How Old Do You Have to Be to Pay Taxes: Income, Not Age

There is no minimum age to pay taxes under federal law. How old you have to be to pay taxes is the wrong question to ask the IRS, because the agency looks at income, not birthdays: a newborn with dividend income and a sixteen-year-old with a summer paycheck are both taxpayers if their earnings cross the filing thresholds. For the 2025 tax year, a dependent child generally must file a federal return once earned income tops $15,750, and the threshold is far lower for investment income or self-employment.¹

Age Is Not the Trigger. Income Is

The IRS treats every person who earns income as a taxpayer regardless of age. A child actor, a middle-schooler with a savings account paying interest, and a teenager working weekends are all subject to federal income tax if they meet the filing thresholds. A child who qualifies as a dependent on a parent’s return still has a separate filing obligation based on the child’s own income.²

The penalties for skipping a required return apply to minors the same way they apply to adults. The failure-to-file penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is late, capped at 25%.³ Interest also accrues on unpaid balances, currently at 7% per year for individual underpayments.⁴ A parent or guardian is responsible for making sure a young child’s return is filed on time.

When a Dependent Child Must File

Whether a dependent child owes a federal return depends on both the amount and the type of income. For the 2025 tax year, a single dependent under age 65 must file if any one of the following applies:¹

Earned income over $15,750. Earned income includes wages, salaries, tips, and taxable scholarship grants. This matches the standard deduction for single filers, so a child earning only wages up to that amount owes no federal income tax.
Unearned income over $1,350. Unearned income includes taxable interest, ordinary dividends, capital gain distributions, and unemployment compensation.
A combined figure: if the child has both earned and unearned income, a return is required when gross income tops the larger of $1,350 or the child’s earned income (up to $15,300) plus $450.

For the 2026 tax year, the standard deduction for single filers rises to $16,100, which shifts the earned-income filing threshold upward.⁵ The IRS updates the dependent-filing figures each year in Publication 501.

Self-Employment: The $400 Rule

Freelance work, lawn care, tutoring, babysitting, or selling goods online counts as self-employment. The filing rules for this income are much stricter than for wages. Any minor who nets $400 or more in self-employment income during the year must file a tax return, even if total income is well below the standard deduction.⁶

Self-employment tax covers Social Security and Medicare at a combined 15.3% of net earnings (12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare). A self-employed person pays both the employer and employee halves. Half of the self-employment tax is deductible when calculating adjusted gross income, which lowers the overall bill.⁶

Quarterly Estimated Payments

A self-employed minor who expects to owe $1,000 or more in combined income and self-employment tax must generally make quarterly estimated payments using Form 1040-ES.⁷ Payments are due in April, June, September, and January. Missing them can trigger an underpayment penalty even if the full balance is paid by the April deadline.

Deducting Business Expenses

Self-employed minors can reduce taxable income by deducting ordinary and necessary business expenses on Schedule C. A teenager running a lawn service can deduct the mower, fuel, and supplies. The deduction only applies to documented expenses tied to the business, so keep receipts throughout the year.

The Kiddie Tax on Investment Income

When a child’s unearned income tops $2,700 in a year, the excess is taxed at the parent’s marginal rate instead of the child’s lower rate. This rule, known as the kiddie tax, keeps families from shifting investment assets to children to capture lower brackets.⁸

The kiddie tax applies when all of the following are true:⁹

The child is under 18 at year-end, or age 18 with earned income that did not cover more than half of the child’s own support, or a full-time student ages 19 through 23 whose earned income did not cover more than half of support.
The child had more than $2,700 in unearned income.
The child does not file a joint return, and at least one parent was alive at year-end.

The first $1,350 of unearned income is covered by the child’s standard deduction, the next $1,350 is taxed at the child’s own rate, and everything above $2,700 is taxed at the parent’s rate. The calculation goes on Form 8615, attached to the child’s return.⁹

Reporting a Child’s Investment Income on a Parent’s Return

In some cases a parent can skip filing a separate return for the child and add the child’s investment income to their own return using Form 8814. This can simplify paperwork, though it sometimes produces a slightly higher tax bill. To qualify for the 2025 tax year, the child must:¹⁰

Be under age 19, or under 24 if a full-time student, at year-end.
Have received only interest, dividends, and capital gain distributions.
Have gross income under $13,500.
Have made no estimated tax payments, and had no federal income tax withheld.
Not file a joint return.

The election is off the table if the child had any earned income or any federal tax withheld from investment income. In those situations, the child files separately.¹⁰

When Parents Employ Their Own Child

Parents who run an unincorporated business, meaning a sole proprietorship or a partnership where both partners are the child’s parents, get real tax savings by putting the child on the payroll for legitimate work. Wages paid to a child under 18 are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes, cutting out the combined 15.3% payroll tax. Wages paid to a child under 21 are also exempt from Federal Unemployment Tax.¹¹

The wages still count as taxable income to the child, but as long as earnings stay within the standard deduction ($15,750 for 2025, $16,100 for 2026), the child pays no federal income tax on them. The business still deducts the wages. These exemptions do not apply if the business is a corporation or if a partnership includes any non-parent partners.

Filing to Get a Refund Even When Not Required

A child whose income falls below the filing thresholds is not required to file, but filing is worthwhile any time federal income tax was withheld from the child’s pay. Employers often withhold based on estimates that assume year-round work. If the child’s total income is low enough that no tax is actually owed, filing a return is the only way to get the withheld money back.¹

The process is the same as any other return: file Form 1040 reporting the income and withholding shown on the W-2. There is no penalty for filing a return you weren’t required to file.

How to File a Minor’s Return

A child’s return uses the same Form 1040 that adults file. Before starting, gather:

The child’s Social Security number.
Form W-2 from any employer.
Form 1099 variants for freelance income (1099-NEC), interest (1099-INT), dividends (1099-DIV), or other non-wage payments.
Receipts and logs for deductible business expenses, if the child is self-employed.

Signing the Return

A child who is old enough to understand what they’re signing can sign their own return. If the child is too young, a parent or legal guardian signs the child’s name, writes “By,” and adds their own signature along with their relationship (for example, “parent” or “guardian for minor child”).¹²

Filing Options

Returns can be filed electronically or by mail. E-filed returns are generally processed in about three weeks; mailed paper returns take six weeks or longer.¹³ Most minors qualify for free electronic filing through IRS Free File, which offers guided software at no cost to taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less. Free File Fillable Forms are available to anyone.¹⁴

Keeping Records

Keep the filed return and its supporting documents (W-2s, 1099s, receipts) for at least three years from the filing date.¹⁵ That covers the standard IRS audit window. Hold onto records longer if the child had self-employment income or more complex transactions.

State Income Taxes

Most states with an income tax follow the same age-neutral approach as the federal government: if the child earns enough, the child owes state tax. Filing thresholds, standard deductions, and rates vary, and some states set dependent-filing thresholds as low as a few thousand dollars. Check your state’s department of revenue for the rules that apply where the child lives.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501 (2025), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
2
Internal Revenue Service. Check if You Need to File a Tax Return
3
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to File Penalty
4
Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates
5
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 554, Self-Employment Tax
7
Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Taxes
8
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 553, Tax on a Child’s Investment and Other Unearned Income (Kiddie Tax)
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8615 (2025)
10
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8814 – Parents’ Election to Report Child’s Interest and Dividends
11
Internal Revenue Service. Family Employees
12
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 301, When, How and Where to File
13
Internal Revenue Service. Where’s My Refund?
14
Internal Revenue Service. Use IRS Free File to Conveniently File Your Return at No Cost
15
Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records?