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Filing
Requirements Summary
US
citizens or residents must file a federal income
tax return dependent upon gross income, filing
status, age, and dependency status.
The
annual tax return form that must be filed by
all taxpayers as individuals is the 1040; there
are some different versions of it.
Versions
1040EZ and 1040A can be used only by those with
taxable income under US$100,000. The EZ form
can be used subject to a number of conditions,
some of which are: filing status is "married
filing jointly" or "single";
no dependents are claimed; no adjustments to
income are made; the only tax credit claimed
is the earned income credit. The A form can
be used subject to a number of conditions, some
of which are:
income is only from wages, salaries, tips, unemployment
compensation, interest and dividend income,
capital gain distributions, social security
benefits, taxable scholarships, pension and
IRA distributions, or Alaska Permanent Fund
dividends; the only adjustments made to income
are educator expenses, IRA deduction, student
loan interest deduction, or tuition and fees
deduction; deductions are not itemized; the
only tax credits claimed are the child tax credit,
additional child tax credit, education credit,
earned income credit, child and dependent care
credit, elderly credit, or retirement savings
contributions credit.
There
are a variety of additional forms that may need
to accompany the 1040 form, for instance the
1099 (dealing with non-employment income) and
the 1098 (dealing with various types of deduction).
The 1040 form also has a number of schedules,
which may need to be completed, eg Schedule
D for capital gains, Schedule E for rental real
estate income, royalty income and S Corporation
income, and Schedule A for deductible taxes
medical expenses.
Banks, brokerages and other financial institutions
that pay interest or dividends mail a 1099-INT,
1099-OID or 1099-DIV at the end of every tax
year. Such receipts are reported on Schedule
B.
There
are five filing statuses: single, married filing
jointly, married filing separately, head of
household, and qualifying widow(er) with dependent
child. A person is considered unmarried for
the whole year if, on the last day of the tax
year, they unmarried or legally separated under
a divorce or separate maintenance decree. An
unmarried person may be able to file as a head
of household or as a qualifying widow(er) with
a dependent child.
For
a fuller description of filing statuses and
filing rules, see http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#d0e609.
Self-employed
individuals, sole-proprietors, independent contractors
and persons who have net earnings of $400 or
more are required to pay self-employment tax
by filing Schedule SE (PDF), attached to their
Form 1040. Employees of a church that receive
income of $108.28 or more, but do not receive
a Form W-2 for the earnings must also file pay
self-employment tax by filing a Schedule SE,
attached to Form 1040. Self-employed individuals
and independent contractors are also required
to report income and expenses on a Schedule
C attached to Form 1040.
A
member of a partnership that carries on a trade
or business, or a member of a Limited Liability
Company (LLC) that chooses to be treated as
a partnership, must file a completed Schedule
SE attached to Form 1040.
Estimated
tax is the method used to pay (including SE
tax) on income not subject to withholding. Generally,
estimated tax payments must be made if the amount
expected is $1,000. Form 1040-ES is used to
figure and pay the tax.
Filling
in a tax return is often a non-trivial affair,
and many people use tax preparation software,
on- or off-line, or pay an adviser to compile
their tax returns.
Face-to-face
help solving tax problems is available every
business day in IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers.
An employee can explain IRS letters, request
adjustments to your account, or help set up
a payment plan. To find the number, go to
www.irs.gov/localcontacts or look in the
phone book under United States Government, Internal
Revenue Service.
Details
of addresses for filing of tax returns are available,
by state, at http://www.irs.gov/file/content/0,,id=105693,00.html.
Payments
can be made by credit card, electronic funds
transfer, check, money order, cashier’s
check, or cash. Information is available at
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=108330,00.html.
The
IRS encourages payment of tax due through third
party 'lockbox' agencies. There are details
at http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96354,00.html.
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