How much do I have to make before I must report it to the IRS?

I think I read something on Google saying if I make over $600 a year, they will send some tax form to me or something, but it wasn't really clear.

How much money can I make from adsense before I have to report it or pay any taxes?

 

yes, $600 is correct

 

So, I have to report $600?

How much tax do I pay for $600? I just reached $800...

 

well, thats a more complicated answer. You report all of it, so $800. Then you can subtract any "writeoffs" you had. The easy way to explain that is anything you sepnt to make that $800 is a writeoff. So adword fees, ebooks you bought this year, a computer you bought this year, mousepad, coffee mug for your desk, whatever.

So then lets say you have $400 after those subtractions. You pay tax on just the $400, but the exact amount depends on what your tax bracket is. The more you make this year the higher percentage you'll pay. Let's ballpark it at 25%, so you'll pay about $100 to good ol' uncle sam.

but it is a lot more complicated that that. It depends on other sources of income, if you are single or married, kids no kids....

 

Actually the $600 number is when they(or anybody else pays you that much unless you were a corporation, then they don't HAVE to file but can) file a 1099 with the IRS and send you a copy. The number you are supposed to pay taxes on starts at $400 or $450. That's gross before any deductions etc. Whatstherent has that part right.
The complicated part is paying SE or self employment tax and paying Income Tax. Basically if you don't make over $6,000, you won't pay any income tax due to personal deductions, standard deductions etc. What you will have to pay is the SE tax. And that's a full 15% of net income. If you held a normal job, you would pay like 7.5% of this and your employer would pay the rest. Since you are self employed you get to pay both. It covers your social security benefits etc.