Form 8814 to the parent’s return and file it by the due date, including extensions. For a 2025 Form 1040 or 1040-SR, the regular due date is April 15, 2026. If you qualify for the automatic 2-month extension for taxpayers abroad, your filing deadline is June 15, 2026, but you must attach a statement explaining your eligibility, and interest on unpaid tax still runs from April 15, 2026.
If your child does not meet every requirement, Form 8814 is not available. The child may need to file a separate return, and Form 8615 may be required if the child's unearned income is more than $2,700 under the kiddie tax rules.
While Form 8814 simplifies filing, it often results in a higher tax than a separate return for the child. The IRS Form 8814 instructions specifically warn that the election can cost more when the child has qualified dividends or capital gain distributions, and they also warn that your higher AGI can reduce deductions or credits.
Important disadvantages of using Form 8814
While Form 8814 simplifies filing, it often costs more in tax than filing separately for your child. Here are the key financial drawbacks.
1. Extra tax can be up to $135
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) states that you may pay up to $135 more in taxes if you elect Form 8814 instead of filing a separate return for the child and the child received qualified dividends or capital gain distributions.
That is because the income between $1,350 and $2,700 is taxed at 10% on Form 8814, while it could be taxed as low as 0% on the child's own return.
Calculation: the next $1,350 of the child's income, between $1,350 and $2,700, is taxed at 10%, which produces a maximum additional tax of $135.
Example: if a child has $2,500 of qualified dividends, the parent's election can create extra tax that would not arise if the child filed separately.
2. Increased AGI reduces tax credits
Using Form 8814 pushes part of the child's income onto the parent's return. The current IRS Form 8814 instructions warn that the higher AGI may reduce deductions or credits, including:
- deduction for contributions to a traditional IRA
- deduction for student loan interest
- deduction for qualified tips
- deduction for qualified overtime compensation
- deduction for seniors
- deduction for qualified passenger vehicle loan interest
- itemized deductions for medical expenses, state and local taxes, and casualty and theft losses
- credit for child and dependent care expenses, child tax credit, education tax credits, and the earned income credit
This is one reason the kiddie tax Form 8814 is not always the lowest-tax option, even when it is the simplest one.
3. Deductions you may give up for that year
If you elect Form 8814 for a given year, you may give up deductions the child could have claimed on a separate return, such as the:
- additional standard deduction for blindness
- penalty on early withdrawal of the child’s savings
- certain itemized deductions
Form 8814 can also affect how investment interest expense is figured. Under the 2025 IRS instructions, the child’s income you report on your return – other than qualified dividends, Alaska Permanent Fund dividends, and capital gain distributions – is treated as your investment income for purposes of your investment interest expense deduction.
For 2025, the Form 8814 instructions refer to an additional blind deduction of $2,000 for the child. For 2026, the inflation-adjusted additional standard deduction for an unmarried blind dependent rises to $2,050.
Cost comparison table
| Factor | Form 8814 | Child files separately |
|---|---|---|
| Tax on the $1,350 band between $1,350 and $2,700 | Up to $135 | Often $0 on qualified dividends or capital gain distributions |
| Effect on parent's AGI | Increases parent's AGI | No direct increase |
| Child-only deductions | Lost with the election | Potentially available |
| Filing complexity | 1 return | 2 returns |
When to use each option
Use Form 8814 when the child's income is modest, mostly ordinary interest or ordinary dividends, and your own AGI is not close to any phaseout ranges. In that situation, the convenience of one return may outweigh the small extra tax.
File separately when the numbers or reporting facts make it the better choice – for example, when the child has sizable qualified dividends or capital gain distributions, or when foreign-account or foreign-trust reporting would make the parent’s return more complex.
Form 8814 can still be available if the eligibility rules are met, but the extra reporting should be reviewed carefully. In many of those cases, Form 8615 or a regular child return will produce a better family-wide result.
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What info is included on the Form 8814?
