Filing Requirements
If you have no income and are living off of savings why do you think you need to file yearly tax returns?
Why do you think the IRS wants to see a tax return with no tax data entered and only your name, address and Social Security number?
I only have a few pennies of interest from the saving accounts
Then why do you think "I still need to file yearly tax returns."? There is no advantage to file a do nothing tax return.
Filing Requirements
So if you are living off of this scenario ( pasted below ) : A married couple with no dependents takes in $30K and put it into their savings - One check for $15K is written to daughter by her mother, and one check later in year of $15K is given to the son in law ) and this money is placed in a savings account with all your other accumulated savings over the years, and you are not 65 - and the daughter and son in law have decided to take a leap of faith and retire due to some health reasons, when April of 2021 comes - there is nothing aside from property taxes to report unless you report the very small amount of interest that you "may" get ( This year the bank told us they didn't bother since the interest was way below 10 dollars ). So no need to send in anything to the IRS aside from the property taxes which are allowed to be reported ( house is paid off so no interest to pay on a mortgage - no jobs , no children, no anything that makes money - just gift money - that's all you have ). ??
I copied and pasted this :
Generally, the answer to “do I have to pay taxes on a gift?” is this: the person receiving a gift typically does not have to pay gift tax.
The annual gift tax exclusion is $15,000 for the 2020 tax year. (It was the same for the 2019 tax year.) This is the amount of money that you can give as a gift to one person, in any given year, without having to pay any gift tax.
If you had no taxable income--and living off of savings is not taxable income--then you have no reason to "report" your property tax. Without paying tax during the year, there is no reason to file, and nothing to be gained by entering property tax paid on a tax return. You cannot receive a tax refund based on property tax you paid. Entering property tax paid can only help if you actually paid (or had tax withheld from income you received) tax during the year, and you have enough itemized deductions to exceed your standard deduction --- which for a couple filing a joint return for 2020 will be $24,800.
thank you for the reply - maybe the State tax requires or at the least has a place to "put" the amount of property taxes you pay for the year ? I honestly thought it was a requirement. I am ( as you can see ) no tax expert. I wish I knew more about taxes, but I am glad there is a forum for turbo tax and someone is right there to answer me ! I am pretty impressed. Do you work for Turbo Tax and are a tax lawyer or preparation person perhaps ? I must admit that on a early August night, I didn't think I'd be getting any responses till maybe Christmas LOL. Thanks again, whoever you are, for understanding a subject that is indeed a challenge to most. !
I wanted to add that not only am I impressed that I got an answer in August - but within an hour - ! Thanks again.
You are welcome. No, not an employee of TurboTax. "Champs" are volunteers who answer a lot of questions in the user forum. During the busier part of tax season you will see many more TT employees answering questions here too, but at this time of year, it is mostly us volunteers.
State tax laws vary, but I cannot think of a reason why you would need to file a state return just to enter anything about paying property taxes. The point of entering such things as mortgage interest and property tax is to use them for tax deductions that could affect your tax due or tax refund. Since you will pay no tax, you cannot get a refund. And since you will not have taxable income, you will not have tax due---so there is no effect or reason to file anything about your property tax.
Stay safe.