How to Determine If You Must File a Federal Income Tax Return

How to Determine If You Must File a Federal Income Tax Return

Whether or not you need to file a federal income tax return depends on your filing status, age and gross income. This step by step guide will help you determine if you should file a tax return in the year you have income.

Step 1: Check Your W-2 Form.

If you received a W-2 form for the wages you earned, check the box 2 – Federal income tax withheld on W-2. If there is any amount reported on this box, you should file a tax return no matter how much income you earned during the year, so you will not miss the tax refund in case you over paid federal withholding tax.

Note: You don’t need to go through the rest of steps if you can determine that you need to file a return at this step.

Step 2: Check Table 1. 2017 Filing Requirements Chart for Most Taxpayers to determine if you need to file a return. Or check Table 2. 2017 Filing Requirements for Dependents if you are a dependent (see How to determine if you are a dependent).






Note: You don’t need to go through the step 3 if you can determine that you need to file a return at this step.

Step 3: Check Table 3. Other Situations When You Must File a 2017 Return.




For more information about federal income tax filing requirements, please see IRS Publication 501.

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