Do you have to file your federal income tax every year?

If you want to know if you can just add your income and withholding from two years together and file it all at once, the answer is no. Taxes have to be computed and reported separately for each year. If you had a refund coming from 2007, you can't just add it to your 2008 return. If you should have filed a return from a previous year but have not yet done so, you can still obtain old forms from that year and file now.

The determination of whether you are required to file a return is done separately each year. If you don't have a lot of income and aren't expecting a refund, it is quite possible that you may be required to file in some years and may not be required to file in other years. If your income is below the minimum amount for required filing, you may skip that year if you wish. But remember that if you were due a refund, you will be forfeiting it.