Must I File a Return?

Whether you must file a tax return depends on:

• Whether your parent or someone else can claim you as a dependent on his or her tax return (regardless of whether or not that person actually claims you),
• How much gross income you received, and
• What kinds of income you received.

Can you be claimed as a dependent? If more than half of your support for the year is provided by another person, you can generally be claimed as a dependent. That person will usually be your parent (or someone else who is related to you or whose household you are a member of).

Support. This includes amounts spent for food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental care, recreation, transportation, and similar necessities. To determine whether you can be claimed as a dependent, do not include qualified scholarships and fellowships in figuring support if you are a full-time student.

Dependents. If you can be claimed as a dependent, you must file a tax return for 2000, if any of the following apply.

1. Your unearned income was more than $700 (if not blind).**
2. Your earned income* was over $4,400 (if not blind).**
3. The total of your unearned and earned income was more than the larger of --
   1. $700 (if not blind),** or
   2. Your earned income (up to $4,150) plus $250 (if not blind).**

*Includes any part of a taxable scholarship or fellowship grant that you must include in your income, as explained later under What Kinds of Income are Taxable?

**Plus $1,100 if blind.

Under age 14. If you are under age 14 and certain conditions apply, your parent can elect to include your income on his or her return. If your parent makes this election, you do not have to file a return. See Publication 929, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents.

Not a dependent. If you cannot be claimed as a dependent by someone else, you must file a return for 2000 if your gross income for the year was $7,200 or more.

Income from self-employment. Your total earnings from self-employment (generally gross business income before subtracting your business expenses) are counted in your gross income for purposes of the filing requirements discussed earlier.

Example. You earned $700 from providing typing services on weekends. Your expenses totaled $325. Your net earnings from self-employment were $375 ($700 - $325). You must count the $700 (rather than the $375) in your income when figuring whether you are required to file a return.

Net earnings of $400 or more. Even if you are not otherwise required to file a return, you must file one if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. This is because you must pay self-employment tax. See Self-Employment Income, later.

Example. During the summer you mowed lawns. You earned $500 after subtracting your expenses. You must file a tax return and pay self-employment tax because your net earnings were $400 or more.

If you are not required to file a return, and income tax was withheld from your pay because you did not claim exemption from withholding, you will be entitled to a refund of all the income tax withheld. You must file a tax return to get it, even though you would not be otherwise required to file.

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