If you had no income, you must file the corporation income tax return, regardless of whether you had expenses or not. The bottom line is: No income, no expenses = Filing Form 1120 / 1120-S is necessary.
Single-Member LLCs and Sole Proprietorships
If there is no income to report, it is unnecessary to file Schedule C, unless there are credits or deductions to claim.
As we explained, as a sole proprietor you'll report and pay income tax on your business's profit—and you'll do so by filing additional forms with your personal return, Form 1040. This being said, most sole proprietors only need to file two forms with their individual return.
If your net business income was zero or less, you may not need to pay taxes. The IRS may still require you to file a return, however. Even when your business runs in the red, though, there may be financial benefits to filing. If you don't owe the IRS any money, however, there's no financial penalty if you don't file.
Even if your business has no income during the tax year, it may still benefit you to file a Schedule C if you have any expenses that qualify for deductions or credits. If you have no income or qualifying expenses for the entire tax year, there is no need to file a Schedule C for your inactive business.
Even if a business doesn't make any money, if it has employees, it's legally obligated to pay Social Security, Medicare and federal unemployment taxes. Because the federal taxes are pay as you go, businesses are required to withhold federal income taxes from each check and declare and deposit the amount withheld.
You can either deduct or amortize start-up expenses once your business begins rather than filing business taxes with no income. If you were actively engaged in your trade or business but didn't receive income, then you should file and claim your expenses.
According to the IRS, a sole proprietor or independent contractor, has to file an income tax return if net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more in the year.
Income under $500. —A single person with less than $500 income should file a return to get a refund if tax was withheld. A married person with less than $500 income should always file a joint return with husband or wife to get the lesser tax or larger refund for the couple.
If you make less than $10,000 per year, you may still be required to file taxes. This depends on the filing year, as well as your age and filing status.
If you fail to file a tax return at all, you run the risk of the IRS charging you with tax evasion. It's a federal crime not to file a tax return for a year in which you owe the IRS, and the penalties can be serious -- up to $25,000 for each year you fail to do so. A tax evasion charge also involves jail time.
Sole proprietor:
If you are a sole proprietor, your business income and expenses should be reported on Schedule C. You'll be responsible for paying self-employment taxes—such as Social Security and Medicare.
To cover your federal taxes, saving 30% of your business income is a solid rule of thumb. According to John Hewitt, founder of Liberty Tax Service, the total amount you should set aside to cover both federal and state taxes should be 30-40% of what you earn.
A sole proprietor is self-employed because they operate their own business. When you are self-employed, you do not work for an employer that pays a consistent wage or salary but rather you earn income by contracting with and providing goods or services to various clients.
For example, in the year 2021, the maximum earning before paying taxes for a single person under the age of 65 was $12,400. If your income is below the threshold limit specified by IRS, you may not need to file taxes, though it's still a good idea to do so.
And if you made $3,000 you do not have to file taxes as this amount is clearly less than this minimum threshold. It is also worth noting that if your dependent's income came from self-employment, then the IRS requires anyone earning more than $400 in a year to file taxes, regardless of filing or dependency status.
You have to file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. If your net earnings from self-employment were less than $400, you still have to file an income tax return if you meet any other filing requirement listed in the Form 1040 and 1040-SR instructionsPDF.
The IRS will only allow you to claim losses on your business for three out of five tax years. If you don't show that your business is starting to make a profit, then the IRS can prohibit you from claiming your business losses on your taxes.
Non-Filer, Zero Income: If you have zero or no income and are not normally required to file a tax return, you can just file a 2021 Tax Return to claim the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit and be done.
It's perfectly legal to file a tax return even if your income falls below the IRS minimum requirement to file. If you qualify for certain tax credits but owe no tax, you might be able to claim the excess tax credit as a refund when you file your return.
The biggest disadvantage of a sole proprietorship is that there is no separation between business assets and personal assets. This means that if anyone sues the business for any reason, they can take away the business owner's cash, car, or even their home.
The 10% rate applies to income from $1 to $10,000; the 20% rate applies to income from $10,001 to $20,000; and the 30% rate applies to all income above $20,000. Under this system, someone earning $10,000 is taxed at 10%, paying a total of $1,000. Someone earning $5,000 pays $500, and so on.
As of the 2021 tax year, the minimum gross income requirements are: Single and under age 65: $12,550. Single and age 65 or older: $14,250. Married filing jointly and both spouses are under age 65: $25,100.