Who Doesn’t Have to File Taxes This Year? Details for Retirees, Students and Gig Workers

Just because the IRS does not require you to file doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

With tax season ramping up, millions of Americans are gathering their financial forms and sitting down to complete a dreaded annual task.

Not everyone, though, is required to file a federal income tax return.

Whether you can skip filing for the 2025 tax year — the taxes you’ll file in spring 2026 — depends on your income, filing status and age. Generally speaking, if your income is less than the standard deduction for your tax filing status, you aren’t legally required to file, says Rob Burnette, who leads a team of financial planners and accountants at the Ohio-based Outlook Financial Center.

Tax filers subtract the standard deduction from their income to determine how much is subject to federal income tax. If your total income is below the standard deduction, then your taxable income would effectively be zero.

But just because you don’t have to file doesn’t always mean that you shouldn’t, and there are some exceptions to the rule where you’ll need to file even if your income is below the standard deduction, Burnette says. Plus, filing can be useful to give you official documentation of your earnings, which could be required for renting an apartment, applying for loans or filling out financial aid forms.

Here’s how the rules apply to three groups of taxpayers who may be able to skip filing a 1040 this year.

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Teenagers and college students

Many teens and full-time students who work summer jobs or part-time gigs have relatively modest incomes that don’t require filing. For the 2025 tax year, the standard deduction for a single filer is $15,750.

That said, even if your earnings are below that level, you’ll want to file if you’ve had income taxes withheld from your paycheck so you can get a refund, says Scot A. Dobbs, president of Summit CPA Group, P.C. based in Rockford, Illinois. You can check your W-2 to see whether you had money withheld from your paycheck.

There are a couple of caveats. Income from investments is treated differently and can require a tax return even if you didn’t earn money through a job. If you’re under 19 and own investment accounts, you may be subject to the so-called “kiddie tax.” In that case, you’re required to file a tax return if your “unearned income” — aka any interest or dividends — totaled more than $1,350 in 2025.

Likewise, self-employment income has a much lower threshold for filing than wages earned at a job and reported on a W-2 form. Technically, if you’ve got a cash-based job such as babysitting, tutoring or mowing lawns, net earnings above $400 are supposed to be reported, and you’ll owe self-employment taxes on the sum.

Finally, if you’re a college student who paid tuition and cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return, you’ll want to file regardless of how much you’ve earned so you can claim the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

The AOTC is worth up to $2,500 per student and it’s partially refundable, meaning if you don’t owe any taxes, you can get up to $1,000 in a tax refund. If you are a student who can still be claimed as a dependent on a parent’s tax form, though, it’s usually more valuable for the parent to claim you and get the tax credit since their earnings are higher, Burnette says.

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Retirees

When you turn 65, you become eligible for a higher standard deduction. For 2025, older adults need to file a return if their gross income is above the following thresholds, per the IRS:

• Single filers: $17,550
• Head of household: $25,625
• Married filing jointly: $33,100 if one spouse is under 65; $34,700 if both spouses are 65 or older.

These enhanced standard deduction amounts are separate from the new “senior bonus” that was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, passed last July. That new deduction is worth up to an additional $6,000 per taxpayer 65 and older. (The value of the new deduction starts to phase out for single filers with incomes over $75,000 and joint filers earning more than $150,000.)

Withdrawals from traditional IRAs and 401(k)s, pension payments and part-time wages all count toward your gross income. Keep in mind that if you live somewhere with a state income tax, the state income limit required to file may be different than the federal one.

There are cases also where you may have to file even if your “run-of-the-mill” income is below the federal threshold, such as if you sold investments and you owe capital gains taxes, Dobbs says.

It’s also smart for retirees to review how Social Security benefits are taxed. If Social Security was your only income in 2025, you generally won’t owe any income taxes (and you probably don’t need to file a federal tax return).

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But if you had multiple sources of income in 2025, such as interest or dividends from investment accounts or payments from a pension, then some of your Social Security benefits may be taxed. To figure out whether you’ll be affected, you need to add up your adjusted gross income, tax-exempt interest income and half of your annual Social Security benefits. This total is what the IRS and Social Security Administration call your “combined income.”

If your combined income is between $25,000 and $34,000 for single filers (or between $32,000 and $44,000 for married couples filing jointly), up to 50% of your benefits can be taxed. For single filers with a combined income above $34,000 ($44,000 for joint filers), you have to pay taxes on up to 85% of your Social Security benefits.

As with teens, it may make sense for retirees to file a return even if their earnings don’t require it if they are eligible for a refundable tax credit or if they’ve had taxes withheld from their Social Security benefits and think they may qualify to have some of that amount refunded.

Part-time gig workers

Most people earning money through freelance or app-based gig work have to file a tax return — even if you only consider the job a small side hustle.

The self-employment tax rules come into play here, meaning if you have net earnings of $400 or more, you must file a federal tax return. This applies even if your total income is below the standard deduction for your filing status.

That’s because unlike traditional employees, gig workers typically receive 1099 forms instead of W-2s, and taxes are not withheld automatically.

“The IRS is going to be looking for you to pay tax on Social Security and Medicare,” Dobbs says.

If you’re still not sure whether you need to file taxes, some CPAs may offer an intro call free of charge where they’ll go over your finances and determine if it makes sense to work with you. You can also use the IRS’s Interactive Tax Assistant tool, which includes a series of questions that helps determine whether filing is required for your financial situation.

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