The filing requirements for individuals in general apply to all U.S. citizens, regardless of where they live, and residents of the United States.
Persons who are not U.S. citizens could be residents, nonresidents or dual-status taxpayers. There are specific rules to determine if a person is a resident or nonresident alien. The status is determined by the rules defined in IRS Publication 519.
A resident alien (not a U.S. citizen, but living in the U.S.) is generally subject to the same filing requirements as a U.S. citizen. The same requirements would also apply to nonresident aliens and dual-status aliens who are married to U.S. citizens or residents, and who have elected to be taxed as resident aliens. There are different filing requirements for other nonresident and dual-status aliens. In these cases, it may be necessary to file a special form – Form 1040NR or Form 1040NR-EZ.
Gross income per Chart A is all income you received from any source that is not specifically exempt from tax. However, social security benefits do not have to be taken into consideration here, unless you are married filing a separate return and you lived with your spouse at any time during the year. But, if you did not live with your spouse and you had $3,000 or more of gross income, you have to file a return regardless of your age.
Chart B – For Children and Other Dependents
If you can be claimed as a dependent on your parents’ or someone else’s return, you may have to file a tax return depending on your own marital status, age, earned and unearned income, and gross income.
Earned income includes wages, tips, and taxable scholarship and fellowship grants. Unearned income includes taxable interest, dividends, capital gain distributions and other types of investment income, and unemployment compensation, taxable social security benefits, pensions, annuities, and distributions of unearned income from a trust.
If your gross income was more than the amount of the exemption for the year (published by the IRS), normally you cannot be claimed as a dependent by your parents or someone else, unless you are under age 19 or a student under age 24.
If you can be claimed as a dependent by someone else and you are married, and your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions, you will also have to file a return if you have over $5 of gross income.
Exception for children under age 14
There is an exception to the filing requirements when the dependent is a child under the age of 14. In this case, if the child’s only income is from interest and dividends and certain other conditions apply, the parents can choose to include the child’s income on their own return instead of filing a separate return for the child.