Dtjytyk

This question is hypothetical.

I was unemployed for the entire year of 2018 and had no income. I lived with a parent and had enough savings from a previous job to pay for myself and make all of my student loan payments.

I paid about $2,000 in student loan interest.

Should I file my taxes this year, and will I be able to get a tax refund in the mail? In previous years when I was employed, I filed my taxes and got a nice refund, partly because of the interest I paid on student loans.

This is in New Jersey, America.

Student loan interest is a deduction. A deduction reduces your tax liability. If you had no income and you don't have a tax liability you can't get a refund since you didn't get more tax withheld than you have to pay.

The word "refund" means "money that you previously paid and that you are now getting back". A tax refund is where you had money withheld from your paycheck (or you otherwise made tax payments), and you get some of that back. If you didn't pay any taxes, then you can't get a refund, because there's no money that you paid to refund (there are a few complications to that due to things like Earned Income Tax Credit, but since you didn't have any income that doesn't apply). If you have deductions that exceed your taxable income, they are "wasted" unless you can carry them forward.

EXAMPLE: If you paid $2,000 in interest in a year and you can demonstrate that you received $5,000 salary in a year, you would be able to say to show on your form this information and they will tax you only for the $3,000 difference.

FOR YOU: You apparently earned no money in the tax-year, but paid $2,000 in interest the tax year. This will mean you are not taxed in 2018 for income. You will not get anything from it, but it's free, easy, and very important to show: When you fill out your form and I strongly encourage you to do so, first check that you're not a dependent already, then file showing that you made no money, but you paid interest on student loans.

The reason for filing, even though you won't receive anything is that you may be interested in buying a home or something and they'll ask for your last two tax filings, etc. and you will show you did due diligence.

Bonus: if by some miracle they decide to give us a bit of relief for our outrageous student loans you can show documentation that you did everything right and by the book.

You are not required to file a return because your income is less than the filing threshold. The IRS has a site here to check that. I did my best to guess answers, even assuming that you were able to be claimed as a dependent by someone else, and it said you did not have to file. If you do file, you will have zero liability. As others have said, you might want to file so you have a return to show people in the future. You are allowed to file for three years, so if you don't file now and it becomes an issue you can file then. You would also want to file if you had a refund coming, either because you had tax withheld (you didn't) or you had a refundable education credit coming.