“Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” —Og Mandino
Not everyone is actually required to file a federal income tax return.
For 2025, if you’re a single filing status taxpayer under age 65, you generally don’t need to file if your total income was less than 15.75K (the standard deduction for the year) and there are no special circumstances, like self-employment income.
The standard deduction is the key factor. If your income doesn’t exceed it, there’s no taxable income and no filing requirement.
However, that changes quickly when other income types are involved.
Self-employment income can trigger a filing requirement even at lower levels because self-employment tax applies separately from income tax.
The IRS sets different filing thresholds depending on age, filing status, and income type. Here’s what those thresholds look like for the 2025 tax year:
| Filing Status | Taxpayer Age (at end of 2025) | File a return if gross income was at least: |
| Single | Under 65 | 15.75K |
| Single | 65 or older | 17.75K |
| Head of Household | Under 65 | 23.6K |
| Head of Household | 65 or older | 25.6K |
| Married Filing Jointly | Under 65 (both spouses) | 31.5K |
| Married Filing Jointly | 65 or older (one spouse) | 33.1K |
| Married Filing Jointly | 65 or older (both spouses) | 34.7K |
| Married Filing Separately | Any age | 5 dollars |
| Qualifying Surviving Spouse | Under 65 | 31.5K |
| Qualifying Surviving Spouse | 65 or older | 33.1K |
Now, even if you’re not required to file, that doesn’t mean you have nothing to gain from filing.
If federal tax was withheld from your paycheck, filing is the only way to recover a refund.
If you made estimated tax payments, filing reconciles those payments against what you actually owe.
And valuable credits (like the Earned Income Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit) are only received if you file.
And beyond the refund question, a filed return creates documentation. Lenders, mortgage companies, student loan programs, and government benefits often require recent tax returns as proof of income.
If you’re still unsure whether filing this year is the smart move for you, that’s a conversation we should have in the next few weeks: