When is it required to file a tax return
Do I Need to File a Tax Return?
do I need to file a tax return do I need
to file taxes it really depends on your
situation but let's find out together
I'm gonna give you a disclaimer I'm
gonna be upfront with you I'm going to
start with the uninteresting material
first and then the video will grow
aggressively boring until we reach the
really exciting stuff about Social
Security benefits and retirement income
that's where all the magic happens we
all know that I'm gonna tell you the
situations where you are not required to
file a tax return and you should not
waste your time filing one I'm also
going to tell you the situations where
you are not required to file a tax
return but you should because you will
get money back the IRS they'll never
give you notification hey file your tax
return because we're gonna give you
money if you're gonna get money back
know if they know that you're in refund
status they're gonna keep hush about it
they're gonna hope that you do not file
within three years because if you do not
file and claim your refunds in three
years then you lose it it's kind of like
a sick little game that they play most
people that are asking this question of
do I need to file taxes is because you
didn't make much money your child works
or the majority of your income is from
Social Security benefits or retirement
income let's begin with the situation
where you didn't make much money and you
are not required to file a tax return
and you should not waste your time
filing a tax return this is the scenario
you are single you're not claiming a
child and your only source of income is
you working as an employee and you made
under twelve thousand two hundred
dollars if that's your situation you are
not required to file a tax return
however let's check out to see whether
is you're worth your time filing a tax
return that's quite simple to do so pull
up your w-2 look at box two of your w-2
if you file your tax return that's how
much money will be refunded back to you
your box - if that box - value is zero
or a very small amount that's not worth
your time then
I'll file your tax return don't waste
your time don't be silly if that number
is a large value then you should
definitely file your tax return them
because that's the amount of money then
you will be refunded by filing a tax
return scenario two
you are married filing jointly you are
not claiming a child and you and your
spouse as employees or as an employee
earned under twenty four thousand four
hundred in this situation you are not
required to file a tax return however
you do the same exercise to see if it is
worth it for you to file a tax return
pull up your w-2s your w-2 your spouse
is w2 check out box two of the w2's sum
those up that's how much money you will
get refunded back to you if you file
your tax return if that value is zero or
a small amount that's not worth your
time - don't waste your time filing a
tax return if that value is a larger
number that's worth your time recouping
then please go ahead and file that tax
return and you will get that refunded
back to you here are situations where
you are not required to file a tax
return but you absolutely should here's
the next scenario you are single you are
claiming a child or children and you
worked as an employee and made under
eighteen thousand three hundred and
fifty dollars if that's the case you are
not required to file a tax return
however you would be the biggest sucker
for not filing a tax return because pull
up your w-2 look at what's listed on box
two of your w-2 that's how much money
that will be refunded back to you and on
top of this you're going to get
additional free money in the form of the
earned income tax credits and also there
are fundable child tax credits it's
gonna be a lot of money it's gonna be a
big refund if that's your scenario so in
that situation you absolutely want to
file even though you are not required to
do so the next scenario is similar it's
a similar concept
you're just married filing jointly
you're married filing jointly you are
claiming a child or children and your
earned income from working as an
employee is under twenty four thousand
four hundred if that's the case you are
not required to file a tax return
however again you would be so silly
not to because check out your w-2s
whatever is listed you sum up box two of
your w-2s whatever is listed that will
be refunded back to you and on top will
be the earned income tax credits and
also the refundable child tax credit in
this case you're not required to file
while you absolutely without a doubt
wants you
moving on to self-employed people if you
made over $400 in profits from your
business from contracting consulting
your Hustle whatever it is that you do
for self-employment income then you are
required to file tax return
unfortunately the reason why the
threshold is so low four hundred dollars
compared to the other scenarios is
because of the self-employment tax
that's what's causing this problem or
this issue basically the standard
deduction you know that deduction that
everybody can opt to claim that reduces
your income subject to federal income
taxes however as a self-employed person
that does you no good because the
standard deduction only reduces the
income subject to federal income taxes
not the income subject to
self-employment taxes which is really
Social Security Medicare so
unfortunately if you're self-employed
that you're making over four hundred
dollars in profit you need to file a tax
return let's talk about what your child
may need to file their own separate tax
return if you're claiming your child as
your dependents and they made working as
an employee twelve thousand two hundred
dollars or less in that situation they
