Deadline to File Taxes Apr. 15! Help + Resources

[Paul M Irvine]

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TL;DR The federal deadline to file taxes for 2023 income is April 15th. Students are allowed/might be required to file their taxes, regardless of whether they are claimed as a dependent. Even if you aren’t legally required to file your taxes, filing a return will allow you to get a refund of any tax withheld from your paycheck (often amounting to hundreds of dollars). Basic help + resources on how to do so included below. :-)

Hi everyone,

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year: Tax season! I will do my best to explain the basics of how to do so for those who are unfamiliar with the process. The info in this email is not intended as financial, tax, or legal advice. This is only for informational purposes only. Please don’t sue me :-(
First of all, there are some misconceptions around students filing their tax returns. Just because your parents/guardians claim you on their taxes doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to/don’t have to file your own taxes<https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/income/other-income/filing-tax-returns-for-children/>. You must file a tax return if your earned income is more than  $13,850<https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/tax-filing-requirement-dependents/>. So you might be thinking “but I made less than that, so I don’t need to file a return.” Legally, you’re right. But federal and state taxes were almost certainly taken out of your paychecks, and the only way to get that refund is by filing a tax return. For the typical student worker, this refund probably amount to hundreds of dollars . . . so do your taxes.
So how do you actually file a tax return? Anyone whose annual gross income is < $79,000 qualifies for a free federal tax return<https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free>, so you probably shouldn’t need to pay anyone or any company to file. If you live in one of the pilot states (including MA, CA, TX, FL) and have simple filing needs (e.g. only need to report wages, and not dividend income), you can file with the IRS Direct File<https://directfile.irs.gov/>; otherwise, you can still file for free at any of these IRS trusted partners.<https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/>
In the application, you’ll need to report your income. For wages/earned income, each of your employers you worked for in 2023 should have sent a W2 that has everything you need. (If you worked for MIT, you can find your W2 by going to Atlas -> search “W2” in the search bar -> click “W2s” under “Money Matters”). For income from investments/non-earned income (i.e. capital gains or dividends in non-retirement/ROTH IRA<https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/060915/how-are-dividends-iras-taxed.asp> brokerages), you should be able to find a 1099 form that has everything you need somewhere around your brokerage account.
The application to file your returns will guide you step-by-step on how to fill it out, offer additional info if you’re confused, and should take around ~30 minutes for simple cases (but varies a ton depending on complexity of your finances!). And yeah, that’s basically it. Once you submit your form, the federal/state government usually will accept your return within a few days, and your refund can be made via direct deposit in a week or so.
If you would like more information, MIT has recordings of their tax workshops they did for this year<https://vpf.mit.edu/tax-workshops-for-tax-year-2023-dates-announced>, both for resident and nonresident students. International students are encouraged to reach out to the International Students Office, which provides a free tax software called Springtax<https://iso.mit.edu/maintaining-status/taxes/>. And lastly, the IRS offers free tax help<https://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/jsp/vita.jsp?zip=02138&lat=42.3803274&lng=-71.13891009999998&radius=5>, as well as this<https://justastart.org/financial-opportunity-programs/> and this<https://ceoccambridge.org/services/free-tax-preparation/> local organization.

Hope some of you find this helpful. For any general questions or comments, please email the UA Public Affairs chairs ua-publicaffairs-chairs at mit.edu<mailto:ua-publicaffairs-chairs at mit.edu>.

Paul Irvine
UA Chairs of Public Affairs

In case the hyper-links corrupt, here’s the full url’s for all the links, in order:
https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/income/other-income/filing-tax-returns-for-children/
https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/tax-filing-requirement-dependents/
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
https://directfile.irs.gov/

https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/060915/how-are-dividends-iras-taxed.asp

https://vpf.mit.edu/tax-workshops-for-tax-year-2023-dates-announced

https://iso.mit.edu/maintaining-status/taxes/

https://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/jsp/vita.jsp?zip=02138&lat=42.3803274&lng=-71.13891009999998&radius=5

https://justastart.org/financial-opportunity-programs/

https://ceoccambridge.org/services/free-tax-preparation/

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