Do you have to pay taxes while you are in jail?

When you are convicted for a crime and are sentenced to spend some time in jail you are still considered a citizen, and still have the same rights and responsibilities as a normal person. That even includes taxes. Believe it or not, inmates are still able to receive an income while they spend time in jail for various reasons. Some reasons could be that you are an individual physically able to work at the prison in exchange for money. You may have had investments before your incarceration pay out in your favor while you were in jail. That would lead to a good chunk of income while in prison. Regardless of how you earn your income while in prison, you are required by law to still file your taxes, as long as the income amount is above a certain amount, depending on your marital status. The IRS issues a minimum amount of earned income that allows for people to pay their taxes. The amount for a single taxpayer is around $10,800, so you would need to earn more than that to be subjected to income tax.