Form 8814 requires specific information from your child's tax documents:
- Child's identification: full name and Social Security number
- Parent's identification: name or names and Social Security number
- Investment income details: Forms 1099-INT and 1099-DIV, including qualified dividends and capital gain distributions
- Income calculation: total eligible investment income and the portion above the $2,700 base amount
The form calculates how much of the child's income is reported on your return and how much extra tax, if any, is owed in Part II.
NOTE! This investment income typically comes from custodial accounts created by parents or grandparents, such as UTMA (Uniform Transfers to Minors Act) or UGMA (Uniform Gifts to Minors Act) accounts.
How to file Form 8814 (instructions)
To file Form 8814, follow these steps:
- Download the current federal tax form 8814 from IRS.gov and review the official Form 8814 instructions before you start.
- Complete the identifying information for the parent and child, then enter the child's taxable interest, tax-exempt interest, ordinary dividends, qualified dividends, and capital gain distributions from the child's tax forms.
- Add the eligible income on lines 1a, 2a, and 3. If the total is $13,500 or more, do not file Form 8814. The child must file a separate return.
- Calculate the tax on the first $2,700 of the child's income. Part II taxes the amount between $1,350 and $2,700 at 10%, capped at $135. Any amount above the $2,700 base is then allocated to the proper parent-return lines. The amount from Form 8814 line 9 is reported with dividends on Form 1040, lines 3a and 3b (or on Schedule B if required).
The amount from line 10 goes to Schedule D, line 13, or to Form 1040, line 7a if Schedule D is not required. The amount from line 12 goes to Schedule 1, line 8z.
- Attach Form 8814 to the parent's return and file by the due date, including extensions. A separate Form 8814 is required for each child for whom you make the election.
NOTE! If you plan to make the election for 2026, the IRS warns that you may need to increase withholding or estimated payments to avoid an underpayment penalty.
Form 8814 preview
Form 8814 vs Form 8615: Which should you use?
| Factor | Form 8814 (Parent reports) | Form 8615 (Child's return) |
|---|---|---|
| Who files | The Parent includes income on their return | Child files separate return |
| Income limit | Child's gross income < $13,500 | No gross-income cap for use of Form 8615 once the child must file and the kiddie tax applies |
| Income type | Interest and dividends, including capital gain distributions | All types of unearned income, including capital gains |
| Age requirement | Under 19, or under 24 if a full-time student | Under 18, or age 18 with earned income not more than half of support, or a full-time student age 19 through 23 with earned income not more than half of support |
| Tax rate applied | Parent return picks up the income, and Part II may add up to $135 | Child's net unearned income is generally taxed using the parent's rate rules under Form 8615 |
| Impact on AGI | Increases parent's AGI | No impact on parent's AGI |
| Additional tax | Possible $0 to $135 extra in Part II | Calculated under kiddie tax rules |
| Complexity | Simpler, one return | More complex, it requires the parent return information |
| Best for | Smaller amounts of ordinary interest or dividends when simplicity matters most | Larger unearned income amounts, capital gains, or cases where protecting the parent's AGI matters |
When to choose each form
Use Form 8814 when the child has straightforward investment income, and the parent's return is unlikely to lose credits or deductions because of a higher AGI. This is often the best fit when the child has bank interest or a small amount of ordinary dividends.
Use Form 8615 when the child has larger unearned income, direct capital gains, foreign filing issues, or income types that do not fit the narrow Form 8814 rules. If you are weighing Form 8814 vs 8615, run the numbers both ways before filing.
How does Form 8814 affect US expats?
If you are an American expat, using Form 8814 does not stop you from claiming the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. For the 2025 tax year to be filed in 2026, the FEIE amount is $130,000, and Form 8814 does not change whether your own income is foreign earned income. However, the election can still matter because the child's income becomes part of your return and can raise your AGI or modified AGI.
That higher AGI can reduce certain AGI-sensitive deductions or credits, and it can matter for NIIT. The 2025 IRS instructions say all income reported on Form 8814 line 12 is included in the parents’ modified adjusted gross income for NIIT purposes.
