A Guide to Tax Forms
A Guide to Tax Forms
Looking at the Internal Revenue Service’s website can be a bewildering experience. A vast array of tax forms greets you and figuring out which ones to use can be a chore. This guide is designed to help take some of the mystery out of it.
Which Tax Form Should I Use?
There are three main tax forms used to file your return: 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ.
1040EZ is the easiest form to fill in. You can only use it if all the following conditions apply. You need to be single or married filing jointly, with no dependents and a total taxable income of less than $100,000. You and your spouse need to have been born after January 1, 1943 and neither of you can be legally blind. Your only income sources should be an employer (wages, tips and salaries), scholarships or the government (unemployment or the Alaska Permanent Fund). Taxable interest of $1500 or less is also allowed. You should not have received any adjustments to income such as advance Earned Income Credit, deductions for IRA funds or student loan interest in the tax year being covered. And you should not owe any tax on payments made to household staff.
If you do not qualify for form 1040EZ, there is an intermediate form to fill out, form 1040A. Many of the conditions are the same, but some adjustments to income and tax credits are allowed (see the IRS website for details). You must not itemize your deductions. If these conditions do not apply, then you must fill out the full form 1040.
Additional Tax Forms
There are numerous other tax forms in addition to the basic 1040 forms. Schedules A and B cover itemized deductions, with another dozen or so schedules covering different tax credits. In addition, there are all sorts of forms for business owners, fiduciary trusts and any other sort of taxable income you could name. To list them all in detail would take a book, and indeed, several good books are available on the subject. Some popular titles include Taxes For Dummies, J K Lasser’s Your Income Tax and the Ernst and Young Tax Guide. These are all published annually in order to keep up to date with changes to the tax code.
Where to File Your Tax Forms
The IRS has regional offices in Atlanta, Dallas, New York City and San Francisco. For Americans living overseas, it also has international offices in Frankfurt, London, Paris and Puerto Rico. Or you can file online for a speedier refund.
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