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What Is an IRS 1040 Form?

Written by a TurboTax Expert • Reviewed by a TurboTax CPAUpdated for Tax Year 2024 • October 16, 2024 1:24 AM
OVERVIEW

The IRS Form 1040 is one of the official documents that U.S. taxpayers can use to file their annual income tax return. IRS Form 1040 comes in a few variations. There have been a few recent changes to the federal form 1040. We’ll review the differences and show you how file 1040 form when it comes to tax time.

 

Key Takeaways

  • Use Form 1040 to report your total income and then claiming any allowable adjustments, known as above-the-line deductions. This calculation gives your adjusted gross income (AGI).
  • If you're 65 or older, you might want to use Form 1040-SR. It’s printed with a larger font to make it easy to read and includes a chart for determining your Standard Deduction.
  • Use Form 1040-NR if you are a nonresident alien who earned income in the United States.
  • If you need to amend a Form 1040 that you filed previously, use Form 1040-X.

Form 1040

The IRS 1040 form is one of the official documents that U.S. taxpayers use to file their annual income tax return. The 1040 form is divided into sections where you report your income and deductions to determine the amount of tax you owe or the refund you can expect to receive. Depending on the type of income you need to report, it may be necessary to attach additional forms, also known as schedules.

Here's a guide to all of the 1040 variations you may come across.  Download the 1040 form to begin preparing your tax documents.

Why are there different versions of the 1040 form?

There are now four variations of the 1040 form (1040A and 1040EZ no longer exist):

  • Form 1040: This is the one the majority of taxpayers will use to report income and determine their tax for the year and any refund or additional tax owed.
  • Form 1040-SR: This version is for senior taxpayers (age 65 and older). Form 1040-SR is nearly identical to Form 1040, but is printed using a larger font and includes a chart for determining the taxpayer's Standard Deduction.
  • Form 1040-NR: This form is for non-resident aliens, and it's several pages longer than the other 1040 form versions.
  • Form 1040-X: This form is for taxpayers who need to make amendments to their tax return after previously filing a Form 1040.

What is the purpose of a 1040 form?

Taxpayers use the federal 1040 form to calculate their taxable income and tax on that income. One of the first steps is to calculate Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) by first reporting your total income and then claiming any allowable adjustments, also known as above-the-line deductions. Your AGI is an important number since many credits and deduction limitations are affected by it.

On line 11 of the tax year 2024 Form 1040, you will report your AGI. You can reduce it further with either the Standard Deduction or the total of your itemized deductions reported on Schedule A. Itemized deductions include expenses such as:

If the total of your itemized deductions does not exceed the Standard Deduction for your filing status, then your taxable income will usually be lower if you claim the Standard Deduction. Beginning in 2018, exemption deductions are replaced with higher child tax credits and a new other-dependent tax credit.

TurboTax will do this calculation for you and recommend whether choosing the Standard Deduction or itemizing will give you the best results.

TurboTax Tip:

You can reduce your AGI further by either taking the Standard Deduction or by itemizing deductions on Schedule A—whichever is greater. Itemized deductions can include mortgage interest, state and local income taxes or sales taxes, charitable contributions, and medical expenses.

What are the different schedules used with Form 1040?

Even though Form 1040 is relatively short, there are various schedules, or additional forms, that help taxpayers calculate specific items that apply to Form 1040:

  • Schedule 1: This form is used for reporting several common additional income sources or adjustments to income. Some common examples of items reported on Schedule 1 include alimony, gains or losses from the sale of a business property, unemployment compensation, business income, educator expenses, student loan interest deduction, and health savings account contributions.
  • Schedule 2: This form is used for reporting additional taxes, and it consists of two parts. The first part is for reporting alternative minimum tax and repayments of excess premium tax credits for health insurance purchased through the health insurance marketplace. The second part is for reporting items such as self-employment taxes, unreported social security and Medicare tax, additional tax on IRAs or other tax-favored accounts, household employment taxes, repayment of first-time home buyer credit, additional Medicare tax, and net investment income tax.
  • Schedule 3: This form is for reporting additional credits and payments, and it's split into two parts: refundable credits and non-refundable credits. Credits reported here include credits for child and dependent care expenses, residential energy credits, overpayment of taxes in previous years, and previously paid excess social security taxes.
  • Schedule A: This common form is used to enter all itemized deductions. These can include medical and dental expenses, mortgage interest, state and local taxes, charitable donations, and casualty and theft losses.
  • Schedule B: This form is used to report interest and dividend income that is greater than $1,500. If you have interest and dividend income under that amount, you will enter that directly on Form 1040, Lines 2 and 3.
  • Schedule C: This form is for reporting profit or loss from business. It's typically used by independent contractors, freelancers, and owners of sole proprietorships or single-member LLCs.
  • Schedule D: This form is used for reporting capital gains or losses from investments.
  • Schedule E: Those who have income or losses from rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, S corporations, estates, trusts, REMICs, or other pass-through entities will report those amounts on this form.
  • Schedule F: This form is used by farmers to report income and expenses from farming.
  • Schedule H: This form is used by taxpayers with household workers, such as a nanny or caretaker. Since the taxpayer is responsible for withholding income for social security and Medicare taxes, those are reported here.
  • Schedule J: This form is used by farmers and fisherman who choose to figure their income tax by averaging their three previous years' worth of taxes in order to more evenly distribute tax liability.
  • Schedule R: This form is for claiming the senior or disability tax credit.
  • Schedule SE: For business owners or independent contractors who made a profit of at least $400, this form is used to calculate self-employment tax.
  • 8812: This form is for claiming the Child Tax Credit and Credit for Other Dependents. If the total child tax credit amount for all qualifying children in your household exceeds the amount of tax you owe for the year, then you will prepare this form to calculate the refundable portion of the credit.

