TaxWrenHow much do you have to make to file taxes?
The IRS filing requirement depends on your filing status, your age at the end of the year and your gross income. If your gross income was at least the amount below, you must file a 2025 return, even if you owe no tax.
| Filing status | Age at the end of 2025 | File if gross income was at least |
|---|---|---|
| Single | under 65 | $15,750 |
| Single | 65 or older | $17,750 |
| Head of household | under 65 | $23,625 |
| Head of household | 65 or older | $25,625 |
| Married filing jointly | both under 65 | $31,500 |
| Married filing jointly | one spouse 65 or older | $33,100 |
| Married filing jointly | both 65 or older | $34,700 |
| Married filing separately | any age | $5 |
| Qualifying surviving spouse | under 65 | $31,500 |
| Qualifying surviving spouse | 65 or older | $33,100 |
You count as 65 or older for 2025 if you were born before January 2, 1961. A married couple filing jointly who didn't live together at the end of the year must file with gross income of $5 or more.
2026 returns: the IRS publishes the 2026 chart in Publication 501 for 2026, usually around the start of the filing season, and this page will switch to it then. For 2025, the threshold for most filers equals the standard deduction for the filing status ($15,750 single) plus the extra amount for age 65. The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers.
What counts as gross income
- All income you received as money, goods, property or services that isn't exempt from tax, including income from outside the US and the gain on selling your main home, even if you can exclude it.
- Wages, tips, interest, dividends, unemployment, pensions, IRA withdrawals and capital gains (gains, not losses).
- For a business, gross receipts (Schedule C line 7), not profit: expenses and losses don't reduce gross income for this test.
- Social Security benefits only if half of them plus your other gross income and tax-exempt interest is more than $25,000 ($32,000 married filing jointly), or you are married filing separately and lived with your spouse during the year. Then only the taxable part counts.
Gross income is not the same as adjusted gross income or taxable income: it comes before any deduction.
Filing requirements for dependents
If a parent or someone else can claim you as a dependent, a different test applies. A single dependent under 65 and not blind must file a 2025 return if any of these is true:
- Unearned income (interest, dividends, capital gains, unemployment, taxable Social Security, pensions) was more than $1,350.
- Earned income (wages, tips, taxable scholarships) was more than $15,750.
- Gross income was more than the larger of $1,350 or earned income (up to $15,300) plus $450.
Each limit goes up by $2,000 for a dependent who is 65 or older and again if blind ($1,600 each for a married dependent). Example: a student who earned $6,000 at a summer job and had $500 of bank interest has gross income of $6,500, which is more than $6,450 ($6,000 + $450), so the student must file.
When you must file whatever your income
- You had net earnings from self-employment of $400 or more (92.35% of net profit). See the self-employment tax calculator.
- You had wages of $108.28 or more from a church or church-controlled organization exempt from employer Social Security and Medicare taxes.
- You owe special taxes reported on Schedule 2, such as the alternative minimum tax, the additional tax on an IRA or other tax-favored account, Social Security and Medicare tax on unreported tips or on wages your employer didn't withhold it from, household employment taxes or recapture taxes.
- You (or your spouse if filing jointly) received distributions from a health savings account, an Archer MSA or a Medicare Advantage MSA.
- Advance payments of the premium tax credit were made for you, your spouse or a dependent who enrolled in a Health Insurance Marketplace plan (you should have a Form 1095-A).
- You bought a clean vehicle and transferred the credit to the dealer to lower the price.
- You must include amounts in income under section 965 or pay a section 965 net tax liability in installments.
When you should file even if you don't have to
- Federal income tax was withheld from your pay.
- You made estimated tax payments, or applied last year's overpayment to this year.
- You qualify for the earned income credit.
- You qualify for the additional child tax credit.
- You qualify for the refundable American opportunity credit.
- You qualify for the premium tax credit.
Withheld tax and refundable credits come back only on a filed return. The tax refund calculator estimates how much.
What happens if you don't file
If you owe tax, the failure to file penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month the return is late, up to 25%. If the return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty is $525 for returns due in 2026, or 100% of the unpaid tax if that is less. When the failure to pay penalty (0.5% a month) applies in the same months, the failure to file penalty is reduced by it. If you can't file on time, an extension gives you more time to file but not to pay; see the tax calendar for the deadlines.
Who this covers
These rules are for US citizens and resident aliens filing a federal return. Nonresident aliens follow IRS Publication 519; the substantial presence test calculator tells you which one you are. Each state sets its own filing requirement, so check your state's revenue department even when you don't need a federal return.
Sources: IRS Publication 501 (2025), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information; IRS Instructions for Form 1040 (2025), Chart A: For Most People; IRS, Failure to file penalty. See our methodology.