1 Answer

If you answer yes to any of those questions then you should file a 2010 federal tax return regardless of your earnings.

Right away you should see that if you have self-employment income of more than $400 then you need to file.

If you answer no to all of the questions, then you might be able to avoid filing.

The next question you need to ask is whether someone else can claim you as a dependent. If you are not a dependent AND you are under 65 years of age, then you won’t need to file taxes unless you income exceeds:

* $9,350 (single filer),
* $13,450 (head of household),
* $18,700 (married filing jointly),
* $15,050 (qualifying widower with dependent child).

Note that if you are filing married filing separately, you will need to file a return.
Note that for those filers 65 and older, the income numbers are slightly higher for some filing types. See the IRS questionnaire for more info on this.

If you are a dependent then you follow a different set of rules. It’s sort of complicated, but basically if you are a dependent who is under 65 who has unearned income (i.e. interest income) over $950, or earned income (i.e. wages) over $5,700, or if your combined earned and unearned income exceeds $5,700, then you need to file.

If your income is in the lower range and you are just not sure what to do, you can always start to complete a federal tax return through a free filing service like the one TurboTax offers. Their software should help you determine if filing is even necessary.

What about you? Did you earn enough to file?

14 years ago. Rating: 0
Comment this answer Add new comment