For expats, there is also a practical foreign-reporting issue: if the child has a foreign financial account or a foreign trust connection, the parent may need Schedule B, Part III, and possibly Form 8938.
“If the child’s interest or dividends were paid in foreign currency, report the amounts in US dollars. If your functional currency is the US dollar, translate foreign-currency items using the exchange rate in effect when the income was received, paid, or accrued.
The IRS has no single official exchange rate and generally accepts any posted rate used consistently. The IRS does provide yearly average currency exchange rate tables that can be useful when income is received evenly through the year.”
To sum up
Form 8814 can make filing easier by pulling a child's eligible investment income onto the parent's return, but the convenience can come with extra tax and a higher AGI. Before making the election, compare the result with a separate child return.
In many cases, the parent's election works best for smaller amounts of ordinary interest and dividends. When the child has qualified dividends, capital gain distributions, foreign accounts, or more complicated unearned income, a separate return is often the better answer.
FAQ
Form 8814 lets a parent report a child's eligible interest and dividends on the parent's return. Form 8615 is used on the child's separate return when the kiddie tax applies to unearned income over $2,700.
No. Form 8814 is an election, not a universal requirement. In some cases, a separate child return is required, and in other cases, a separate return is simply the lower-tax choice.
Yes. You can choose differently from year to year if the facts change. A prior Form 8814 election does not lock you into the same treatment later.
If the child has earned income along with interest or dividends, Form 8814 is generally not available because the child's only income must be eligible interest and dividends. The child may need a separate return, and Form 8615 may also apply if the unearned income is high enough.
Not directly. It does not turn your wages into nonqualifying income, but it can raise AGI and modified AGI on your return, which is why expats should still compare both filing methods carefully.
UTMA / UGMA account income can be reported on Form 8814 if every other eligibility rule is met. The key question is not the account label, but whether the child's income is limited to eligible interest and dividends.
Yes, but only the parent who is qualified under the IRS ordering rules can make the election. In many cases, that is the custodial parent, and remarriage can change which return is used.
Form 8814 is used to report a child's eligible interest and dividend income on the parent's return. That is why some families refer to it as the income tax form 8814 for a child's investment income.
Tax Form 8814 is the same document as IRS Form 8814; it is the parent election used for a child's interest and dividends.
It is an attachment to the parent's Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR. It is the election that moves the child's eligible income onto the parent's federal return.
No. There is no separate schedule 8814.
The official 8814 instructions are on IRS.gov. NOTE! Use the Form 8814 instructions for the tax year you are filing. For returns filed in 2026, that usually means the 2025 Form 8814 instructions.
There is no standalone tax table 8814. When taxpayers refer to the IRS tax table 8814, they usually mean Part II of Form 8814, which applies the 10% rate to the amount between $1,350 and $2,700.
Most queries for 8814 tax or tax 8814 both usually refer to that same Part II calculation.
Form 8814 and 4972 are different forms used for different purposes. Form 8814 covers a child's interest and dividends, while Form 4972 is for certain lump-sum distributions.
Form 8814 capital gains treatment is limited. The form can report capital gain distributions shown on Form 1099-DIV, but it is not used for every kind of direct capital gain transaction.
That is the key point behind the phrase “Form 8814 capital gains.” If the child sold stock directly and has broader capital gain reporting, a separate return is usually the right path.
No. Form 8814 IRS and 8814 IRS are just search variations for the same form.
IRS tax form 8814, federal form 8814, and 8814 form IRS also point to the same filing election. So do federal income tax form 8814 and the form 8814 tax form.
The additional tax can be up to $135 for the 2025 and 2026 tax years. It is based on 10% of the $1,350 band between $1,350 and $2,700.
It can. Because Form 8814 increases the income reported on the parent's return, it can affect credits and deductions that depend on AGI or modified AGI, including the child tax credit.
No substantive difference. Tax Form 8814 and Federal Tax Form 8814 both mean the same IRS filing election.
