Self-Imployed - Should I file for a Tax Return?

You will have to pay self employment taxes (13.3%) on the profit. This is social security and medicare. You are required by law to file. You file a schedule C and subtract your expenses.

It's not only "worth" filing, it's required by law.

You won't get anything "back" unless you've already sent them withholding. "Getting something back" means that part of your paycheck was withheld by your employer and already sent to the IRS in advance. You file your tax paperwork and calculate what your actual tax burden should be, and they send you back the difference between what you actually owe and what your employer already sent them.

Since you made $1000 as your own boss, I'm guessing you haven't sent them anything in terms of withholding, so there isn't anything to send "back".

The amounts you're talking about are small enough that it probably wouldn't matter. Since you're 16, you're probably still declared on your parent's taxes as a dependent, so you can earn a certain amount of income without needing to declare it. I couldn't tell you what that amount is.

I would suggest you just go ahead and pony up the $25 or $50 bucks or whatever and get some real tax advice from a real tax accountant, just to be sure you're on the safe side. Uncle Sam can be be a real B*tch when it comes to extorting money from people. You didn't earn enough to warrant scrutiny, so you most likely have nothing to worry about; but you never know when some petty bureaucrat might want to make an "example" out of somebody.

It's not a matter of whether it's WORTH filing - like your research told you, you're required to.

A tax return is what you file, a reFUND is money you get back if you're eligible. But"get back"? Unless you paid in quarterly estimated payments, you will owe, not get any money refunded - there's nothing to refund if you didn't pay anything in.

You will get nothing back. File for 1040 or 1040EZ and also schedule SE. After filing out schedule SE, you will find that you owe. If you have any business deductions use Schedule C but won't make a difference in getting any money back.

you file this income on SchC and yes, you will probably owe SE tax, which is approx 13.3% of your sch C net

you will owe the se tax but you need to file

there will be no refund if you first didn't pay in