Jan 11
8
Being so easy, you wouldn’t think that anyone would pay someone to fill out a 1040 Form on their behalf.
Pay someone to complete a easy two-page form?
It sounds ridiculous, yet that’s exactly what many people do, apparently intimidated by the many, many, many pages of instructions.
These instructions for the 1040 Form are actually pretty straightforward and not too numerous.
They span so many pages, nevertheless, simply because that multiple scenarios are covered, with cases given and definitions provided.
The 1040 Form is about as easy as it gets, though variants including the 1040A and 1040EZ do exist that streamline matters even further.
But it’s no surprise that the 1040 should be simple; it is, after all, the “starter form” for most American taxpayers, folks who do not possess difficult situations.
Despite being all of two pages by itself, many who file the 1040 will also offer attachments that report information which may not fit in the limited space given on the form itself.
These attachments are official parts of the 1040 called “schedules.”
Schedule C, for example, lists income and expenses related to self-employment, while Schedule F is used to report that associated with farming.
It’s all due by April 15 each year – or the first business day after that should April 15 fall on the weekend or perhaps a holiday.
But thanks to the worldwide web, filing is easier than ever before, as is planning itself, with guided onscreen instructions available at the websites of a lot of the biggest name in computer tax software.
It is not simple charity on their part, however; these businesses lobbied the IRS very hard when it planned to provide, free of charge, tax preparation and filing through the official IRS website.
The resultant comprise allows those making less than twenty-five grand a year to have their federal taxes well prepared and filed free of charge when done online.
