Hey everyone. I’ve been working a part-time job for about 9 months now. I’m 16 and totally clueless about filing taxes. I’ve tried searching for info online, but it’s all super confusing. My dad is going to help explain, but I’m stressing out because do I have to report every single thing I bought in 2024? I’ve made a bunch of small in-game purchases, like 99-cent stuff, and I have no idea if I need to report those or not.
I read somewhere that you only need to report things if you didn’t pay sales tax on them… is that true? And how do I even know if I paid sales tax or not?
Would really appreciate some help. Thanks in advance!
Good on you for trying to figure it out early! Honestly, your taxes should be simple. You’ll need your W-2, maybe a bank statement if you earned interest, and some free tax software to file.
That whole thing about reporting purchases without sales tax is barely relevant nowadays since most big websites already charge sales tax.
For income tax, your employer already took out some taxes from your paycheck. At the end of January, they’ll give you a W-2 form showing how much you earned and how much was taken out for taxes. You’ll use that info to file and either get a refund or find out if you owe more. Things like groceries or apps don’t matter for this unless you’re running a business.
Then there’s use tax. If you buy stuff online from a big store like Apple, they usually charge sales tax. If you buy from a smaller site or one in a state without sales tax, you’re supposed to pay that tax to your state, but it’s mostly ignored unless it’s for something big like a car.
Take a deep breath, you’re doing fine. There are different types of taxes, but when people talk about “filing taxes,” they mean income tax.
Sales tax is what you pay when you buy stuff. It’s already included when you check out, and that’s taken care of. You don’t have to report it.
First, find out if you even need to file. If your only income was from your part-time job and it wasn’t much, you might not need to: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/who-needs-to-file-a-tax-return. But even if you don’t have to, file if they took money out of your paychecks for taxes, so you can get that money back.
If you do need to file, your dad can walk you through it. You’ll use your W-2 from work to fill out the form. You’ll probably use a simple tool like TurboTax or FreeTaxUSA.
Sales tax depends on your state’s rules. Most real businesses already include it when you buy something. You only need to figure it out if you bought something from a person, like on eBay.
Filing taxes mainly means dealing with income tax. You’ll get a W-2 from your job, and if you made any money from other places, they’ll send you forms too. Then you can go to irs.gov and follow the free filing instructions.
That’s more about state sales tax. Unless you bought a bunch of stuff from a small site that didn’t charge tax, it’s not something to stress over.
For income tax, your parents will likely claim you as a dependent. You’ll still file, but unless you made over $14,600, you won’t owe anything to the federal government. State taxes may apply if your employer didn’t withhold enough.
Edit: If you made less than the standard deduction and your employer didn’t withhold any federal tax, you might not even need to file a federal return.
It’s gonna be really simple for you. You’ll probably get a nice refund too!
You take what you earned, subtract the standard deduction (over $12K), and that’ll bring your taxable income to zero. So no tax to pay! Anything that was already taken out of your paycheck will be refunded to you.
And don’t worry about your purchases or sales tax at all.