Are we required to file taxes with the IRS when over 70.?

Question

Are we required to file taxes with the IRS when over 70.?

Answer 1

Yes, of course.  You file taxes until you die, and then your estate files one last tax return.  

There is no direct link between the death and the taxes, of course.......

Answer 2

If your income is over the filing requirement:  Yes!

There are no exceptions based on age.

Answer 3

Yes and depends on your earning.  Age has nothing to do with it.

To determine if you need to file a Federal Income Tax return for 2007 answer the following questions:

Occasionally, individuals have one-time or infrequent financial transactions that may require them to file a Federal Income Tax return. Do any of the following examples apply to you?

Did you have Federal taxes withheld from your pension and wages for this tax year and wish to get a refund back?

Are you entitled to the Earned Income Tax Credit or did you receive Advance Earned Income Credit for this tax year?

Were you self-employed with earnings of more than $400.00?

Did you sell your home?

Will you owe any special tax on a qualified retirement plan (including an individual retirement account (IRA) or medical savings account (MSA)? You may owe tax if you:

Received an early distribution from a qualified plan

Made excess contributions to your IRA or MSA

Were born before July 1, 1936, and you did not take the minimum required distribution from your qualified retirement plan.

Received a distribution in the excess of $160,000 from a qualified retirement plan.

Will you owe social security and Medicare tax on tips you did not report to your employer?

Will you owe uncollected social security and Medicare or Railroad retirement (RRTA) tax on tips you reported to your employer?

Will you be subject to Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)? (The tax law gives special treatment to some kinds of income and allows special deductions and credit for some kinds of expenses.)

Will you owe recapture tax?

Are you a church employee with income in wages of $108.28 or more from a church or qualified church-controlled organization that is exempt from employer social security or Medicare taxes?

Do one or more of the preceding situations apply to your filing requirements?

Yes | No

Answer 4

The basic requirement to file tax returns and pay taxes is not tied to age.  While the filing requirement amount does shift with age, the shift is not much.  There are infants who pay income taxes and centenarians who do as well.  My maternal grandmother lived to be 104 and filed and paid taxes every year until her death.

Answer 5

Age doesn't matter - it's your income that matters.  If you have enough income to be required to file, then yes you have to file.