<The trouble is that unless your employer was breaking the law by failing to withhold income tax and social security and medicade insurance, you will need to file in order to get a refund, if they withheld more than necessary.>

Segment 1:<..unless your employer was breaking the law..you will need to file in order to get a refund..>

Yep. I already said that about the refund, but it's worth repeating. As a side note, while I'm not an expert on payroll taxes, I believe that you can legally have no withholding for income tax by the employer. The calculation, if I'm correct, is determined by comparing your projected annualized income with the threshold level tied to your W4. I don't believe that it is always true that a wage earner will have federal income tax withholding, but the exceptions will be at very low income levels.

Segment 2:<..and social security and medicade insurance, you will need to file in order to get a refund..>

Nope, not entirely correct. I believe Medicade has no cut-off, so no excess could occur. SS is assessed on about the first $65K of income, but excess payment would *only* occur if you exceeded that total *and* it came from multiple employers. At that income level, not filing is no longer an option regardless of refund status. (And if you can earn that as a student, please hire me when you're running your own company!)

I don't think that JeanDavid meant to imply that FICA could be refunded if you're a student, but some might mistakenly read it that way. I hope this answers that question before it's asked.