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[Glenski]

[ecocks]

that you are required or obligated to file no matter what your circumstances. This has never been a rule and there is no punishment for not filing in instances where you have not been required by an action (IRA withdrawal,etc) or no additional payment required due to income as determined by the IRS.

In fact, the IRS prefers you NOT FILE unnecessarily. From the IRS website:

Do You Need to File a Federal Income Tax Return?

Many people will file a 2007 Federal income tax return even though the income on the return was below the filing requirement. The questions below will help you determine if you need to file a Federal Income Tax return or if you need to stop your withholding so you will not have to file an unnecessary return in the future.

The Internal Revenue Service is providing this information as a part of our customer service and outreach efforts to Reduce Taxpayer Burden and Processing Costs. Changing your withholding and/or not filing Unnecessary Returns will save both you and the government time and money.

Even if you do not have to file a return, you should file one to get a refund of any Federal Income Tax withheld.

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?

Per the original OP, there is no reason to be overly worried about this.

Glenski raises an important point regarding those of us who are marrying abroad and sponsoring our new famillies for visas. We must have documented income and/or financial resources in order to show proof that they will not become a burden on the government. Even when doing visa affadavits if you have the required amount of money in the bank, income is not required. If you have to show proof of income in order to document for credit reasons, visa support or whatever you should file a return since it will be a way to represent the income to a reviewing authority like the bank or government.

But, if you do not have recognized income above the required level, don't care about a receiving a refund, are not filing an amended return from a previous year or have some other reason to document there is no requirement to file.

[Lei Feng]

Thanks to all who replied. I went to Hong Kong and spoke with a guy at an HR Block type company. For around 1000HKD, he said he could file for the last 7 years and I may even get enough to cover the 1000HKD. Which is a laugh.

Thanks,

[rusmeister]

[ecocks]

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96623,00.html

[rusmeister]

[naturegirl321]