loading…
loading…
loading…
Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent Parents' Election To Report Child's Interest and Dividends Who Must File If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, whether you must file a federal income tax re turn depends on your gross income, your filing status, your age, and whether you are a de pendent. For details, see Table 1 and Table 2. You also must file if one of the situations descri bed in Table 3 applies. The filing requirements apply even if you owe no tax. You may have to pay a penalty if you are re quired to file a return but fail to do so. If you will fully fail to file a return, you may be subject to criminal prosecution. For information on what form to use — Form 1040EZ, Form 1040A, or Form 1040 — see the instructions for your tax return. Gross income. Gross income is all income you receive in the form of money, goods, prop erty, and services that is not exempt from tax. If you are married and live with your spouse in a community property state, half of any income defined by state law as community income may be considered yours. For a list of community property states, see Community property states under Married Filing Separately, later. Self-employed persons. If you are selfemployed in a business that provides serv ices (where products are not a factor), your gross income from that business is the gross re ceipts. If you are selfemployed in a business involving manufacturing, merchandising, or mining, your gross income from that business is the total sales minus the cost of goods sold. In either case, you must add any income from in vestments and from incidental or outside opera tions or sources. You must file Form 1040 if you owe any self-employment tax. Filing status. Your filing status generally de pends on whether you are single or married. Whether you are single or married is deter mined at the end of your tax year, which is De cember 31 for most taxpayers. Filing status is discussed in detail later in this publication. Age. Age is a factor in determining if you must file a return only if you are 65 or older at the end of your tax year. For 2014, you are 65 or older if you were born before January 2, 1950. Filing Requirements for Most Taxpayers You must file a return if your gross income for the year was at least the amount shown on the appropriate line in Table 1. Dependents should see Table 2 instead. 2848 8332 8814 TIP Deceased Persons You must file an income tax return for a dece dent (a person who died) if both of the following are true. 1. You are the surviving spouse, executor, administrator, or legal representative. 2. The decedent met the filing requirements described in this publication at the time of his or her death. For more information, see Final Income Tax Return for Decedent — Form 1040 in Publica tion 559. Death of spouse. If your spouse died in 2014, read this before using Table 1 or Table 2 to find whether you must file a 2014 return. Consider your spouse to be 65 or older at the end of 2014 only if he or she was 65 or older at the time of death. Even if your spouse was born before January 2, 1950, he or she is not considered 65 or older at the end of 2014 unless he or she was 65 or older at the time of death. A person is considered to reach age 65 on the day before his or her 65th birthday. Example. Your spouse was born on Febru ary 14, 1949, and died on February 13, 2014. Your spouse is considered age 65 at the time of death. However, if your spouse died on Febru ary 12, 2014, your spouse is not considered age 65 at the time of death and is not 65 or older at the end of 2014. Death of taxpayer. If you are preparing a re turn for someone who died in 2014, read this before using Table 1 or Table 2. Consider the taxpayer to be 65 or older at the end of 2014 only if he or she was 65 or older at the time of death. Even if the taxpayer was born before January 2, 1950, he or she is not considered 65 or older at the end of 2014 unless he or she was 65 or older at the time of death. A person is considered to reach age 65 on the day before his or her 65th birthday. U.S. Citizens or Resident Aliens Living Abroad To determine whether you must file a return, in clude in your gross income any income you earned or received abroad, including any in come you can exclude under the foreign earned income exclusion. For more information on spe cial tax rules that may apply to you, see Publi cation 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resi dent Aliens Abroad. Residents of Puerto Rico If you are a U.S. citizen and also a bona fide resident of Puerto Rico, you generally must file a U.S. income tax return for any year in which you meet the income requirements. This is in addition to any legal requirement you may have to file an income tax return with Puerto Rico. If you are a bona fide resident of Puerto Rico for the whole year, your U.S. gross income does not include income from sources within Puerto Rico. It does, however, include any in come you received for your services as an em ployee of the United States or any U.S. agency. If you receive income from Puerto Rican sour ces that is not subject to U.S. tax, you must re duce your standard deduction, which reduces the amount of income you can have before you must file a U.S. income tax return. For more information, see Publication 570, Tax Guide for Individuals With Income From U.S. Possessions. Individuals With Income From U.S. Possessions If you had income from Guam, the Common wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Ameri can Samoa, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, special rules may apply when determining whether you must file a U.S. federal income tax return. In ad dition, you may have to file a return with the in dividual possession government. See Publica tion 570 for more information. Dependents A person who is a dependent may still have to file a return. It depends on his or her earned in come, unearned income, and gross income. For details, see Table 2. A dependent must also file if one of the situations described in Table 3 applies. Responsibility of parent. If a dependent child must file an income tax return but cannot file due to age or any other reason, a parent, guard ian, or other legally responsible person must file it for the child. If the child cannot sign the return, the parent or guardian must sign the child's name followed by the words “By (your signa ture), parent for minor child.” Earned income. Earned income includes sal aries, wages, professional fees, and other amounts received as pay for work you actually perform. Earned income (only for purposes of filing requirements and the standard deduction) also includes any part of a taxable scholarship. See chapter 1 of Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, for more information on taxable and nontaxable scholarships. Child's earnings. Amounts a child earns by performing services are included in his or her gross income and not the gross income of the parent. This is true even if under local law the child's parent has the right to the earnings and may actually have received them. But if the child does not pay the tax due on this income, the parent is liable for the tax. Unearned income. Unearned income in cludes income such as interest, dividends, and capital gains. Trust distributions of interest, divi dends, capital gains, and survivor annuities are also considered unearned income. Election to report child's unearned income on parent's return. You may be able to in clude your child's interest and dividend income on your tax return. If you do this, your child will Publication 501 (2014) Page 3