Tax filing requirements: Who is required to file a tax return?

It’s true, not everyone has to file an individual income tax return. If you weren’t aware that scenario was a possibility, you may be wondering “who is required to file a tax return?”

Tax filing requirements usually depend on three things:

• Filing status
• Gross income, and
• Age

Filing status requirements

There are five filing statuses:

• Single
• Married Filing Jointly
• Married Filing Separately
• Qualifying Surviving Spouse
• Head of Household

Read on to learn more about each filing status and determine who has to file taxes. Be sure to also review the gross income thresholds below.  

Single income tax filing requirements

You meet the filing requirements for Single status if, on the last day of the year, both of these apply:

• You’re unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree.
• You don’t qualify to file as Head of Household or Qualifying Surviving Spouse.

You might also be Single if you were widowed before Jan. 1, and didn’t remarry during the tax year. However, you might be able to lower your tax if you qualify to file as either:

• Head of Household
• Qualifying Surviving Spouse with a dependent child

Married Filing Jointly income tax filing requirements

You’re considered married if, on the last day of the year, both of these applied:

• You’re legally married.
• You’re not legally separated under a divorce or separate maintenance decree.

A married couple can file two ways:

• On one federal return using Married Filing Jointly status, or, 
• On two different federal returns using Married Filing Separately status.

If your spouse dies during the year, both you and your spouse are considered married for that year. If you don’t remarry during the year, you can file a joint return or separate returns.

If you do remarry in the same year your spouse died, you must do both of these:

• File a joint return or separate returns with your new spouse.
• File a Married Filing Separately return for your deceased spouse.

Married Filing Separately income tax filing requirements

A married couple can file either a joint return or separate returns. However, a joint return often results in  lower federal income tax. If you file Married Filing Separately, you must file a return if you have more than $5 in income for the year.

If you file separate returns, the tax rates are usually higher. Plus, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) limits certain deductions and credits you can receive if you file separately.

Qualifying Surviving Spouse income tax filing requirements

You meet the filing requirements for the Qualifying Surviving Spouse filing status if all of these apply:

• You qualified to file a joint return for the year your spouse died. It doesn’t matter if you actually filed a joint return.
• Your spouse died in either of the two tax years immediately before the current tax year and you haven’t remarried.
• You can claim one of these relatives as a dependent on your federal return, excluding foster children:
  • Son
  • Daughter
  • Stepson
  • Stepdaughter
• You paid more than half the cost of maintaining your home for the year. This must have been the home of your child or stepchild for the entire year.

Head of Household income tax filing requirements

To meet the tax filing requirements for the Head of Household filing status, these must be true:

• You were unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year.
• You paid more than half the cost of maintaining your home for the year.
• A qualifying person lived with you in the home for more than half the year, excluding temporary absences. However, if the qualifying person is your dependent parent, they don’t have to live with you.

Married but considered unmarried for tax purposes

To be considered unmarried for income tax purposes, all of these must apply:

• You file a separate return from your spouse.
• You provided more than half the cost of maintaining your home for the entire year.
• Your home was the main home for more than half the year for one of these people:
  • Son or stepson
  • Daughter or stepdaughter
  • Eligible foster child (i.e. a child legally placed in your home by a court or agency)
• You can claim the qualifying person as your dependent. However, this doesn’t apply if you can’t claim the dependent because the noncustodial parent is claiming the child.
• Your spouse didn’t live in the home during the last six months of the year.

By filing taxes as Head of Household, you might be able to claim credits and deductions not available to Married Filing Separately filers. These include:

• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• Child and Dependent Care Credit
• Education credits
• Student Loan Interest Deduction

2024 tax filing requirements for most people

You’re required to file a return for 2024 if you have a certain amount of gross income. Gross income filingrequirements for each filing status are:

• Single Filing Status:
  • $14,600 if under age 65
  • $16,550 if age 65 or older
• Married Filing Jointly:
  • $29,200 if both spouses under age 65
  • $30,750 if one spouse under age 65 and one age 65 or older
  • $32,300 if both spouses age 65 or older
• Married Filing Separately — $5 for all ages
• Head of Household:
  • $21,900 if under age 65
  • $23,850 if age 65 or older
• Qualifying Surviving Spouse with dependent child:
  • $29,200 if under age 65
  • $30,750 if age 65 or older

