Yes. As a kid I mowed the yard of a rent house down the street a few times. Unbeknownst to me they reported to the IRS and my dad didn't. Time passes, IRS sent my dad a bill for more than what I earned mowing that yard.
That can't possibly be true. There's something big missing from this story because you will never end up being taxed more than you earned. And the income shouldn't have been attributed to your dad since the money was being paid to you. And you certainly didn't earn anywhere near enough to meet the minimum amount needed to even pay tax at all.
I definitely have parts missing from the story since it was a long time ago, early to mid eighties--the part I do remember is my dad's mild disbelief and feeling terrible that I had caused it.
Not who you're replying to, but my take is that if everyone complied with their tax obligations correctly, nobody should have filed or owed taxes. The kid should probably have been a household employee. A household employee under the age of 18 is exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes.
In addition, if they made less than their standard deduction, there would also be no income tax liability or filing requirement.
What probably happened was that the kid was incorrectly sent a 1099 form. This is wrong for two reasons. First, it's not needed for a personal residence or rental properties for investment, only for businesses. Second, a household employee is not a contractor, and should generally receive a W-2 (or nothing at all, in the kid's case).
