Tax Forms and Filing

Terms for the core forms, filing documents, and return mechanics that taxpayers encounter during tax season.

Tax forms and filing pages focus on the documents that carry tax information from wages, records, and schedules onto a filed return. Use this section when you need to identify a form, understand what it reports, or see how filing pieces connect.

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What This Section Covers

  • The main return form and the documents that feed information into it.
  • The difference between the taxpayer’s return and payer-issued information returns.
  • Filing vocabulary tied to wages, withholding, and year-end reporting.
  • How taxpayers move from records and forms to a completed return.

In this section

  • Amended Return
    An amended return is a corrected tax return filed after the original return when the taxpayer needs to change reported information.
  • Extension to File
    An extension to file gives the taxpayer more time to submit the return, but it does not automatically remove the need to address tax owed on time.
  • Form 1040
    Form 1040 is the main individual income tax return used to report income, deductions, credits, and the final filing result.
  • Form 1040-ES
    Form 1040-ES is the estimated-tax form used to help individual taxpayers calculate and manage federal estimated tax payments.
  • Form 1040-SR
    Form 1040-SR is the individual income-tax return form variant designed for older taxpayers within the Form 1040 filing framework.
  • Form 1065
    Form 1065 is the partnership return form used in the partnership tax-reporting workflow.
  • Form 1099-DIV
    Form 1099-DIV reports dividend income and related items that need to be reflected in the annual return.
  • Form 1099-INT
    Form 1099-INT reports interest income and helps taxpayers carry interest-related information into the annual return.
  • Form 1099-MISC
    Form 1099-MISC reports certain miscellaneous income items and is distinct from the forms used for wages, interest, dividends, or nonemployee compensation.
  • Form 1099-NEC
    Form 1099-NEC reports nonemployee compensation and often appears when a taxpayer is paid as an independent contractor instead of as an employee.
  • Form 1120
    Form 1120 is the corporate income-tax return form used in the C corporation reporting workflow.
  • Form 1120-S
    Form 1120-S is the S corporation return form used in the S corporation tax-reporting workflow.
  • Form W-2
    Form W-2 reports wages and tax withholding from employment and is one of the main records used to prepare an individual return.
  • Form W-4
    Form W-4 is the employee withholding certificate used to help determine how much federal income tax is withheld from paychecks.
  • Information Return
    An information return is a tax reporting document that tells the IRS and the taxpayer about payments, income, or other reportable items without serving as the taxpayer's full tax return.
  • Schedule A
    Schedule A is the form used to report itemized deductions instead of taking the standard deduction.
  • Schedule B
    Schedule B is the tax form used to report certain interest and dividend information as part of the annual return.
  • Schedule C
    Schedule C is the form used to report profit or loss from a sole proprietorship or other self-employment activity.
  • Schedule D
    Schedule D is the form used to report capital gains and losses from sales or exchanges of capital assets.
  • Schedule K-1
    Schedule K-1 is the reporting document used to show an owner's or beneficiary's share of certain tax items from a pass-through structure or related arrangement.
  • Schedule SE
    Schedule SE is the tax form used to calculate self-employment tax as part of the annual return workflow.
  • Tax Return
    A tax return is the filing package used to report tax information, calculate tax, and determine whether a refund or balance due results.