Can you still file taxes if you had no income last year?

You may wonder how to submit your taxes if you didn’t generate any earnings in the past year. It’s common knowledge that tax filing is obligatory; thus, it’s important never to miss a deadline.

Consequently, you should not ignore the tax return even if you did not earn any money or because you do not know how to submit taxes with no income. Learn from this post what to do when faced with such a situation.

Is it still necessary to file a tax return even if I don’t have a salary or income?

In case you didn’t generate any income during the last tax year, the good news is that you don’t have to submit a return. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) updates its yearly minimum income criteria based on factors such as inflation or your tax situation.

You must always file a tax return on time because it is crucial. But how does one file when there were no earnings in the prior year?

Filing statuses including “married filing separately,” “married filing jointly,” “no dependents,” and “other” might affect eligibility for certain benefits and exemptions. Therefore, filing a tax return is optional if your income is zero. However, there are some significant justifications for this, so you may still wish to proceed.

There are refundable tax credits, so filing even if you had no income last year might result in a refund. Even if you’re currently unemployed, this still stands. In addition, if you have kids, you might get tax breaks like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit. Both of these credits may be refunded if you overpaid taxes.

You may still file even if you had a very low salary last year

Your back taxes might be refunded in this way. This situation arises if you have worked in the past calendar year but for just a short time. Another scenario where this may happen is if a student goes to college but has a small salary. Therefore, The American Opportunity credit may only be claimed if a tax return is filed.

Meanwhile, self-employed individuals and company owners have distinct challenges. For example, if you made more than $600, you must report this income on your tax return. Some ambiguity might arise when the contractor’s salary is more than $400 but less than the threshold at which W2 workers should file.

You must submit your taxes if you qualified for any healthcare tax credits or subsidies during the previous year. That means you can start getting them, too.