Do I Have To File a Return?

You must file a federal income tax return if you are a citizen or resident of the United States or a resident of Puerto Rico and you meet the filing requirements for any of the following categories that apply to you.

1. Individuals in general. (There are special rules for surviving spouses, executors, administrators, legal representatives, U.S. citizens living outside the United States, residents of Puerto Rico, and individuals with income from U.S. possessions.)
2. Dependents.
3. Self-employed persons.
4. Aliens.

The filing requirements for each category are explained in this chapter.

The filing requirements apply even if you do not owe tax.

Even if you do not have to file a return, it may be to your advantage to do so. See Who Should File, later.

One return. File only one federal income tax return for the year regardless of how many jobs you had, how many Forms W-2 you received, or how many states you lived in during the year.

Individuals--In General

If you are a U.S. citizen or resident, whether you must file a return depends on three factors:

1. Your gross income,
2. Your filing status, and
3. Your age.

To find out whether you must file, see Table 1-1, Table 1-2, and Table 1-3. Even if no table shows that you must file, you may need to file to get money back (see Who Should File, later).

Gross income. This includes all income you receive in the form of money, goods, property, and services that is not exempt from tax. It also includes income from sources outside the United States (even if you may exclude all or part of it). Common types of income are discussed in the chapters in Part Two of this publication.

Community property. If you are married and your permanent home is in a community property state, half of any income described by state law as community income may be considered yours. This affects your federal taxes, including whether you must file, if you do not file a joint return with your spouse. See Publication 555, Community Property, for more information.

Self-employed individuals. If you are self-employed, your gross income includes the amount on line 7 of Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business, or line 1 of Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040), Net Profit From Business. See Self-Employed Persons, later, for more information about your filing requirements.

If you do not report all of your self-employment income, you could cause your social security benefits to be lower when you retire.

Filing status. Your filing status depends on whether you are single or married and on your family situation. Your filing status is determined on the last day of your tax year, which is December 31 for most taxpayers. See chapter 2 for an explanation of each filing status.

Age. If you are 65 or older at the end of the year, you generally can have a higher amount of gross income than other taxpayers before you must file. See Table 1-1. You are considered 65 on the day before your 65th birthday. For example, if your 65th birthday was on January 1, 2001, you are considered 65 for 2000. Table 1-1 Filing Requirements for Most Taxpayers

Surviving Spouses, Executors, Administrators, or Legal Representatives

You must file a final return for a decedent (a person who died) if both of the following are true.

• You are the surviving spouse, executor, administrator, or legal representative.
• The decedent met the filing requirements at the date of death.

For more information on rules for filing a decedent’s final return, see chapter 4.

U.S. Citizens Living Outside the United States

If you are a U.S. citizen living outside the United States, you must file a return if you meet the filing requirements. For information on special tax rules that may apply to you, get Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad. It is available at most U.S. embassies and consulates. Also see How To Get Tax Help in the back of this publication.

Residents of Puerto Rico

Generally, if you are a U.S. citizen and a resident of Puerto Rico, you must file a U.S. income tax return if you meet the filing requirements. This is in addition to any legal requirement you may have to file an income tax return for Puerto Rico.

If you are a resident of Puerto Rico for the entire year, gross income does not include income from sources within Puerto Rico, except for amounts received as an employee of the United States or a United States agency. If you receive income from Puerto Rican sources that is not subject to U.S. tax, you must reduce your standard deduction. As a result, the amount of income you must have before you are required to file a U.S. income tax return is lower than the applicable amount in Table 1-1 or Table 1-2. See U.S. taxation and its discussion, Standard deduction, under The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in Publication 570, Tax Guide for Individuals With Income From U.S. Possessions, for further information.

Individuals With Income From U.S. Possessions

If you had income from Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, or the Virgin Islands, special rules may apply when determining whether you must file a U.S. federal income tax return. In addition, you may have to file a return with the individual island government. See Publication 570 for more information.

Dependents

If you are a dependent (one who meets the dependency tests in chapter 3), see Table 1-2 to find whether you must file a return. You also must file if your situation is described in Table 1-3.

Responsibility of parent. Generally, a child is responsible for filing his or her own tax return and for paying any tax on the return. But if a dependent child who must file an income tax return cannot file it for any reason, such as age, a parent, guardian, or other legally responsible person must file it for the child. If the child cannot sign the return, the parent or guardian must sign the child’s name followed by the words "By (signature), parent (or guardian) for minor child."

Child’s earnings. Amounts a child earns by performing services are his or her gross income. This is true even if under local law the child’s parents have the right to the earnings and may actually have received them. If the child does not pay the tax due on this income, the parent is liable for the tax.

Child Under Age 14

If a child’s only income is interest and dividends (including Alaska Permanent Fund dividends) and certain other conditions are met, a parent can elect to include the child’s income on the parent’s return. If this election is made, the child does not have to file a return. See Parent’s Election To Report Child’s Interest and Dividends in chapter 32.

Self-Employed Persons

You are self-employed if you:

• Carry on a trade or business as a sole proprietor,
• Are an independent contractor,
• Are a member of a partnership, or
• Are in business for yourself in any other way.

Self-employment can include work in addition to your regular full-time business activities. It also includes certain part-time work that you do at home or in addition to your regular job.

You must file a return if your gross income is at least as much as the filing requirement amount for your filing status and age (shown in Table 1-1 ). Also, you must file Form 1040 and Schedule SE (Form 1040), Self-Employment Tax, if:

1. Your net earnings from self-employment (excluding church employee income) were $400 or more, or
2. You had church employee income of $108.28 or more (see Table 1-3 ).

Use Schedule SE (Form 1040) to figure your self-employment tax. Self-employment tax is comparable to the social security and Medicare tax withheld from an employee’s wages. For more information about this tax, get Publication 533, Self-Employment Tax

Foreign governments or international organizations. If you are a U.S. citizen who works in the United States for an international organization, a foreign government, or a wholly owned instrumentality of a foreign government, and your employer does not deduct social security and Medicare taxes from your income, you must include your earnings from services performed in the United States when figuring your net earnings from self-employment.

Ministers. You must include income from services you performed as a minister when figuring your net earnings from self-employment, unless you have requested and received an exemption from self-employment tax. This also applies to Christian Science practitioners and members of a religious order who have not taken a vow of poverty. For more information, get Publication 517, Social Security and Other Information for Members of the Clergy and Religious Workers.

Aliens

Your status as an alien--resident, nonresident, or dual-status--determines whether and how you must file an income tax return.

The rules used to determine your alien status are discussed in Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

Resident alien. If you are a resident alien for the entire year, you must file a tax return following the same rules that apply to U.S. citizens. Use the forms discussed in this publication.

Nonresident alien. If you are a nonresident alien, the rules and tax forms that apply to you are different from those that apply to U.S. citizens and resident aliens. See Publication 519 to find out if U.S. income tax laws apply to you and which forms you should file.

Dual-status taxpayer. If you were a resident alien for part of the tax year and a nonresident alien for the rest of the year, you are a dual-status taxpayer. Different rules apply for each part of the year. For information on dual-status taxpayers, see Publication 519.

Who Should File

Even if you do not have to file, you should file a federal income tax return to get money back if any of the following conditions apply. You had income tax withheld from your pay. You qualify for the earned income credit. See chapter 37 for more information. You qualify for the additional child tax credit. See chapter 35 for more information.

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