Do I need to file taxes as a college student with no income or job?

If you don't have any income, you generally don't need to file a tax return. The IRS has filing requirements based on income thresholds, and if you're below those thresholds, filing isn't mandatory. For a single person under 65, you'd only need to file if your gross income was at least $13,850 for 2023 tax year (for 2024 returns filed in 2025). Being a student doesn't automatically require you to file taxes - it all depends on whether you have income and how much. Since you mentioned you don't have a job or income, you likely don't need to file. The health insurance mandate penalty was eliminated at the federal level, so not having health insurance doesn't create a filing requirement anymore. That said, if you had any income at all (even from a side gig, investments, etc.) or if federal taxes were withheld from any source that you could get refunded, you might want to file.

I was in a similar situation last year when I was taking a break between programs and had no income. I was totally confused about what to do for taxes until I found this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). It asks you some simple questions about your situation and tells you whether you need to file or not. I uploaded a document showing my lack of income and it confirmed I didn't need to file since I was below the threshold. Saved me a ton of stress wondering if I was going to get in trouble with the IRS!

Just wanted to update after trying out taxr.ai that was mentioned earlier. I was worried about my scholarship money and whether I needed to file. Turns out the portion of my scholarship that went to tuition and books isn't taxable, but the part I used for living expenses technically is! I wouldn't have known that and could have gotten in trouble later. The system showed me that even though I don't have a traditional job, some of my financial aid counts as income for tax purposes. Super helpful for students with complicated situations beyond just regular employment income!

If you ever DO need to contact the IRS with questions about your filing status, just a heads up that calling them directly is a nightmare right now. I spent literally 3 hours on hold last month trying to ask a simple question about my student status. I finally gave up and used https://claimyr.com instead - they have this service where they wait on hold with the IRS for you and call you when an actual human picks up. I was skeptical but you can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I didn't have to wait on hold at all, and the IRS agent I talked to explained exactly what my requirements were as a student with minimal income. Total game changer if you need official answers from the IRS directly.

Alright I need to apologize for being a skeptic on that Claimyr thing. After my last tax question went unanswered for weeks, I got desperate enough to try it. It actually works exactly like they said - I put in my number, they called me back about 2 hours later and connected me directly to an IRS agent. No hold time on my end at all. The agent confirmed that with my particular scholarship situation I DO need to file even though I don't have a traditional job. Would never have known that otherwise and could have been in trouble later. Not cheap but worth it to get a definitive answer from the actual IRS.

Something else to consider - even if you aren't required to file, it might be worth doing anyway if you paid for educational expenses. There are education tax credits like the American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit that might benefit you or your parents (if they claim you as a dependent). These can be worth up to $2,500 in some cases, so it's worth looking into!

Don't forget about state taxes! Even though Florida doesn't have state income tax, if you lived in or earned money in another state during the tax year, you might need to file there. I made that mistake when I moved from New York to Florida for school - thought I was off the hook completely but NY still wanted a return for the part of the year I lived there!

also just fyi - the tax filing deadline for 2024 taxes is April 15, 2025. so if u do need to file, make sure u do it by then. and if ur ever not sure whether u need to file, the irs has a free interactive tax assistant tool on their website that can help u figure it out. just google "IRS do i need to file a tax return" and it should come up.

Just wanted to share my experience as someone who was in a very similar situation! I'm 27 and was taking classes part-time while living off savings and family support. I was super stressed about whether I needed to file taxes with no income. I ended up using the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant that someone mentioned - it's totally free and walks you through questions about your specific situation. In my case, it confirmed that with zero income, I didn't need to file federally. But it also helped me understand that if I had received any Form 1099s or had taxes withheld from any source (even small amounts), I might want to file anyway to get refunds. One thing I learned that might help you - even though you don't have income now, keep track of any educational expenses you're paying for. If your situation changes or if someone who could claim you as a dependent wants to use education credits, having those records will be super helpful. Since you're in Florida, at least you don't have to worry about state income tax! That's one less thing to stress about.