What is the minimum amount you need to make to be required to file federal income taxes in 2025?
I keep getting such conflicting info from everyone about how much money you need to earn before you're legally required to file federal income taxes. Some people are telling me it's as low as $400, others are saying around $12,000, and a few friends insist you have to file regardless of how little you make...?? I worked a bunch of part-time gigs last year, some paid me with 1099s and others just cash. Trying to figure out if I even need to bother filing this year. What's actually the correct answer about the minimum amount? Does it change depending on what type of income you have or your age or something? Really confused and don't want to mess up and get in trouble with the IRS!
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Ruby Knight
The filing requirement depends on several factors including your filing status, age, and type of income. For 2024 taxes (filed in 2025), if you're filing as single under age 65, you generally need to file if your gross income was at least $13,850. If you're 65 or older, it's $15,700. For married filing jointly (both under 65), it's $27,700. However, self-employment income has a much lower threshold - if you earned $400 or more in self-employment income, you must file regardless of your total income. This is because you're required to pay self-employment tax when you reach this threshold. So both answers you heard can be correct depending on your situation. If you received 1099s, you likely have self-employment income and would need to file if you made $400 or more from those sources.
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Diego Castillo
•Thanks for explaining! What if I'm a college student but still claimed as a dependent on my parents' taxes? I made about $3,500 from a campus job last year. Do I still need to file my own return?
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Ruby Knight
•For dependents with earned income (like from a job), you'd need to file if your earned income was more than $12,950 for 2024. Since you made $3,500, you're under this threshold. However, you might still want to file to get back any federal income tax that was withheld from your paychecks. Check your pay stubs or W-2 to see if taxes were withheld. Filing could get you a refund!
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Logan Stewart
After spending hours on the phone with the IRS last year about this exact issue, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it completely simplified understanding my filing requirements. I uploaded my documents and it analyzed everything, telling me exactly whether I needed to file based on my specific situation with multiple income sources. Their system specifically looks at all your income types separately - like your W-2 income, 1099 income, and even cash payments if you enter them. It then applies the current year filing thresholds to your exact situation. Saved me from making a mistake about my side gig income which was over the $400 self-employment threshold.
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Mikayla Brown
•Does taxr.ai actually tell you if you're under the threshold and don't need to file? Or do they push you to file anyway to make money off you?
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Sean Matthews
•How does it handle cash income that doesn't show up on any official documents? I do a lot of babysitting and dog walking that's all paid in cash.
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Logan Stewart
•It absolutely tells you if you're under the threshold and don't need to file. I was surprised because I expected them to push filing on everyone, but it actually told my brother he was under the threshold and didn't need to file at all. They seem more focused on giving accurate guidance than pushing unnecessary filings. For cash income, they have a section where you can manually enter income that doesn't appear on forms. You just categorize it correctly (like self-employment income for babysitting/dog walking), and it factors that into its analysis. It's pretty straightforward about telling you when that cash income crosses the $400 threshold for self-employment taxes.
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Sean Matthews
Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai from that post above. I was confused about all my cash babysitting income ($2,200 last year) and whether I needed to file. The site immediately flagged that I was over the $400 self-employment threshold and needed to file - which none of the big tax websites made clear when I tried their "do I need to file?" tools. It showed me exactly which IRS rules applied to my situation and explained WHY I needed to file in terms I could actually understand. Turns out my parents were wrong when they told me I didn't need to file for babysitting money! Definitely recommend for anyone who's confused about minimum filing requirements.
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Ali Anderson
If you're trying to get ahold of the IRS to ask these questions directly, good luck lol. After waiting on hold for literally 4+ hours over multiple days, I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I needed specific answers about my filing requirements because I had both W-2 income and some freelance work, plus I'd moved states mid-year. The IRS agent was actually super helpful once I finally got through and confirmed that I needed to file because my self-employment income was over $400, even though my total income was pretty low.
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Zadie Patel
•I don't understand how this works? The IRS phone lines are always busy, so how does this service magically get through when nobody else can?
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A Man D Mortal
•Yeah right. Sounds like a scam to me. You're telling me I need to pay some random company just to talk to the IRS, which is a government service my taxes already pay for? No thanks.
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Ali Anderson
•It uses an automated system that continually redials the IRS using their algorithm until it gets through, then it calls you and connects you. It's basically doing what you'd do manually for hours, but their system handles the waiting and redial part. I was super skeptical too before trying it. But think about it - what's your time worth? I spent nearly 5 hours trying to get through myself with no luck. The service got me connected in about 20 minutes. For me, that was absolutely worth it rather than wasting another day on hold. And the answers I got directly from the IRS saved me from making filing mistakes that could have cost way more.
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A Man D Mortal
Ok I need to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After that heated response above, I decided to try it just to prove it wouldn't work. It actually got me through to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I'd spent DAYS trying on my own. The agent cleared up my confusion completely - I didn't realize that because I had a small Etsy shop making $650 last year, I absolutely had to file even though my main job didn't pay enough to hit the regular filing threshold. None of the online articles I read made this clear! Would have gotten in trouble without filing. Still think it's ridiculous we have to pay to talk to a government agency, but the service definitely works.
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Declan Ramirez
The thresholds everyone is mentioning are correct, but there's another reason you might want to file even if you're under the minimum: tax credits! If you qualify for refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Credit or the American Opportunity Credit (for education expenses), you could get money back even if you didn't pay any taxes. My daughter was a student making only about $5,000 last year, but she got back almost $1,000 by filing for education credits!
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Emma Morales
•Is there any downside to filing even if you don't have to? Like, could it trigger an audit or something?
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Declan Ramirez
•There's really no downside to filing if you don't have to. It won't increase your audit risk as long as you're reporting your income accurately. The IRS generally appreciates voluntary compliance. The only "cost" is your time or money if you're paying for tax preparation. But many people who are under the filing threshold can file completely free using various programs, so even that's not usually an issue. When in doubt, I always recommend filing - you might discover credits you didn't know about!
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Katherine Hunter
Important thing nobody's mentioned - you DEFINITELY need to file if you had ANY federal taxes withheld from your paychecks and want to get that money back!! I made only $7k last year at my part-time job but had about $300 withheld. Filed even though I was under the threshold and got all $300 back as a refund.
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Lucas Parker
•Do you get ALL the federal tax back that was withheld if you're under the filing threshold? Or do they still keep some of it?
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Giovanni Greco
•Yes, you typically get ALL of the federal income tax withheld back if you don't owe any federal income tax! If your income is below the filing threshold and you don't have any other tax obligations, your tax liability is essentially $0, so any federal income tax that was withheld gets refunded to you completely. The only taxes you wouldn't get back are things like Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA), which are separate from federal income tax and don't get refunded. But the federal income tax portion - which is usually the bigger chunk - comes back 100% if you don't actually owe any income tax.
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Arjun Kurti
This is really helpful info everyone! I'm in a similar situation as Nina - had multiple income sources last year including some freelance graphic design work that paid me via 1099s (totaled about $800) plus a regular part-time job that was W-2. From what I'm reading here, since my 1099 income was over $400, I definitely need to file for the self-employment tax even though my total income was pretty low. I had no idea about this distinction before - I was only looking at the regular filing thresholds and thought I might be okay to skip filing this year. One quick question - if I file and discover I owe self-employment tax on that $800, roughly how much should I expect to pay? Trying to budget for this since I didn't set aside money throughout the year (rookie mistake, I know!).
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