Filing Requirements for Tax Year 2013

William Perez for About.com writes: A person is required to file an income tax return with the IRS if the person's income is more than a certain amount. To determine whether a person needs to file a tax return, we can turn to tables found in Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax. Publication 17 contains three tables of filing requirements: one "for most taxpayers," another for dependents, and a third for other situations when a tax return is required.

We need to know four things to use these tables: whether a person is a dependent or not, a person's filing status, age, and gross income. Once we are armed with this information, we take a two-step process:

1. If a person is not a dependent, then we look at Table 1-1 below. If a person is a dependent, we skip Table 1-1 and look at Table 1-2 instead.
2. If it appears that a person might not need to file a return after looking at Table 1-1 or Table 1-2, we then review Table 1-3 to see if there's another reason a person will need to file a tax return.

Finally, even if a person is not required to file a tax return, there still might be good reasons to file a tax return anyway. If a person had income and tax withholding on that income, filing a return is the only way for a person to have their tax withholding refunded to them. Also, sometimes people are eligible for refundable tax credits such as the earned income credit. And the only way to obtain these refundable credits is to file a tax return.

So let's take a look at the various filing requirement tables.

2013 Filing Requirements for Most Taxpayers

(From Publication 17: Table 1-1)

IF your filing status is...	AND at the end of 2013 you   were...	THEN file a return if   your gross income   was at least...
Single	under 65	$10,000
	65 or older	$11,500
married filing jointly***	under 65 (both spouses)	$20,000
	65 or older (one spouse)	$21,200
	65 or older (both spouses)	$22,400
married filing separately	any age	$3,900
head of household	under 65	$12,850
	65 or older	$14,350
qualifying widow(er) with dependent child	under 65	$16,100
	65 or older	$17,300

2013 Filing Requirements for Dependents

(From Publication 17: Table 1-2)

Single dependents--Were you either age 65 or older or blind?
□	No.	You must file a return if any of the following apply.
		•	Your unearned income was more than $1,000.
		•	Your earned income was more than $6,100.
		•	Your gross income was more than the larger of:
			•	$1,000, or
			•	Your earned income (up to $5,750) plus $350.
□	Yes.	You must file a return if any of the following apply.
		•	Your unearned income was more than $2,500 ($4,000 if 65 or older and blind).
		•	Your earned income was more than $7,600 ($9,100 if 65 or older and blind).
		•	Your gross income was more than the larger of:
			•	$2,500 ($4,000 if 65 or older and blind), or
			•	Your earned income (up to $5,750) plus $1,850 ($3,350 if 65 or older and blind).
Married dependents--Were you either age 65 or older or blind?
□	No.	You must file a return if any of the following apply.
		•	Your unearned income was more than $1,000.
		•	Your earned income was more than $6,100.
		•	Your gross income was at least $5 and your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions.
		•	Your gross income was more than the larger of:
			•	$1,000, or
			•	Your earned income (up to $5,750) plus $350.
□	Yes.	You must file a return if any of the following apply.
		•	Your unearned income was more than $2,200 ($3,400 if 65 or older and blind).
		•	Your earned income was more than $7,300 ($8,500 if 65 or older and blind).
		•	Your gross income was at least $5 and your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions.
		•	Your gross income was more than the larger of:
			•	$2,200 ($3,400 if 65 or older and blind), or
			•	Your earned income (up to $5,750) plus $1,550 ($2,750 if 65 or older and blind).

Other Situations When You Must File a 2013 Return

(From Publication 17: Table 1-3)

You must file a return if any of the four conditions below apply for 2013.
1.		You owe any special taxes, including any of the following.
	a.	Alternative minimum tax.
	b.	Additional tax on a qualified plan, including an individual retirement arrangement (IRA), or other tax-favored account. But if you are filing a return only because you owe this tax, you can file Form 5329 by itself.
	c.	Household employment taxes. But if you are filing a return only because you owe this tax, you can file Schedule H by itself.
	d.	Social security and Medicare tax on tips you did not report to your employer or on wages you received from an employer who did not withhold these taxes.
	e.	Recapture of first-time homebuyer credit.
	f.	Write-in taxes, including uncollected social security and Medicare or RRTA tax on tips you reported to your employer or on group-term life insurance and additional taxes on health savings accounts.
	g.	Recapture taxes.
2.		You (or your spouse, if filing jointly) received HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA distributions.
3.		You had net earnings from self-employment of at least $400.
4.		You had wages of $108.28 or more from a church or qualified church-controlled organization that is exempt from employer social security and Medicare taxes.

For more information about filing requirements:

• Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, chapter 1 (similar information is found inPublication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information)
• Who Should File a 2013 Tax Return? (IRS Tax Tip 2014-01)
• Do You Need To File A Tax Return In 2014? (Forbes)