IRS tax forms are basically taxpayer’s tool for filing their taxes. To understand more about this form we must first get a brief history of taxes. The federal government of United States as well as some states and municipal governments take a progressive tax from various tax payers on the various taxable incomes. These taxpayers involve corporations, individuals, trusts and other estates. Income tax taken by the federal government today is taken under the Internal Revenue code of 1986 and its further amendments.
The IRS (Internal revenue services) was created to collect taxes for the government. To do this effectively the IRS had to make the process simple and easy at-least for the general public. And also they had to keep in mind that the system had to be standardized to prevent unnecessary harassment. And thus the various types of IRS Tax forms came into being. These are tax forms which not only help you to tell the IRS about your incomes, investments, credits etc. but also help you to calculate your own taxes. These forms are designed for the need of various segments of taxpayers and may even have sub-forms/variants for sub-groups in these segments. Plus these forms are easy to understand and fill to help tax payers file their taxes easily.
To understand the practical application and need of these forms we need to understand that a huge numbers as well as types of tax payers exist and it is impossible for the governments to file taxes for them. Plus every one plans out their taxable deductions and other such investments and credits according to their needs. So what the IRS does is, it allows the taxpayers to file their incomes and other information in the form and some and helps them calculate the amount of taxes etc. right in the form itself. The responsibility of correctness of the information filed in this form lies with the filer and filling of incorrect information is a punishable offence. The form is later verified by the IRS and tax paid accordingly. To make the task easier IRS has introduced variants of forms for sub-segments of taxpayers which simplifies the process both for the taxpayers as well IRS itself.
A short list of some of the IRS tax forms are given below:
(Note: Only some selected IRS tax forms have been mentioned here for a more exhaustive list refer to the IRS website)
Tax form 1040: This is the basic form for filling most of the types of incomes. This form is most commonly used due to the large number of income types that it covers. Plus it does not put many limitations on its use as in the case of its variants. This form can be filled by individuals, households and individual and spouses filling jointly as well.
Another popular name for this form is the long form. This name is because of the length of this form which is two pages with the first one containing fields for filling the various incomes credits, tax benefits etc. And the second page is designed to help the tax payer calculate their taxes, reductions etc. by calculating the allowable deductions and credits, tax based upon the income figure. As stated before the first form also takes into account joint as well as household based fillings.
The Form 1040A- This form is also called the short form because of it is shorter in size as compared to the IRS tax form 1040. This form can only be used by taxpayers with a total income of less than $100,000. Also the taxpayers must have income from wages, salaries, pension, annuities, scholarships, grants, retirement benefits etc.
IRS form 1040EZ: This is another variant of the IRS tax form which can be filled by those who are either filing for taxes individually or jointly but do not have any dependants. Again the total income must be below $100,000 to use this form to file their taxes.
Form 1040x is another form which is used to make corrections in forms 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ which have been filled and submitted. There is a stipulated time within which it has to be submitted following which it is considered to be on time. This form has three columns and is similar to 1040. One column is to list the original data and the second to list the increase or decrease in the original amount and the third having the corrected amount.
Also a large number of "Information only" Forms which are used as attachments and also for other purposes. Strict printing norms are enforced on their printing such as the use of proper inks, papers sizes and security features. These are used to provide additional detail required while filing for the taxes which cannot be filled in the tax forms.
