Summer is the season when most US taxpayers, to their great relief, have completed and filed their tax returns. Meanwhile, the IRS is working hard to prepare for next tax season. This summer, serious changes were made to one of the basic IRS tax forms: Form 1040, the U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
What’s new with Form 1040?
The new Form 1040 with its “building block approach” is aimed at simplifying the filing process for both taxpayers and IRS agents. The new version of Form 1040 is also shorter – it’s half the size of the current form. It will combine forms 1040EZ and 1040A, making it convenient for most taxpayers.
At the moment, anyone can view a sample version of Form 1040 for the 2019 tax season on the IRS website. Taxpayers are encouraged to email any comments or suggestions directly to the IRS.
Who must file the new Form 1040?
As usual, Form 1040 is filed by U.S. residents and citizens with recorded incomes during the filing year or who are eligible for a certain credit. Now it will be used by taxpayers with varied incomes (Form 1040-A) and those who would have previously filed Form 1040EZ.
What other forms should I file with the new 1040?
The new Form 1040 must be accompanied by a Tax and Wage Statement (a relevant version of Form W-2) or Information Returns (Form 1099). In some cases, a taxpayer has to attach schedules providing information about their tax liability and refund.
How to fill out the new Form 1040
The draft variant of the form has 2 pages. The taxpayer has to add the following information:
- Filing status
- Personal information: name, Social Security Number, home address
- Deduction information
- Information about dependants.
What’s the easiest way to complete Form 1040?
The new version of the individual tax return is straightforward and asks for relevant information only. Still, you can make the process even simpler by filling out the form with PDFfiller. Any PDF document is fillable the moment you upload it to your PDFfiller account. No need to install expensive software to your computer and go through a time-consuming learning process. Add text, images, numbers and check marks in the corresponding fields of your form. And don’t worry about spelling: PDFfiller’s spell checker helps you avoid typos. Don’t know what to add to the next field? Leave comments with sticky notes and text boxes, highlight the most tricky parts and consult with your employer or tax advisor later. You can move your annotations once you’ve figured out all the details. If you don’t want to show your income to anybody except the IRS, use the PDFfiller tools to black out or erase sensitive data. PDFfiller allows you to sign Form 1040 on any desktop or mobile device. Add your signature using your smartphone or tablet, trackpad, keyboard, mouse or capture it with a webcam. Once your 1040 is ready for submission, you can print it, save it to your computer or cloud storage, email or share it in just a few clicks. Moreover, you can send your tax form via fax using the PDFfiller fax number available in your account. According to IRS rules, taxpayers are required to store all income tax returns for at least three years. PDFfiller’s secure cloud storage uses Amazon’s S3 data centers which protect documents against any potential data loss. To ensure the highest level of security, store all your tax forms in encrypted folders.
