Do full-time students have to pay any income tax?

Question

Total income was approx. $8000. Paid about $355 in witholding. I always thought that a full-time student would get back ALL taxes paid during the year if income was low enough

Answer 1

Students are not exempt from filing tax returns. You will need to file and depending on whether you can claim your own exemption will determine whether you will get all of the Federal Tax withheld back.

Here is the link to the www,irs.gov website, for the FreeFile program
http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

Answer 2

The ONLY thing being a student has to do with income tax is that it MAY allow your parents to claim you as a dependent. If it does, you can't claim a personal exemption on your own tax return. Assuming you are single, the standard deduction, which you can claim even if you are a dependent, is $5,150. This reduces your taxable income to $2,850. If you don't qualify as a dependent, your $3,300 personal exemption wipes out your taxable income. If you are a dependent, you or in the 10% bracket and your tax is $285. Based on the information you gave, your refund should be $70 as a dependent or $355 if not a dependent.