What If You Make Less Than the Standard Deduction?

If you make less than the standard deduction, you generally have no federal income tax liability and no legal requirement to file a return. For 2026, that cutoff is $16,100 for a single filer and $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly.¹ But “not required to file” and “shouldn’t file” are different things. Filing a return you don’t technically owe is often the only way to collect thousands of dollars in refundable credits and withheld wages that would otherwise stay with the Treasury.

The 2026 Income Threshold for Your Filing Status

The standard deduction is a flat amount the IRS subtracts from your income before calculating tax. If your gross income falls below that amount, your taxable income is effectively zero. For 2026:

Single: $16,100
Married filing jointly: $32,200
Head of household: $24,150

These figures come from the IRS’s annual inflation adjustments, which for 2026 also incorporate changes from the One, Big, Beautiful Bill.¹

If you’re 65 or older, your threshold is meaningfully higher. An enhanced deduction that took effect in 2025 and runs through 2028 gives each qualifying individual an additional $6,000, and a married couple where both spouses are 65 or older can add $12,000 on top of the standard deduction.² That pushes the practical filing floor over $22,000 for a single filer age 65 or older, and over $44,000 for a couple both over 65. Blind taxpayers also qualify for an additional deduction that raises their threshold.³

When You Still Have to File

Being under the threshold does not always let you off the hook. A few specific situations create a filing obligation no matter how little you made.

Self-Employment Income of $400 or More

This is the one people miss most often. If you earned $400 or more in net self-employment income from freelance work, gig apps, reselling, or any side business, you must file. The issue isn’t income tax. It’s Social Security and Medicare tax. Self-employed workers owe a combined 15.3% on net earnings (12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare), reported on Schedule SE.⁴⁵ Someone who made $2,000 from a side gig and nothing else has zero income tax liability but still owes roughly $306 in self-employment tax. Skipping the return doesn’t erase the debt. It adds penalties on top.

Marketplace Health Insurance Subsidies

If you enrolled in a plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace and received advance premium tax credits to lower your monthly premiums, you must file and attach Form 8962 to reconcile those credits, even if your income is well below the standard deduction.⁶ Skipping this can cut off your eligibility for advance credits in future years and leave you on the hook for repaying credits already paid on your behalf.⁷

Dependents With Investment Income

Dependents follow their own rules. A single dependent under 65 must file if unearned income (interest, dividends, capital gains) tops $1,350.³ And if a child’s unearned income exceeds $2,700, it may be taxed at the parent’s rate under the kiddie tax rules.⁸ Parents sometimes discover this only after a custodial brokerage account throws off more dividends than expected.

Why Filing Anyway Is Usually Worth It

Here’s where the real money sits. Most low-income taxpayers who skip filing aren’t dodging a bill. They’re leaving cash on the table. Refundable credits pay you even when your tax is zero, but only if you file a return.

The Earned Income Tax Credit

The EITC is the single largest benefit most low-income workers walk past. For 2026, the maximum credit for a family with three or more qualifying children is $8,231, and even a worker with no children can receive up to $664.¹ The credit scales with earned income, filing status, and number of children. You need earned income to qualify, and your investment income cannot exceed $12,200 for 2026. The EITC is fully refundable, meaning the IRS sends you the money even if you owed zero tax. There is no version of claiming it without filing a Form 1040.

The Refundable Child Tax Credit

The One, Big, Beautiful Bill raised the total child tax credit to $2,200 per qualifying child for 2026, but the refundable portion (the part the IRS will actually pay to you when you owe no tax) remains capped at $1,700 per child. You need at least $2,500 in earned income to qualify, and the refundable amount equals 15% of your earnings above that threshold, up to the $1,700 cap.⁹ A parent earning $12,000 with two qualifying children could get up to $2,850 back. That money disappears if the return is never filed.

Getting Back Withheld Paycheck Taxes

If you worked a W-2 job and your employer withheld federal income tax from your paychecks, but your total income for the year came in below the standard deduction, your actual tax liability is zero. The only way to get that withheld money back is to file. The IRS does not refund overwithholding automatically. You have to ask for it.

You Have Three Years to Claim an Old Refund

If you skipped filing in a year when you were owed a refund, you haven’t necessarily lost it yet. Federal law gives you three years from the original due date of the return to claim it. After that, the money belongs to the Treasury permanently.¹⁰ If you had taxes withheld or qualified for a refundable credit, the IRS treats those payments as made on the return’s original due date.¹¹

A 2023 refund, for example, must be claimed by April 15, 2027. Miss that date and no paperwork recovers it. If you’ve gone a few years without filing and had income tax withheld or were eligible for the EITC, going back and filing those old returns before the deadline can be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.

How to File for Free

Cost is not a reason to skip filing. The IRS offers several free routes:

IRS Free File is a partnership with commercial tax software that provides free guided preparation and e-filing for taxpayers with an AGI of $89,000 or less. Taxpayers above that threshold can use Free File Fillable Forms, which offer less hand-holding but remain free.¹²
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) offers free in-person preparation for people who generally earn $69,000 or less, and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) serves taxpayers 60 and older. Both use IRS-certified volunteers.¹³

Gather your W-2s, any 1099 forms for freelance or investment income, and Social Security numbers for yourself and any dependents. E-filing is faster and less error-prone than mailing a paper return, and the IRS processes most e-filed returns within about three weeks.¹⁴

1
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
2
Internal Revenue Service. Check Your Eligibility for the New Enhanced Deduction for Seniors
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
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Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040)
5
Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8962
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Internal Revenue Service. Premium Tax Credit: Claiming the Credit and Reconciling Advance Credit Payments
8
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 553, Tax on a Child’s Investment and Other Unearned Income
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Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6511 – Limitations on Credit or Refund
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Internal Revenue Service. Time You Can Claim a Credit or Refund
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Internal Revenue Service. E-File: Do Your Taxes for Free
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Internal Revenue Service. Free Tax Return Preparation for Qualifying Taxpayers
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Internal Revenue Service. Processing Status for Tax Forms