Individual Income Tax Return

What Is a Personal Tax Return 

An individual tax return is an official form that a single person or married couple sends to a federal, state, or municipal taxing body to record all taxable income earned within a certain time period, generally the previous year. This information is used to calculate the amount of tax owed or overpaid for that period.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the United States' federal taxing authority. The United States offers a voluntary reporting system that allows individuals to file their tax returns electronically or on paper.

Every country has agencies in charge of national tax collecting. Some tax agencies supply pre-filled individual tax returns to individual taxpayers, while others require the taxpayer to fill out and file the returns on their own.

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS

• An individual tax return is a form that a person submits to a federal, state, or municipal taxing body to declare all taxable income received in the preceding year.
• All tax returns in the United States are filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the country's federal taxing body.
• Businesses, corporations, and non-profit organisations must all submit their own versions of the individual tax return.
• In addition to filing a federal tax return, every state in the United States, even those without a state income tax, has a state taxing body that controls the annual collection of state taxes.

The Individual Tax Return: An Overview

The individual tax return is one of several forms used in the United States to record taxable income. Businesses, corporations, and non-profit organisations are all obliged to submit their own versions of the individual tax return.

Every person who makes a specific minimum amount of money is required to file a tax return each year. Individual taxpayers must use IRS Forms 1040 or 1040-SR to file their returns. Married people can file as individuals or as a couple. 

Once completed, the taxpayer must submit the form by a certain deadline. That day is normally April 15th of each year, or the next weekday. The routine was altered in 2020, as the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 epidemic delayed the deadline for reporting 2019 taxes until July 15, 2020. The deadline to file taxes in 2021 has been pushed back to May 17, 2021. 

Additional tax forms may be required, most notably if the person intends to itemise deductions rather than taking the standard deduction.

Every state in the United States, including those that do not have a state income tax, has a state taxing authority. The agency is in charge of the annual collection of all state taxes.

Individual state tax returns are filed by taxpayers to the state in which they reside if the state taxes income. Most state tax filings assess and calculate their taxes based on line items taken over from the federal tax return.

Individual Tax Return Forms

Form 1040 is a two-page form used by practically all individual taxpayers. It can be used to record income from earnings, salaries, tips, capital gains, dividends, interest, unemployment compensation, pensions, annuities, Social Security, railroad retirement, taxable scholarships, and Alaska Permanent Fund distributions.

The 1040-SR, an optional version for seniors, includes larger print and emphasises tax benefits available only to retirees.

Other versions of the individual tax return, such as Form 1040-EZ and Form 1040-A, were phased out after the 2017 tax year.

Other Forms for Reporting Individual Taxes

Individual tax returns are not the only forms that some taxpayers must file. Stock sales, for example, must be reported on a Schedule D form and attached to the 1040.6.

Self-employed individuals and company owners must file and pay their taxes quarterly using Form 1040-ES.7 Payments payable after completing Form 1040 are submitted with Form 1040-V.8.

We're all human and make mistakes from time to time. Individual taxpayers who need to update their tax returns utilise Form 1040-X.9