Reviews on Tax Form 1040
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Different people will have different kind of IRS Tax form to fill in. Some people might feel stressed and hate to fill the forms. However, nobody can be excluded from this. Why not try our best to make the process easier since we have no choice?
There are a few tax filling tips available around the internet. The first step and also the one that I agree the most is finding out the appropriate and specific form according to your needs and conditions. Many people get confused from the very beginning because they have selected the wrong forml. You have to do it right in the beginning or you will suffer from the consequences. In addition, form filling has deadline and we have no time to waste around filling up the wrong forms.
Choosing the Right IRS Tax Forms
Choosing the right forms for you is crucial and you must do it correctly. So in order to help you, I have researched and collected some information about the most used tax forms in IRS – Form 1040. Here is the information that you must know:
Form 1040
Generally, there are 3 versions available for Form 1040 – Form 1040, Form 1040A and Form 1040EZ.
Form 1040 is the longest form that available in the 1040 Form Family. If you involved in a lot of money activities, you may fill up this form so that you can have more options for your tax conditions. For those who don’t have a complicated tax situation such as no capital gain or loss, investment, etc, you can choose the shorter form, Form 1040A. If you are looking for something that is easy and simple, then the easiest form, Form 1040EZ is available for you. I suggest you to investigate more on the longer forms. Longer forms have to have more information and hence have more opportunities for tax break.
The requirement of Form 1040
Form 1040EZ
Although Form 1040EZ is the simplest form, you must fulfill some requirements before you file the 1040EZ return.
First you only can fill Form 1040EZ if your income only comes from:
- Wages
- Salaries
- Unemployment Compensation
- Taxable Scholarships and fellowship grants
- Less than $1,500 interest income
- Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends
Below are some of the requirements for Form 1040EZ that I found from Internet:
- Your filling status is single or married filing jointly.
- Your income, or combined income for joint filers is under $100,000.
- Your Interest income is under $1500.
- You are younger than 65. Your spouse also must meet the age requirements if you file a joint return.
- You and your spouse were not legally blind during the last tax year.
- You do not have any adjustment to income
Since this is the shortest form, it really doesn’t provide many options for you. That means:
- You are claiming only the standard deduction
- You may claim the Earned Income Credit
- You may claim the Telephone Excise Tax Refund
- You are not claiming any other tax credits.
Although you have less option from Form 1040EZ, it is the shortest and easiest form for you. Of course, you can choose this form if you really don’t have many complex income but just ordinary wages. If not you may end up paying more tax.
Find more information about Form 1040EZ from IRS
Form 1040A
Form 1040A is a form that longer than Form 1040EZ. It has more filling options for people and the earning limits on filers also increased. This is why many people are qualified for this Form 1040A.
Again, let take a look at the income requirement for this form:
- All the income source that listed for Form 1040EZ : Wages, Salaries, Unemployment Compensation, Taxable Scholarships and fellowship grants and Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends
- Tips
- Taxable Social Security and railroad retirement benefits
- Capital gain distributions
- Jury duty pay.
Unlke Form 1040EZ, Form 1040A allows you to have adjustments to income that only from:
- Penalty on early withdraw of savings
- IRA deduction
- Student loan interest deduction
- Jury duty pay given to your employer.
Besides that, it also provides some tax credits for you which you can’t find in the simplest form such as:
- Child and dependent care expenses credit
- Elderly or disabled credit
- Child or additional child tax credit
- Education credits
- Earned income credit
Yes, Form 1040A is longer and you have to take more time to fill it up. However, because of its length, it provides some extra options for your tax and allows you to leverage on it. Anyway, there are still some requirements for Form 1040A that you have to follow before you can use it:
- Your taxable income, or combined incomes, is below $100,000
- You have capital gain distributions, but no other capital gains and losses
- You do not itemize deductions
- The only adjustment to your income are from deductible IRA contributions, student loan interest payments, penalties on early withdrawal of savings or you handed over your jury duty pay to your employer.
Find more information about Form 1040A from IRS
Form 1040
Finally, Form 1040 is right for you if your income is bigger and you have more complex investment portfolio or other types of income to report. This is the longest form among the 3 types of Form 1040 and this also means that you will have more criteria to fill and get more deductions or tax options.
If you are not qualified for the last 2 forms, then you have no choice but to choose this longest Form 1040. This is because all type of income, credits deductions, and taxes can be reported in this form.
Anyway, you must fill this form if:
- Your taxable income is $100,000 or more
- You itemize deductions
- Your Form W-2, Box 12, shows uncollected tax on tips or group term life insurance
- Your Form W-2, Box 12, show a code Z
- You received $20 or more in tips in any one month and did not report them to your employer
- You owe excise tax on insider stock compensation from an expatriated corporation
- You are a debtor in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case filed after October 16, 2005.
Find more information about Form 1040 from IRS
Getting Ready
Below are some of the tips to get you ready for Form 1040:
- Choose the right form according to your condition
- First please read the latest update for your chosen form in one particular year.
- Gather all your income statements and summary of expenses for any deductions
- Get two copies of Form 1040. One as your draft and one as your final copy.
- Get and read the instructions for Form 1040.
- Fill up the form accordingly.
If you really need some helps filing up the form, I suggest you to visit this site. There is a complete guide that shows you how to fill the Form 1040. It is quite details and easy to read. I hope you can enjoy your tax filing process.
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3 Responses to “Reviews on Tax Form 1040”
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[…] […]
Retird—-Dissabled—-VET—Income $17,650/year. Normally do not file. Am I elligeblefor the $300.00 Stimulas ?
Hi Howard,
First of all, thanks for your question.
I found an article which can answer your question very well. You can read it over here.
Hope the information can help you.