If I have no exemptions or deductions, just a simple paycheck, do I HAVE to file taxes?
"As a Canadian resident, the simple answer to your question is ""yes"" Having worked as a tax auditor and as a Certified Financial Planner, you are required to file an income tax return because you have taxable employment income. All the employer is doing is deducting it at source and remitting it on your behalf. That does not alleviate your need to file. In fact, if you don't file you will be subject to a no filing penalty. The one aspect you are missing is that taxpayers may be entitled to tax credits that may result in a refund to you depending on your personal situation (e.g spousal or minor dependents). I hope this helps." While you are required to do so as others have said, it's actually in your interest to do so. In a recent article at GlobeInvestor, Tim Cestnick discusses the benefits of filing tax returns for teens. This situation may or may not apply to you but the message is the same. The main benefits are (1) create RRSP contribution room and (2) be eligible for GST/HST credits and other possible one-shot credits (think oil royalty surplus cheques in Alberta). Excerpt: You see, when Lincoln was 14, he filed a tax return and reported $2,000 of income that year. He paid no tax thanks to the basic personal tax credit, but he created $360 of RRSP contribution room that year. Beginning in 2003, Lincoln started working part-time in his father's business. His father agreed to pay him $6,000 each summer to work in the business, to help save money for university. Lincoln didn't pay any tax on the money he earned in those summers because his basic personal tax credit was always higher than his earnings. In addition, Lincoln added to his RRSP contribution room simply by filing a tax return each year. Yes, you have to file a tax return in Canada.  Non residents that have earned employment income in Canada are required to file a Canadian personal income tax return. Usually, your employer will have deducted sufficient taxes from your pay-cheques, resulting in a tax refund upon filing your Canadian tax return. You will also receive a tax credit on your US tax return for taxes paid in Canada. In many cases, you are required to file your taxes by law even if you won't owe. If it's anything like in the US, it's quite possible your employer is not taking the right amount and you may owe more or may even be in line for a return. http://www.usatax.ca/Pages/filing_requirement_taxes_canada.html If you took advantage of options like a home buyers plan (HBP) you definitely need to file since you must designate how much of the plan to repay.  Your employer does not know about what you do with your money so cannot take this into account for the withheld taxes.  If you do not report repayment of the HBP it will be treated as a withdrawal from your RRSP i.e. additional income for that tax year. You are not required to file a tax return in Canada if you have no taxable income. If you do not file a return you may be requested to by Canada Revenue Agency, and then you'll need to file one. There are hundreds of thousands of Canadian residents who do not file tax returns. The Minister who overlooks the CRA may assess any amount of taxes on any resident whether they file a return or not. There are penalties for failing to file a return or filing late. The penalties are based on a percentage of the taxes owed. If you owe no taxes, then the penalties are meaningless.
"I've been highly compensated for a while now, and I have never used a tax professional.  My past complications include the year that my company was bought by a VC firm and my stock options and stock held were bought out to the tune of 5x my salary.  And now I have two kids in college, with scholarships, and paying the remainder out of 529 accounts. Usually, I don't even use tax software.  My typical method is to use the online software -- like turbotax online -- and let it figure out where I am.  Then I use the ""Free File Fillable forms"" online to actually complete the process.  Search for ""Free File Fillable Forms"" -- it's not the same as using turbotax or TaxAct for free.   My suggestion to you:  download the PDF form of 1040EZ and 1040A from the IRS.  Print the EZ, and fill it out.  This will give you a better feel for what exactly is going on.  With your income, I don't think you can file the EZ, but it's a good way to get your feet wet. The way income taxes work here in the US: According to the IRS, the Personal Exemption this year is worth $4,050, and the Standard Deduction $6,300, assuming you're single.   Lets assume that your salary will be in fact 75,000, and you don't pay for any benefits, but you do make a 401k contribution of 15% of your salary.  Then your W-2 at the end of the year should tell you to put 63,750 in a particular box on your 1040 form.  (63,750 is 85% of 75,000).  Lets then assume 63,750 is your AGI after other additions and subtractions.  63,750 - 4,050 - 6,300 == 53,400. The federal Tax system is graduated, meaning there are different ranges (brackets) with different percentages.  The term tax people use for taxable income of 53,400 is ""marginal tax rate""...so the last dollar they tax at 25%.  Other dollars less.  According to the IRS, if you're single, then on 53,400, you pay ""$6,897.50 plus 25% of the amount over $50,400""  Or 6897.50 + 750, or 7647.50. Note this is only Federal Income Tax.  You will also be paying Social Security and Medicare payroll Tax.  And I'm guessing you'll also be paying colorado state income tax.  