The IRS uses income thresholds — but there's more to it than one number
Whether you're required to file a federal tax return depends primarily on how much you earned, your filing status (single, married, head of household, etc.), your age, and the type of income you received. For most people with straightforward W-2 jobs, the IRS sets a "gross income threshold" each year — if you earn below that amount, filing is technically optional. For the 2025 tax year (returns due in April 2026), that threshold is $14,600 for single filers under 65. If you made less than that from a regular job with no other income sources, the IRS does not require you to file.
Here's where it gets complicated: the type of income matters as much as the amount. Self-employment income — from freelancing, gig work, selling handmade goods, or driving for a rideshare app — carries a completely separate and much lower threshold. If you netted $400 or more from self-employment, you are required to file, period, regardless of what you earned from other sources. That's because self-employed people owe both the employee and employer portions of Social Security and Medicare taxes, and the IRS collects those through the filing process.
On top of that, certain situations always trigger a filing requirement no matter how little you earned: if you received advance payments of the premium tax credit, if you had household employee wages, or if you owe any special taxes like the alternative minimum tax. The safest approach is to run through each factor rather than assume income alone answers the question.
Low income isn't one situation — it's many different ones
The filing question looks different depending on where your small amount of income actually came from. Check the scenario that fits you closest.
Not filing when you don't have to is fine. Not filing when you should have is a problem — and not filing when you'd get money back is just leaving cash on the table.
If you're genuinely below the threshold and have no special circumstances, skipping the filing won't get you in trouble. But there are two scenarios where not filing costs you real money. First: if your employer withheld federal income tax from your paychecks, that money is sitting at the IRS waiting for you to claim it. The IRS will not send you a check automatically. You have to file a return to get a refund. Second: the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable credit that can put hundreds or even thousands of dollars back in your pocket if your income was low — but only if you file. You have three years to claim a refund before the IRS keeps it permanently.
The IRS estimates that roughly $1 billion in unclaimed refunds goes unreclaimed every year, primarily from people who didn't realize they were owed money or assumed they didn't need to file. The deadline to claim a refund for a prior year is three years from the original filing due date — after that, the money is gone for good.
There is a trusted solution for this.
We've mapped out the exact IRS thresholds, the situations where filing optional becomes filing smart, and the free tools that make it painless — so you can decide with confidence in under ten minutes.
See the Trusted Solution →Free to read · Independently verified · Updated March 2026
What others have experienced
214 community experiences-
MR
I only made about $8,200 last year between two part-time jobs and assumed I didn't need to file. My brother convinced me to do it anyway through the IRS Free File tool, and I got back $612 in withheld taxes I didn't even know I was owed. Took maybe 25 minutes. Genuinely wish I'd done this in previous years when I was in the same situation.
47 found this helpful -
DP
I did some freelance graphic design on the side and made about $2,100 through the year — thought it was too small to bother with. Turns out because it was self-employment income over $400, I actually was required to file and owed self-employment tax. It wasn't a catastrophic amount but it was definitely more stressful finding out late. The $400 threshold for self-employment is way lower than most people realize.
83 found this helpful -
TK
My 19-year-old son had a summer job and made around $5,000 — we put him as a dependent on our taxes and figured he didn't need to file separately. He actually did need to file on his own to get back the $380 his employer had withheld. The dependent thing doesn't stop you from needing to file for a refund; it just affects the standard deduction amount you can claim. A little confusing but once I understood it, it made sense.
61 found this helpful
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