do not need to file their own separate
tax return if they're making more than
that then yes they need to file their
own separate tax return an additional
rule is that if your child made eleven
hundred dollars or more in interest
and/or dividend income then
unfortunately they need to file their
own separate tax return now if your kids
not required to file that
tax return I'm not saying that they
shouldn't again it depends on whether
it's worth your time filing one for them
or having them file their own tax return
all you need to do to determine whether
it's worth your time or worth their time
is to look at their box two box two of
their w-2 that's how much money that
they will be refunded back to them if
they file their own tax return another
situation where they may still want to
file a tax return when they are not
required to do so is if they are an
undergrad and they qualify for the
American Opportunity Education tax
credit all right thanks for hanging with
me through all that boring stuff now
that we go all that boring material out
of the way let's talk about retirement
income and so it's just security
benefits but first let me say that if
you are at least 65 years old you get an
increase in your standard deduction
you also get an increase in your
standard deduction if your spouse is 65
years old if you are blind
and/or if your spouse is blind the
largest standard reduction would be for
a married couple that are both at least
65 years old and are both blind if you
receive only Social Security benefits
then that income will not be taxable to
you and in that situation you will not
be required to file your own tax return
now this post is the question that then
when are social security benefits
taxable this is going to be a rough
guideline of when Social Security
benefits are taxable you're going to
take let me just say that it's going to
depend on your other sources of income
outside of your Social Security benefits
so the general equation or the the rough
equation is you take half of your Social
Security benefits and then you add on
all your other forms of income that are
subject to tax
half the social care benefits and your
other income if that amount is going to
exceed $25,000 as a single person or
$32,000 as a married filing joint couple
but in that situation a portion of your
social secur
benefits will be taxable if you have a
mix of Social Security income
pension income IRA income perhaps some
taxable investment income such as
interest or dividends basically and
ultimately what you're trying to do is
see if that income that is subject to
tax is below the standard deduction
amounts if it's below the standard
deduction amount then you are not
required to file a tax return if it's
over the standard deduction amount then
yes you are required to file a tax
return but remember it depends on your
standard deduction because you get an
increase in your set in your standard
deduction if you're 65 and up or if you
are blind just as a reminder the
qualified Roth IRA distributions they
will not count as income to you the 401k
distributions that will be taxable
income to you and before we talk about
traditional IRAs and pensions just know
that when I say pre-tax money that just
means money that has not been taxed yet
so money in a retirement accounts that
has not been taxed yet or money that you
put into a retirement accounts and you
received a deduction for putting one for
putting that money into the retirement
accounts and when I say after-tax
dollars that just means that money in a
retirement account that you've already
paid tax on or money that you put into a
retirement account and you did not get a
deduction so please distinguish between
pre-tax money and after-tax money for
example if you get paid as an employee
and you defer some of your compensation
into a 401k plan then that's pre-tax
money that's sitting in that 401k plan
because you did not pay any taxes on
that money yet so that's pre-tax money
this is in contrast to money that you
put into the Roth 401k if you did that
you've already paid taxes on that money
and it's sitting in the Roth 401k plan
as after tax
so that's after-tax dollars in the Roth
401k plan another example is if you put
money into a traditional IRA and you
receive the deduction for it then it's
pre-tax money in contrast if you put
money into the traditional IRA and you
did not receive a deduction for that a
non deductible contribution then that's
after-tax dollars if you have a
traditional IRA distribution how much of
that distribution is taxable income to
you depends on the composition of the
funds in the traditional IRA for example
if your traditional IRA is composed of
50 percents pre-tax money and 50
percents after-tax dollars in that
situation 50% of your distribution will
be taxable income in a situation where a
hundred percent of your funds in the
traditional IRA our pre-tax dollars then
a hundred percent of your distribution
will be taxable income to you pension
income is taxable to you if you do not
contribute to the pension or if your
employer did not take part of your
salary to put into the pension pensions
are usually funded with pre-tax dollars
your pension income is only partially
taxable if contributions to the pension
were funded with after-tax dollars but
remember we're talking about 401ks roth
401 k's pensions traditional areas Roth
IRAs just to see if these count towards
your taxable income which triggers your
Social Security benefits being taxable
that's ultimately what's going on here
and if your income subject to tax is
below the standard deduction amount then
you are not required to file a tax
return as you witness the question of do
I need to file taxes is really dependent
upon your unique situation I hope that
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