Some Earning Kids Must File Taxes

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - When is the right time to teach your kid the facts of life (by which I mean, Uncle Sam's gonna take a bite out of that paycheck of yours, junior)? The IRS has an answer.

Facebook and Google are battling to hire a tech genius who created the app Impossible Rush, taking over Vine, Google, and Twitter. Ben Pasternak, the whizz in question, has to ask his mom before he accepts. He's 15.

For someone who can almost remember most of her own passwords on any given day, that sounds mindboggling. But here's one thing he can't ask his mom: can you file my income taxes for me?

If your kid makes any money, when and how does he have to file a tax return of his own?

If your kid is listed as a dependent on your tax form, he has to file his own taxes if he's under 65 and not blind, if he earned income over $6200 in 2014 or if he received unearned income over $1000 which is income that he didn't earn but received from dividends, investments, or from collecting social security or disability and the like.

Of course if your kid is the next Steve Jobs, he can probably figure out how to e-file that on his own.