If you spent all or part of 2011 working part-time or less, you may be wondering if you even have to file taxes this year. Many self-employed workers wonder the same, especially if they didn’t generate much money in the last 12 months. To determine whether or not you earned enough cash to warrant filing taxes, you must first consider your age, employment status, and total earnings.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) defines “earnings” as wages, salaries or tips paid to you by an employer (or yourself, if you are self-employed). In addition, the IRS also counts long-term disability benefits received before the minimum retirement age, union strike benefits, rent from personal property, prepaid income, royalties and proceeds from the sale of a home, as earnings as well.
The IRS’ website provides complete details on filing rules and exemptions, including the income minimums. Remember age is a major factor when determining whether or not you need to file tax forms. For example, an individual younger than 18 years old does not need to file a tax return unless he or she earned more than $5,000 in wages, $400 in self-employment income or at least $950 in interest income in a given year.
In addition, retirees, who are 65 years of age or older, also have unique exemptions. For instance, a single retiree earning less than $10,750 does not need to file taxes. Meanwhile, married retirees filing jointly don’t need to submit papers unless they earned $20,900 in 2011. Also, keep in mind that the government does not tax Social Security benefits, unless they add up to more than half of your income and your earnings exceeded $25,000.
Finally, if you are self-employed and you earned more than $400, you must file taxes. For those people who are single and worked part-time (and are younger than 65 and older than 17) in 2011 and netted more than $9,350, then you too must file tax papers with the IRS.