For each taxpayer who is blind, add these additional amounts to the standard deduction:

• $1,950 (Single and Head of Household)
• $1,550 (Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, and Qualifying Surviving Spouse)

2024 federal tax filing requirements for children and other dependents

If your parent or someone else can claim you as a dependent, federal tax filing requirements depend on your:

• Gross income
• Earned income
• Unearned income

You need to file a return if you’re a:

• Single dependent under age 65, not blind, and any of these apply:
  • Your unearned income was more than $1,300.
  • Your earned income was more than $14,600.
  • Your gross income was more than the larger of:
    • $1,300
    • Your earned income up to $14,150 plus $450
• Single dependent either age 65 or older, or under age 65 and blind, and any of these apply:
  • Your unearned income was more than $3,250.
  • Your earned income was more than $16,550.
  • Your gross income was more than the larger of:
    • $3,250
    • Your earned income up to $14,150 plus $2,400
• Single dependent age 65 or older, blind, and any of these apply:
  • Your unearned income was more than $5,200.
  • Your earned income was more than $18,500.
  • Your gross income was more than the larger of:
    • $5,200
    • Your earned income up to $14,150 plus $4,350

• Married dependent under age 65, not blind, and any of these apply:
  • Your unearned income was more than $1,300.
  • Your earned income was more than $14,600
  • Your gross income was more than the larger of:
    • $1,300
    • Your earned income (up to $14,150) plus $450
  • Your gross income was at least $5 and your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions
• Married dependent either age 65 or older, or under age 65 and blind, and any of these apply:
  • Your unearned income was more than $2,850.
  • Your earned income was more than $16,150
  • Your gross income was more than the larger of:
    • $2,850
    • Your earned income (up to $14,150) plus $2,000
  • Your gross income was at least $5 and your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions
• Married dependent age 65 or older and blind, and any of these apply:
  • Your unearned income was more than $4,400.
  • Your earned income was more than $17,700.
  • Your gross income was more than the larger of:
    • $4,400
    • Your earned income (up to $14,150) plus $3,550
  • Your gross income was at least $5 and your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions

Additional tax filing information

There are some special rules around who has to file taxes that go beyond the filing status, gross income, and age guidelines mentioned above.

You have a filing requirement if any of these conditions apply:

• You owe any special taxes, including any of these:
  • Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
  • Additional tax on a qualified plan, including an IRA, or other tax-favored account. However, if you’re filing only because you owe this tax, you can instead file Tax Form 5329 by itself.
  • Household employment tax. However, if you’re filing only because you owe this tax, you can instead file Schedule H by itself.
  • Social Security and Medicare tax on either of these:
    • Tips you didn’t report to your employer
    • Wages you received from an employer who didn’t withhold these taxes
  • Repayment of first-time homebuyer credit
  • Write-in taxes, including uncollected Social Security, Medicare, or railroad retirement tax on these:
    • Tips you reported to your employer
    • Group term life insurance
    • Additional taxes on health savings accounts
  • Recapture taxes
• You (or your spouse, if filing jointly) received health saving account (HSA), Archer Medical Savings Account (MSA), or Medicare Advantage MSA distributions.
• You had net earnings from self-employment of at least $400.
• Advance payments of the premium tax credit were made for you, your spouse, or a dependent who enrolled in coverage through a marketplace. You (or whoever enrolled you) should have received Form 1095-A showing the amount of the advance payments.
• You had wages of $108.28 or more from a church or qualified church-controlled organization that is exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes.

If you’re due a tax refund, you don’t have to worry about paying a penalty for filing a late return after the tax deadline. However, generally if you don’t file a return to claim your refund within three years of your return’s due date, you won’t get your refund.

Get help filing your taxes

Now you should know who is required to file taxes. If you need more help, lean on H&R Block. Whether you choose to file with a tax pro or file with H&R Block Online, you can rest assured that we’ll get you the biggest refund possible.