Question

How to efile federal tax return if no income

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
April 13, 2024
1 reply
0 views

Hi - My son had no income (earned or unearned) in the year 2023. TurboTax won't let us efile his return. Is there a way to do that? I saw online that some people put $1 of interest income in the return to enable e-filing but that seems risky since it's not the truth and there would be no supporting documentation if audited.

Any advice on how to efil in this situation?

Thanks,

Mike

Not A Product Question

J

JulieS

Yes, if you report $1 in interest income that will allow you to e-file the tax return. It's not risky because it's such a small amount, that it's not required to be reported at all.

If your son has no income at all, why are you trying to file a return for him? It's not required, and there won't be any refund.

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

M

MikewithaquestionAuthor

Thanks, good point and good question. The reason is audit timelines. According to another TurboTax Help article:

"Filing a tax return typically starts the clock running for the amount of time the IRS can audit your return for a given year. If you don't file, the IRS can come back and perform an audit for that year."

So it seems a "no file" year can trigger an audit any time in the future, while filing a no-income return limits the audit timeframe.

If we're going to file his return, it'd be less hassle to efile than using paper forms.