Filing Requirements

Community income is the income of a married couple, living in a community property state, that is considered to belong equally to each spouse, regardless of which spouse receives the income.

Community property is property considered to belong in equal share to a husband and wife. This concept of ownership for property acquired after marriage is followed in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A dependent is an individual whose personal exemption may be claimed on another person's income tax return. To be claimed as a dependent, a person must meet certain tests.

Gross income is total worldwide income received in the form of money, property, or services that is subject to tax.

A joint return is a tax return combining the income, exemptions, credits, and deductions of a husband and wife.

Married filing jointly is the filing status used by a man and a woman who are married at the end of the tax year and not legally separated under a final decree of divorce or separate maintenance and who record total income, exemptions, and deductions of both spouses on one tax return.

Married filing separately is the filing status used by a married couple who chooses to record their respective incomes, exemptions, and deductions on separate individual tax returns.

A personal exemption is amount provided by law that is excluded from taxation. For tax year 2009, $3650 is exempted for each individual taxpayer, spouse, and dependent.

Standard deduction reduces the amount of income subject to tax. The amount is determined by the taxpayer's filing status.

To determine an individual's filing requirements, (1) marital status, (2) age, and (3) gross income are needed.

Common-law marriage must meet four legal standards: (1) the parties must have the legal capacity to marry, (2) single parties must have the current intent to marry, (3) the couple must live together as husband and wife, and (4) the parties must publicly present themselves as husband and wife.

Missouri does not allow common-law marriage, but will recognize common-law marriages established in other states.

For general tax purposes, a person is considered to have attained any given age on the first moment of the last day of that year of his life; that is to say, the day before his birthday.

A taxpayer attains the age of 65 on the day before his 65th birthday.

The age of a person who dies during the year is determined as of the date of death.

For federal income tax purposes, the five filing statuses are (1) single, (2) married filing jointly, (3) married filing separately, (4) head of household, and (5) qualifying widow(er)

For non-dependents, a tax return is required when gross income equals or exceeds the sum of the taxpayer's standard deduction and the personal exemption amount. A married taxpayer using the married filing separately filing status must file a return when gross income equals or exceeds the personal exemption amount ($3650 for 2009).

A taxpayer may claim an additional standard deduction for blindness if they are totally or partly blind at the close of the tax year. A taxpayer should retain a certified statement from an eye doctor or optometrist with his records.

For certain higher-income taxpayers, exemption phaseout reduces the amount of each exemption.

A dependent is required to file a return if their unearned income is greater than $950 or their earned income is greater than the standard deduction for their filing status ($5700 for single) or gross income is greater than the larger of $950 or earned income plus $300.

A taxpayer who may be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer's return may not, under any circumstances, take his own personal exemption. This is true even if the taxpayer entitled to claim the dependent's exemption chooses not to for any reason.

A taxpayer who does not meet the filing requirements should still file a return to (1) obtain a refund of tax withheld or estimated tax payments, (2) qualify for earned income credit (EIC), (3) qualify for child tax credit, or (4) qualify for health coverage tax credit.