Form 1040 (US Individual Income Tax Return)
Also known as: 1040, Form 1040
The primary federal individual income tax return that every US individual filer submits each year. Reports income from all sources, applies deductions and credits, and arrives at federal income tax owed or refund due. The single form that the IRS expects from over 165 million filers annually.
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Form 1040 sits at the center of the US individual federal tax system. Every filer — W-2 employee, 1099 contractor, retiree, gig worker, dependent of someone else, non-resident alien with US income, US citizen abroad — uses some variant of Form 1040 to report their federal income for the year. The form gathers income from all sources (wages, self-employment, interest, dividends, capital gains, retirement distributions, Social Security, alimony, gambling winnings, other), applies adjustments to arrive at AGI, subtracts the standard or itemized deduction to arrive at taxable income, applies the bracket tax tables, subtracts credits, accounts for payments already made (withholding, estimated tax), and produces either an amount owed or a refund.
The 1040 itself is two pages plus supporting schedules. Schedule 1 reports additional income and adjustments (above-the-line deductions). Schedule 2 reports additional taxes (Alternative Minimum Tax, self-employment tax, excess advance premium tax credit repayment). Schedule 3 reports additional credits and payments. Schedule A is itemized deductions; Schedule B is interest and dividends above $1,500; Schedule C is sole proprietor business income; Schedule D is capital gains/losses; Schedule E is supplemental income (rental, royalty, partnership, S-corp pass-through, trust); Schedule SE is self-employment tax. Most filers use the main 1040 plus 0-3 schedules; complex situations can involve 5+.
Filing options for 2026 federal returns: IRS Free File guided software via partner providers (free for AGI of $89,000 or less), IRS Free File Fillable Forms above that threshold, commercial software (TurboTax, H&R Block, FreeTaxUSA, TaxSlayer, etc.), or a paid preparer (CPA, enrolled agent, attorney). IRS Direct File, the IRS-operated pilot that let eligible filers file straight with the agency, was discontinued and is not available for the 2026 filing season. Paper filing is still allowed but processing takes 6+ months and is no longer recommended. The IRS publishes a comparison of free filing options each season at irs.gov/filing/free-tax-prep-options.
Filing deadline is typically April 15 (or the next business day if the 15th falls on a weekend or federal holiday in DC). Extensions to file (NOT to pay) are available via Form 4868, granting an additional 6 months. State tax returns are filed separately on each state's own forms, typically due the same date. Form 1040 amendments use Form 1040-X within 3 years of the original filing date; refunds older than 3 years are forfeited.
- What Line Is AGI on Form 1040? Line 11 (2024 & 2025) On the 2024 and 2025 Form 1040, AGI is line 11 — line 9 (total income) minus line 10 (Schedule 1 adjustments). Line by line, with a worked example.
- Filing US taxes for the first time — Form 1040 line by line How to file a federal tax return as a first-timer: Form 1040 anatomy, W-2 vs 1099, standard vs itemized, refund mechanics, deadlines, free filing options.
- Quarterly estimated taxes — the 1099 worker survival guide How to pay quarterly estimated taxes on 1099 income: safe-harbor rules, Form 1040-ES, the four dates, underpayment penalty, what to do if you missed a quarter.
- Self-employment tax 2026: how Schedule SE computes the 15.3% Schedule SE applies 15.3% (12.4% Social Security + 2.9% Medicare) to 92.35% of net earnings. See the wage-base cap and the half-SE-tax deduction.
- S-corp election for the self-employed — when the SE tax math works How an S-corp election splits net business income between W-2 salary and distribution, the reasonable-salary standard, and the savings threshold.
- AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) AGI is your total gross income for the tax year minus a specific set of statutory adjustments listed on Schedule 1 of Form 1040. It is the figure on which most tax calculations and eligibility tests downstream actually operate — not your gross income, not your taxable income.
- MAGI (Modified Adjusted Gross Income) MAGI is your AGI with specific deductions and exclusions added back in. The exact items added back depend on which tax provision is testing eligibility — there is no single universal MAGI. The two most commonly encountered versions are the IRA-deduction MAGI and the Premium Tax Credit MAGI.
- Standard deduction The flat dollar amount the IRS lets every filer subtract from AGI to arrive at taxable income, regardless of actual expenses. Indexed annually for inflation and varies by filing status. The default choice for ~90% of US households post-2017.
- Schedule SE (Self-Employment Tax) The IRS form that computes self-employment tax — the self-employed equivalent of FICA — at a combined 15.3% on net earnings from self-employment, half of which is deductible above the line.
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