Each state has its own forms and methods for figuring out the taxes and stuff. By the way, when you start, you'll fill out a ""W-4"" form to ""help"" you figure out how much to withhold from every paycheck.  (I find the W-4 is not helpful at all).  Your company will withhold from your paycheck some mysterious amount, and the process of filling out your 1040A or 1040EZ or whatever will be, likely, to get the over-withheld amount back." According to pages 6 & 7 of the instructions for form 1040 in 2009 AMT was only temporarily patched for the year. Congress can't politically afford to drastically cut AMT exemptions by 30 to 40%, and may even retroactively change it, if it isn't passed by the end of the year (despite the constitution forbidding ex post facto laws) : What’s New for 2009 ...    Alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amount increased. The AMT exemption amount has increased to $46,700 ($70,950 if married filing jointly or a qualifying widow(er); $35,475 if married filing separately)... What’s New for 2010 ...    Alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amount. The AMT exemption amount is scheduled to decrease to $33,750 ($45,000 if married filing jointly or a qualifying widow(er); $22,500 if married filing separately). So, if you are married, and several regular tax deductions push your income below the AMT exemption amount of $45,000, it's quite possible you would be required to pay AMT, even if you didn't last year. There is a work sheet for AMT in the instructions for line 43, but the IRS also provides an AMT calculator. According to page 146 (E-8) of the instructions for form 1040 AMT is paid as: the smallest amount you are allowed to report as your taxable income (Form 1040, line 43). It is also the smallest amount you are allowed to report as your alternative minimum taxable income   (AMTI) on Form 6251, line 29. If the [AMT calculation] is larger than your taxable income would otherwise be, enter the amount from column (c) on Form 1040, line 43 [or ...] Form 6251, line 29.  As always, congress finds ways to further complicate things by making a few credits and losses deductible against the absolute minimum you're expected to pay taxes on, making the AMT a misnomer. No, you don't have to have the money deducted from your paycheck. The IRS doesn't get a copy of your paycheck anyway. When you file your annual tax return (form 1040), there's a line there to write down the amount you contributed to the IRA. In fact, you can contribute to the IRA after the year ended, until the Tax Day of the next year, so that you can make sure your contribution will actually be deductible (not always they are). The IRA custodian (the brokerage firm/bank where you opened the IRA account) will provide you with a deposit confirmation and form 5498. A copy of form 5948 is also sent to the IRS. Do I get a write off for paying student loans? Maybe.  See https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch04.html Generally, personal interest you pay, other than certain mortgage interest, isn't deductible on your tax return. However, if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $80,000 ($160,000 if filing a joint return) there is a special deduction allowed for paying interest on a student loan (also known as an education loan) used for higher education. For most taxpayers, MAGI is the adjusted gross income as figured on their federal income tax return before subtracting any deduction for student loan interest. This deduction can reduce the amount of your income subject to tax by up to $2,500.  Read the whole document to be sure, but that's the basics.   You'll have to fill out a 1040 or 1040A to claim a student loan deduction.  It won't be on the 1040EZ.  You do not have to itemize though.   What kinds of write-offs and credits are available for someone who is single and lives in an apartment with two roommates? As a practical matter, in 2016 you'll get the standard deduction for someone who is single ($6300) and the personal exemption ($4050).  It's extremely unlikely that you'll be able to deduct more by itemizing.  Most people who itemize are taking a mortgage interest deduction.  Major medical bills are another possibility, but they have to be more than 10% of your adjusted gross income (it's one of the lines on your tax return).  Assuming you rent and are reasonably healthy, you are unlikely to have enough to itemize.   The most likely additional deduction would be the one for an IRA (Individual Retirement Account).  Although you might be better off doing a Roth anyway (no tax deduction).   If you are self-employed or making more than $100,000 a year, there are additional issues.  But most people aren't.  If you filled out a W-4 and will get a W-2 back, you aren't self-employed.  Hopefully you have a rough idea of your annual income.   The first $9275 over your deductions will pay 10%.  After that, up to $37,650 you pay 15%.  The 2016 link above has a link (PDF) to the full table if you need more than that.  Note that that is the first $48,000 in income with your $10,350 in deductions. It is true that with a job that pays you via payroll check that will result in a W-2 because you are an employee, the threshold that you are worried about before you have to file is in the thousands. Unless of course you make a lot of money from bank interest or you have income tax withheld and you want it refunded to you. Table 2 and table 3 in IRS pub 501, does a great job of telling you when you must.  