Filing tax's, which year?

Question

When you file tax's do you report the current or prior year? Like I know taxes are due on April 17? or something like that. So does that I mean I file for last year or this year (2007). I'm 17 years old and would like to know. Also if you didn't make any money do you have to file tax's?

Thank you 4 help

Answer 1

This is a good question. And please don't think you're the only one wondering this, either.

The tax returns for 2006 are due on April 17, 2007. We can't file on the current year, because right now we don't know what will happen yet, this year.

You only have to file a tax return if you have income. Some kinds of income aren't taxable to a person, and they look at the amount of income a person has, as well, to decide whether a person has to file a tax return. If the income is low enough, they won't need to file unless there was federal taxes withheld from their income that they want to have refunded to them.

For instance, let's say you had an after-school (and summer) job at a grocery store and started working in December so that your first pay check was the first week of January.

Every week, your pay check had, say, $25 withheld for federal taxes, in addition to your Social Security and Medicare taxes. So, for 52 weeks you'd have paid in $25 in federal taxes. That's a total of $1300 paid in for the year.

Now, if you made, say... $150 in wages every week for 52 weeks, your wages for the year would have been $7280.

You'd get a W-2 form from the company in January of the next year with all of this information on there. That's the information you'd use to file your tax return with.

On a federal tax return, every person has what is called a personal exemption amount. The personal exemption amount is a deduction in taxable income. For 2006 tax returns, that is $3300. Since you are 17, your parents (or one of your parents, if there's a divorce situation) has the right to claim you as a dependent on their tax return, which shifts your personal exemption to their tax return. This usually does help the parent quite a bit on their return, and doesn't have any serious consequence on the dependent's return.

Also, on a federal income tax return, a person is allowed a standard deduction. This is an amount that is based on the filing status of the person filing the return. I think of it as a reduction in income for living expenses. For a single person on the 2006 return, that is $5150.

So, in keeping with our example, you'd list your wages as $7280, and then subtract your standard deduction of $5150 from that, to get the taxable income of $2130. Since you're being claimed as a dependent on your parents' return, they will use your personal exemption on theirs, so this is the amount of income that is considered taxable to you... for this example.

Now, let's say the tax table shows... $425 as the amount of tax a single person with no exemptions would need to pay on the $2130 taxable income. You'd subtract the $425 from your federal withholding amount on the W-2... $1300, and you'd get a refund of $875 out of the federal taxes withheld from your pay checks.

I know this was a long-winded example, but I hope it gives you more of an idea of how the whole income tax thing works.

Answer 2

People are filing taxes now for $$$$ they received from Jan through Dec of 2006 .
You have to file taxes if you received $$$ from an employer
( active income ) , a savings account (passive income ) or over a certain amount as a gift.

Every person should read the 1040 instruction manual by the end of high school. Although some of it is complicated , you would get a general idea of how the government defines 'income' and what is allowed for deductions ( mortgage % , other taxes paid to states , certain medical costs etc )

http://www.irs.gov/

You can read in online , click on 1040 instruction

Answer 3

In 2007 by 4/17, you're filing for the year 2006 - you don't know yet what you'll make for 2007, so there wouldn't be any way to file yet for that.

If you don't have any income, then no, you don't file taxes.

Answer 4

You would file for 2006 as 2007 is not over yet. If you didn't make any money, you DO NOT have to file as there is nothing to report.

Answer 5

sure, there is not any longer something to evade her from filing this twelve months, no matter if she filed the previous twelve months. Your mom can honestly record her 2008 taxes now too. in reality, I did that only very last month. No problem. If she finally ends up owing funds, there'll be consequences and interest. If she's due a refund, she'll only get it. she will be in a position to acquire 2008 kinds from the IRS website, or purchase a application on Ebay for 2008, or employ a tax prep agency and do exactly both years. in reality, what i'm asserting is, there is not any obstacle for your mom filing her late taxes.