IRS Publication 17 — Your Federal Income Tax (Individuals)

may apply to you, see Pub. 54. It is available online and at most U.S. embassies and consulates. See How T o Get Tax Help in the back of this publication.

Residents of Puerto Rico If you are a U.S. citizen and also a bona fide resident of Puerto Rico, you must generally file a U.S. income tax return for any year in which you meet the income requirements. This is in addition to any legal requirement you may have to file an income tax return with Puerto Rico. If you are a bona fide resident of Puerto Rico for the entire year, your U.S. gross income doesn’t include income from sources within Puerto Rico. It does, however, include any income you received for your services as an employee of the United States or a U.S. agency. If you receive income from Puerto Rican sources that isn’t subject to U.S. tax, you must reduce your standard deduction. As a result, the amount of income you must have before you are required to file a U.S. income tax return is lower than the applicable amount in Table 1-1 or Table 1-2. For more information, see Pub. 570. Individuals With Income From U.S. Territories If you had income from Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, special rules may apply when determining whether you must file a U.S. federal income tax return. In addition, you may have to file a return with the individual island government. See Pub. 570 for more information.

Dependents If you are a dependent (one who meets the dependency tests in chapter 3 ), see Table 1-2 to find out whether you must file a return. You must also file if your situation is described in Table 1-3. Responsibility of parent. Generally, a child is responsible for filing their own tax return and for paying any tax on the return. If a dependent child must file an income tax return but can’t file due to age or any other reason, then a parent, guardian, or other legally responsible person must file it for the child. If the child can’t sign the return, the parent or guardian must sign the child’s name followed by the words “By (your signature), parent for minor child.” Child’s earnings. Amounts a child earns by performing services are included in the child’s gross income and not the gross income of the parent. This is true even if under local law the child’s parent has the right to the earnings and may actually have received them. But if the child doesn’t pay the tax due on this income, the parent is liable for the tax. Certain Children Under Age 19 or Full-Time Students If a child’s only income is interest and dividends (including capital gain distributions and Alaska Permanent Fund dividends), the child was under age 19 at the end of 2025 or was a full-time student under age 24 at the end of 2025, and certain other conditions are met, a parent can elect to include the child’s income on the parent’s return. If this election is made, the child doesn’t have to file a return. See Instructions for Form 8814, Parents’ Election T o Report Child’s Interest and Dividends.

Self-Employed Persons You are self-employed if you:

• Carry on a trade or business as a sole proprietor,

• Are an independent contractor,

• Are a member of a partnership, or

• Are in business for yourself in any other way.

Self-employment can include work in addition to your regular full -time business activities, such as certain part -time work you do at home or in addition to your regular job.

You must file a return if your gross income is at least as much as the filing requirement amount for your filing status and age (shown in Table 1-1). Also, you must file Form 1040 or 1040-SR and Schedule SE (Form 1040), Self-Employment Tax, if:

1. Your net earnings from self-employment (excluding church employee income) were $400 or more, or

2. You had church employee income of $108.28 or more. (See Table 1-3.)

Use Schedule SE (Form 1040) to figure your self-employment tax. Self -employment tax is comparable to the social security and Medicare tax withheld from an employee’s wages. For more information about this tax, see Pub. 334. Employees of foreign governments or international organizations. If you are a U.S. citizen who works in the United States for an international organization, a foreign government, or a wholly owned instrumentality of a foreign government, and your employer isn’t required to withhold social security and Medicare taxes from your wages, you must include your earnings from services performed in the United States when figuring your net earnings from self-employment.

Ministers. You must include income from services you performed as a minister when figuring your net earnings from self -employment, unless you have an exemption from self -employment tax. This also applies to Christian Science practitioners and members of a religious order who have not taken a vow of poverty. For more information, see Pub. 517.

Aliens Your status as an alien (resident, nonresident, or dual -status) determines whether and how you must file an income tax return.

The rules used to determine your alien status are discussed in Pub. 519. Resident alien. If you are a resident alien for the entire year, you must file a tax return following the same rules that apply to U.S. citizens. Use the forms discussed in this publication. Nonresident alien. If you are a nonresident alien, the rules and tax forms that apply to you are different from those that apply to U.S. citizens and resident aliens. See Pub. 519 to find out if U.S. income tax laws apply to you and which forms you should file.

Dual-status taxpayer. If you are a resident alien for part of the tax year and a nonresident alien for the rest of the year, you are a dual -status taxpayer. Different rules apply for each part of the year. For information on dual -status taxpayers, see Pub. 519. Who Should File Even if you don’t have to file, you should file a federal income tax return to get money back if any of the following conditions apply.

1. You had federal income tax withheld or made estimated tax payments.

2. You qualify for the earned income credit. See Pub. 596 for more information.

3. You qualify for the additional child tax credit. See chapter 14 for more information.

4. You qualify for the premium tax credit. See Pub. 974 for more information.

5. You qualify for the American opportunity credit. See Pub. 970 for more information.

6. You qualify for the refundable adoption credit. See Form 8839 and its instructions for more information.

See chapter 13 for more information.

Form 1040 or 1040-SR Use Form 1040 or 1040 -SR to file your return. (But also see File Electronically, later.) You can use Form 1040 or 1040 -SR to report all types of income, deductions, and credits. File Electronically Electronic Filing If your adjusted gross income (AGI) is less than a certain amount, you are eligible for Free File, a free tax software service offered by IRS partners, to prepare and e-file your return for free. If your income is over the amount, you are still eligible for Free File Fillable Forms, an electronic version of IRS paper forms. Table 1-4 lists the free ways to electronically file your return. Free File and Free Fillable Forms provide eligible taxpayers the ability to e -file their taxes for free. See IRS.gov/FreeFile for details and to see if you are eligible.

E-file. IRS e-file uses automation to replace most of the manual steps needed to process paper returns. As a result, the processing of e-file returns is faster and more accurate than the processing of paper returns. However, as with a paper return, you are responsible for 8 Chapter 1 Filing Information Publication 17 (2025)