[Ed Miller]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm only 18 and have never filed for taxes before...in college as a dependant so not sure as to what I should legally file.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you invest any money in your name, you'll basically have to file a tax return. Furthermore, if the IRS catches you having made money playing poker, and you didn't file a return, you are going to suffer big penalties.

It's time you sucked it up and learned about filing tax returns. If your total take for the year is $10k or less, you aren't going to owe much (in fact, if you weren't a dependant, you could easily owe nothing at all).

Look into opening a Roth IRA. Put the maximum ($4000) into it. Roth IRAs basically pwn for 18-year-olds. The idea is that your money will COMPOUND tax-free (i.e., you invest in something, it makes money, pays dividends, etc., and all that stuff can be reinvested and not taxed) and you can take it out tax-free.

If you put $4,000 in a Roth every year for the next four decades, and you invest it well, you will retire a multi-millionaire. Don't believe me? Assume you get an annual 8% return. A quick back of the envelope tells me that at 8% compounded, you'll double your money in a bit less than 9 years. So in 40 years, that's about 25x your money. Your $4000 that you put in this year will be worth $100,000. Your $4000 from next year will be slightly less than $100,000. And so on. Add up those, and you get multiple millions. All for $4000 (not a whole lot of money) per year.

And you will have access to those multi-millions tax free.

Any extra money you make is gravy. You can feel free to spend it, invest it in taxable investments, etc.

But you don't have access to that vehicle (Roth IRA) if you don't file your taxes... and you also expose yourself to penalties and a possible criminal conviction.