For you table 3 is most likely to apply because you weren't an employee and you will not be getting a W-2. If any of the five conditions listed below applied to you for 2016, you must file a return. You owe any special taxes, including any of the following. a. Alternative minimum tax. (See Form 6251.)    b. Additional tax on a   qualified plan, including an individual retirement arrangement (IRA),   or other tax­favored account.  (See Pub. 590­A, Contributions to   Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs); Pub. 590­B, Distributions   from  Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs); and Pub. 969, Health   Savings Accounts and Other Tax­Favored Health  Plans.) But if you are   filing a return only because you owe this tax, you can file Form 5329   by itself.   c. Social security or Medicare tax on tips you didn't   report to your employer (see Pub. 531, Reporting Tip Income) or on    wages you received from an employer who didn't withhold these taxes   (see Form 8919).    d. Write­in taxes, including uncollected social   security, Medicare, or railroad retirement tax on tips you reported to   your  employer or on group­term life insurance and additional taxes on   health savings accounts. (See Pub. 531, Pub. 969,  and the Form 1040   instructions for line 62.)   e. Household employment taxes. But if you   are filing a return only because you owe these taxes, you can file    Schedule H (Form 1040) by itself. f. Recapture taxes. (See the Form   1040 instructions for lines 44, 60b, and 62.) You (or your spouse if filing jointly) received Archer MSA, Medicare Advantage MSA, or health savings account  distributions. You had net earnings from self­employment of at least $400. (See Schedule SE (Form 1040) and its instructions.) You had wages of $108.28 or more from a church or qualified church­controlled organization that is exempt from employer  social   security and Medicare taxes. (See Schedule SE (Form 1040) and its   instructions.) Advance payments of the premium tax credit were made for you, your spouse, or a dependent who enrolled in coverage  through the Health   Insurance Marketplace. You should have received Form(s) 1095­A showing   the amount of the advance  payments, if any. It appears that item 3: You had net earnings from self­employment of at least $400. (See Schedule SE (Form 1040) and its instructions.) would most likely apply. It obviously is not too late to file for 2016, because taxes aren't due for another month. As to previous years that would depend if you made money those years, and how much. When you itemize your deductions, you get to deduct all the state income tax that was taken out of your paycheck last year (not how much was owed, but how much was withheld). If you deducted this last year, then you need to add in any amount that you received in state income tax refunds last year to your taxes this year, to make up for the fact that you ended up deducting more state income tax than was really due to the state.  If you took the standard deduction last year instead of itemizing, then you didn't deduct your state income tax withholding last year and you don't need to claim your refund as income this year. Also, if you itemized, but chose to take the state sales tax deduction instead of the state income tax deduction, you also don't need to add in the refund as income.  For whatever reason, Illinois decided that you don't get a 1099-G. It might be that the amount of the refund was too small to warrant the paperwork. It might be that they screwed up. But if you deducted your state income tax withholding on last year's tax return, then you need to add the state tax refund you got last year on line 10 of this year's 1040, whether or not the state issued you a form or not.  Take a look at the Line 10 instructions  starting on page 22 of the 1040 instructions to see if you have any unusual situations covered there that you didn't mention here. (For example, if you received a refund check for multiple years last year.) Then check your tax return from last year to verify that you deducted your state income tax withholding on Schedule A. If you did, then this year add the refund you got from the state to line 10 of this year's 1040. My understanding (I've never filed one myself) is that the 1040ES is intended to allow you to file quarterly and report unpredictable income, and to pay estimated taxes on that income.   I was in the same sort of boat for 2016 -- I had a big unexpected income source in 2015, and this took away my Safe Harbor for 2016.  I adjusted my w-2 to zero exemptions (eventually) and will be getting a refund of about 1% of our income. So lets say you make 10000 in STG in March, and another 15000 in STG in April.  File a quarterly 1040-ES between March 31 and April 15.  Report the income, and pay some tax.  You should be able to calculate the STCG Tax for 10k pretty easily.  Just assume that it comes off the top and doesn't add at all to your deductions.  Then for April, do the same by June 15. Just like your W-2 is used to estimate how much your employer should withhold, the 1040ES is designed to estimate how much extra you need to pay to the IRS to avoid penalties.  It'll all get resolved after you file your final 1040 for the 2017 calendar year. You are confused about a couple of terms: For example you work for company A: As to the 1098-T: It is likely that  you or your parents will use the 1098-T. You don't have to file a copy with the IRS. You and your parents need to determine who should be reporting the educational expenses: you or your parents.