taxes for newbies

How much money do you need to earn before you are required to file taxes?

If I only made $200, do I need to file taxes?

What if I make $800?

If you're in the U.S. I think It's best to talk to an accountant when dealing with taxes. However, this is what I think.  You are supposed to file all income on your taxes. I use Turbo Tax for home and business. It asks the questions, I put in the numbers and it supposedly knows the law and does what needs to be done.

That's what we all thought too...but they seem to have hit some bumps lately. Noentheless, I will probably use them again next year...

File. Your business expenses are a write-off if you spent more than you made. It isn't just income that is important.

My accountant is invaluable. We run two home businesses and he is amazing helping us file and finding all the write offs we can use by running our businesses at home. Shop around, too. The first accountant we tried was awful, we found our current one via word of mouth recommendations and he's fabulous.

It is wonderful to have an accountant...they are or should be current with all the usa tax laws that keep shape shifting.
Shannon is right about reporting and filing. In usa any small business that is getting a write off/tax break for more than 3 years is sending a red flag to the IRS. Better not continue to operate at a loss or tax man's going to be asking questions...