If you live in Tennessee, the only income tax filing rules that apply to you are the federal ones, because Tennessee does not tax wages, salaries, or investment income. How much you have to make to file taxes in Tennessee therefore comes down to the IRS thresholds. For tax year 2025 (the return you file in 2026), a single filer under 65 must file once gross income reaches $15,750, and a married couple filing jointly must file at $31,500.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information The exact number shifts with your filing status, your age, and whether someone else claims you as a dependent.
2025 Federal Filing Thresholds by Filing Status
Gross income for this purpose includes wages, tips, interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income, and essentially anything that isn’t specifically tax-exempt.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information For tax year 2025, you must file a return if your gross income meets or exceeds:2Internal Revenue Service. Check if You Need to File a Tax Return
- Single, under 65: $15,750
- Single, 65 or older: $17,750
- Head of household, under 65: $23,625
- Head of household, 65 or older: $25,625
- Married filing jointly, both under 65: $31,500
- Married filing jointly, one spouse 65 or older: $33,100
- Married filing jointly, both 65 or older: $34,700
- Married filing separately, any age: $5
- Qualifying surviving spouse, under 65: $31,500
- Qualifying surviving spouse, 65 or older: $33,100
Each threshold tracks the standard deduction for that filing status. The logic is straightforward: if your income doesn’t exceed the standard deduction, no tax is owed, so the IRS generally doesn’t require a return. The married-filing-separately number of $5 looks like a typo but isn’t. It’s set that low because if one spouse itemizes, the other is forced to file as well.
Lower Thresholds for Dependents
If someone can claim you as a dependent, the numbers are different and the rules are more layered. This catches a lot of teenagers with part-time jobs and college students with custodial investment accounts. For 2025, a single dependent under 65 must file if any of these is true:2Internal Revenue Service. Check if You Need to File a Tax Return
- Unearned income (interest, dividends, capital gains) exceeds $1,350
- Earned income (wages, tips) exceeds $15,750
- Gross income exceeds the larger of $1,350, or earned income up to $15,300 plus $450
The earned-income line is high enough that most summer jobs and after-school work won’t cross it. The unearned-income line is where parents get surprised. A custodial account throwing off dividends can push a child past $1,350 without anyone noticing until tax season.
The $400 Self-Employment Rule
Self-employment income has its own trigger, and it sits far below the standard filing thresholds. If your net self-employment earnings reach $400 or more, you must file a federal return and pay self-employment tax, which funds Social Security and Medicare.3Internal Revenue Service. Topic 554 Self-Employment Tax Freelance work, gig driving, contract labor, online sales — anything without an employer withholding taxes for you counts.
The $400 figure is net, not gross. Revenue minus legitimate business expenses. If you brought in $2,000 doing freelance work but had $1,700 in deductible expenses, your net is $300 and this rule alone wouldn’t force a return. Keep the records anyway.
When Filing Pays Even If You Don’t Have To
Falling below the threshold doesn’t mean filing is a waste of time. The IRS does not send unclaimed refunds, and several credits are only available through a filed return.
The Earned Income Tax Credit is the largest of these. It’s built for low- and moderate-income workers, can be worth thousands, and you have to file to get it.4Internal Revenue Service. Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) The refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Tax Credit for education expenses work the same way. And if your employer withheld any federal income tax from your paychecks during the year, filing is the only way to see that money again.2Internal Revenue Service. Check if You Need to File a Tax Return
Cost isn’t a reason to skip. Taxpayers with adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less can use IRS Free File at no charge for the 2025 return filed in 2026.5Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Tax Filing Season Opens With Several Free Filing Options Available
What Happens If You Skip a Required Return
Because Tennessee has no state income tax, there is no state penalty in the picture. The federal penalties do the work, and they compound.
The failure-to-file penalty runs 5% of unpaid tax per month, up to a 25% cap. Once a return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty is the lesser of $525 or the full tax owed. The failure-to-pay penalty adds another 0.5% per month on unpaid balances, also capping at 25%.6Internal Revenue Service. Topic 653 IRS Notices and Bills, Penalties and Interest Charges Interest sits on top of both.
If you owe and can’t pay in full, file anyway. The failure-to-file penalty is ten times the failure-to-pay rate, so getting the return in on time limits the damage substantially. An installment agreement cuts the monthly failure-to-pay rate in half.
A Note on State Filing
There is no Tennessee income tax return to file, at any income level. The state does not tax wages, and it does not have an employer withholding requirement.7Tennessee Department of Revenue. GEN-34 Income Tax Withholding The old Hall Income Tax on interest and dividends was fully repealed effective January 1, 2021, so investment income no longer creates a state filing obligation either.8Tennessee Department of Revenue. HIT-4 Hall Income Tax Rate For individual income tax purposes, Tennessee residents deal only with the IRS.