What are the pandemic-related changes to Form 1040 for 2020 and 2021?

The biggest change to Federal Form 1040 is that a new Line 30 has been added for the Recovery Rebate Credit. This is for taxpayers who didn't receive payments or could have received a larger payment from the government when economic impact payments (stimulus checks) went out in 2021. These taxpayers can claim that amount as a refundable credit here.

For 2020 and 2021, a line was added for charitable contributions of cash for those that took the Standard Deduction.

For 2020 only, the "Amount You Owe" section of Form 1040, states: "Schedule H and Schedule SE filers, line 37 may not represent all of the taxes you owe for 2020." This means that since employers were allowed to defer payments of the employer's share of social security tax due to the CARES Act, this deferred amount will be reported in the payments section of Form 1040, Schedule 3, Line 12e. It will be entered as a "Deferral for certain Schedule H or SE filers."

Another change to Form 1040 that showed up in 2020 is that there are three lines to report withholdings. On Form 1040, Line 25a is for W-2 withholdings, Line 25b is for 1099 withholdings, and Line 25c is for other withholdings.

With TurboTax Live Full Service, a local expert matched to your unique situation will do your taxes for you start to finish. Or, get unlimited help and advice from tax experts while you do your taxes with TurboTax Live Assisted.

And if you want to file your own taxes, you can still feel confident you'll do them right with TurboTax as we guide you step by step. No matter which way you file, we guarantee 100% accuracy and your maximum refund.

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~37% of filers qualify. Simple Form 1040 returns only (no schedules except for Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and student loan interest).

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The above article is intended to provide generalized financial information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized tax, investment, legal, or other business and professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always seek the assistance of a professional who knows your particular situation for advice on taxes, your investments, the law, or any other business and professional matters that affect you and/or your business.

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Examples of situations included in a simple Form 1040 return (assuming no added tax complexity):

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  • Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
  • Child Tax Credit (CTC)
  • Student loan interest deduction
  • Taxable qualified retirement plan distributions

Examples of situations not included in a simple Form 1040 return:

  • Itemized deductions claimed on Schedule A, like charitable contributions, medical expenses, mortgage interest and state and local tax deductions
  • Unemployment income reported on a 1099-G
  • Business or 1099-NEC income (often reported by those who are self-employed, gig workers or freelancers)
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  • TurboTax Technical Support: Customer service and technical support hours and options vary by time of year.

  • Deduct From Your Federal Refund: Individual taxes only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Additional terms apply. A $40 Refund Processing Service fee applies to this payment. method. Prices are subject to change without notice.

  • Data Import: Imports financial data from participating companies; Requires Intuit Account. Quicken and QuickBooks import not available with TurboTax installed on a Mac. Imports from Quicken (2022 and higher) and QuickBooks Desktop (2023 and higher); both Windows only. Quicken import not available for TurboTax Desktop Business. Quicken products provided by Quicken Inc., Quicken import subject to change.

  • Live Tax Advice: Access to tax experts to obtain answers to tax questions and to assist with tax year 2024 return(s) prepared with TurboTax Desktop software. Additional fees apply. Must be purchased and used by October 31, 2025. Excludes TurboTax Desktop Business. See License Agreement for details.

  • Audit Defense: Audit Defense is a third-party add-on service provided, for a fee, by TaxResources, Inc., dba Tax Audit. See Membership Agreements at https://turbotax.intuit.com/corp/softwarelicense/for service terms and conditions.

All features, services, support, prices, offers, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.

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