I have never filed my income before. I’m a 22-year-old, full-time student who is still a dependant. I do not work full time (with the exception of a few weeks a year). I wanted to file for the first time this year, but I didn’t get my stuff mailed on time and now I am going to file late. :smack: I know absolutely nothing about taxes (my parents have an accountant who is handling everything) but there are some things I would really like to know:
Is there going to be a penalty for me filing late? My parents have an extension, and as far as I know, I would be filing with them (right?).
Is there a lower limit on the amount of money that you have to make to file? If, say, you make less than $X,000 you do not need to file?
If you are a dependant, do you have to file with your parents or do you file separately?
If your gross income is less than the standard deduction (around $5k if you’re single), you don’t owe any tax. But if your employer withheld any money, you would file to get it back.
I always filed separately when I was a dependent student.
If I were you, I’d read the 1040 Instruction booklet, handily available online. It has useful sections like “Do I need to file?”
Long story short- the only likely bad thing to happen is that you’ll lose the refund you probably have coming.
Note- I am basing this on you having “earned” income, and not a lot of it, which is what your OP seems to be saying. If besides the “do not work full time (with the exception of a few weeks a year)” you had a few hundred thousand $$ in Oil Royalties, of course things would be significantly different. YMMV.
