IRS Forms 2004

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IRS Forms 2004

IRS Forms are on the minds of most taxpayers as the April 15th deadline quickly approaches. Even if you've already conquered your taxes for the years, we thought it would be nice to offer our readers a more complete guide to the most common IRS tax forms used.

Form 1040

IRS Form 1040 - The single most important of all the IRS forms is undoubtedly the Form 1040. The IRS tries to make things as simple as possible (yes, they do try), that means Form 1040 comes in three versions. You should always try to file the shortest form possible because that will reduce the possibility of making an error, which will ultimately delay the processing of a tax return.

Additional Resources

The two simplest forms to fill out are the 1040EZ and 1040A. In 2004, the IRS increased the allowable taxable income to $100,000 from $50,000 for these forms. That means a lot more taxpayers don't have to deal with the long form (Form 1040).

Form 1040 Guidelines

Here are some general guidelines to help you determine which form you can use and links to the 2004 forms themselves:

Form 1040EZ

Taxable income below $100,000 starting in 2004
You interest income must be $1,500 or less
You must be under the age of 65
Tax filing status of Single or Married Filing Jointly
You cannot have any dependents

Form 1040A

Taxable income below $100,000 starting in 2004
You can have a capital gain distribution, but no other capital losses or gains
The only deductions you can take are for IRA contributions, student loan interest, education expenses or higher education tuition and fees
The only tax credits you can have are for child, education, earned income, child and dependent care expenses, adoption expenses, elderly and retirement savings account contributions
You cannot have any itemized deductions

If your want to file a more complex tax form, then you need to file Form 1040 - the long form.

Schedule A & B IRS Forms

Schedules A & B
The tax form Schedule A is used to figure out the taxpayer's itemized deductions. If you have enough itemized deductions than you are better off using Schedule A than taking the standard deductions allowed by IRS code. For 2004, the standard deductions are as follows:

Single or Married filing separately - $4,850
Married filing jointly or Qualifying widow(er) - $9,700
Head of household - $7,150

So if you can "beat" these standard deductions, then you are better off filing Schedule A. The most common categories of deductions in that form include:

Medical and Dental Expense - these are all of you medical and dental related expenses, subject to a 7.5% threshold. That means you can only deduct these expenses that are in excess of 7.5% of you Adjusted Gross Income.
Taxes Paid - these include taxes paid to other jurisdictions or authorities including state income taxes, property taxes and real estate taxes. If you have income then it is likely you paid income taxes to your state. If you own a home, then you've probably paid property taxes too.
Interest Paid - if you have a mortgage on your home, this is where you deduct the interest expense associated with those payments.
Gifts to Charity - if you've made any gifts to charity, including donations to a church, they would go into this category.

The Schedule B IRS form is used to report interest income and ordinary dividends. If you have money in an interest bearing account or have received a distribution of dividends, then those institutions will have sent to you a form 1090-INT or 1090-DIV in the mail. You will use the information appearing on these two forms to fill out the IRS form Schedule B.

Special IRS Forms

The above three forms are the most common forms that individuals will file with the IRS. There are a couple of specialized forms that are worth a quick mention too: