<prompt> Human: Hi, not sure if I should have posted this in rtax, but oh well.I am a high school student in Michigan, and a dependent to my parents. However, I have a part-time job. I read that if a minor makes less than 6,300, they can file for tax returns. Recently, I was looking at my earnings to year, and I am approaching 5,000. I will likely make more than the 6,300 threshold by April. I am wondering if I can only file tax returns for what I make before 6,300, or if once I cross that threshold, I cant file ANY tax returns at all? Sorry for the long question. Please ask any clarify questions. I appreciate as much input as possible.Assistant: You MUST file if you make over 6,300. You CAN but do not have to if you make less. Human: Thanks for your response. To clarify, even if I make more than 6,300 by Dec. 31, and am a dependentminor, I can still receive all of my taxes back in tax returns?  <response>: No. if you earn more than 6300, and you are a dependent, then you have taxable income.taxable income your wages - 6300If you have taxable income then you do owe some federal income tax. The first 9275 of taxable income is taxed at 10.Suppose you earned 8300.Your taxable income is 8300 - 6300 2000.So your tax on that is 10 2000 200.If you have had withholding being taken from paychecks, at tax time you find out what the total was by looking in W-2 box 2. If your withholding was 250, but your tax is 200, then youd get a refund of 50 because you overpaid. If your withholding was 175, but your tax is 200, then youd still owe 25.The reason that dependents who earn less than 6300 get all their income tax withholding back is that they dont have taxable income. If when you subtract your deduction from your wages you get a negative number, you simply write 0 as your taxable income. So in that case, any federal income tax that was withheld would get returned to you as a refund if you file. Edit: If you earn under 6300, see worksheet on back of Form 1040EZ for finding deduction amount if you are a dependent. It might be earnings 350, still resulting in a taxable income of 0.Social Security and Medicare taxes are also taken out of your paychecks. Those dont get returned to you.---EDIT: Your tax is calculated based on what you earned Jan-Dec 2016. So do not count what you will be earning in 2017. If you find that your earnings up to end of December are under 6300, then you should file to get a refund if federal taxes are being withheld from your paychecks. You might have access to pay stubs that summarize what amount of federal tax has been withheld year-to-date.If you arent having any federal taxes withheld from paychecks because you wrote exempt on your W-4 line 7, then it wouldnt be necessary to file because you wouldnt have anything to get returned to you.I recommend you use the Form 1040EZ. Download the 2015 version to take a look. The 2016 version isnt ready yet. Its a very simple form and probably will be the one you fill out if you need to file. 