However, if too large of an advance premium credit was paid, the taxpayer must make up the difference, either by paying any tax due or by having the amount taken from an expected refund. Such calculations are made on Form , which only can be filed with Form A or If you received advance payments of the premium tax credit, you must file one of these longer forms instead of the EZ.
Even if you did not get the premium credit in advance but got health care through an exchange and want to claim it when you file, you must complete A or Take the case of tax filer Joe P. A perfect EZ filer, right? Joe has a student loan. Joe also would get the chance to reduce his actual bill if he files the longer A. The better tax news for Joe is that a credit allows you a dollar-for-dollar reduction of what you owe the IRS.
But the only tax credit shown on the EZ is the earned income tax credit, available only to low-income taxpayers. And there are even more tax-saving opportunities found on the long Form They might not apply to Joe, but they could cut your tax bill — if you take the time to look over each of the forms. Here are the basic guidelines for the three individual tax returns.
And ever since the IRS doubled the earning limit on filers who use it, the EZ has been available to even more taxpayers. The ease of the one-page EZ is appealing, but it limits the number of ways to save on your tax bill. You also need to look at those other two individual tax returns to take advantage of additional income adjustments and tax credits. Compare rates at Bankrate. The A form is the next step up the tax-form ladder. As with Form EZ, the earning limit on filers wanting to use the A has increased, so more taxpayers should be able to use it.
Individuals choosing the A can file using any of the five available filing status options: single, married filing jointly or separately, qualifying widow or widower, or head of household. People who file the A also can claim, in addition to the EITC, several tax credits — the child, additional child, education, dependent care, elderly or disabled, and retirement savings credits — that are not available with the EZ.
Form A also gives you the chance to claim several adjustments to income. These items are sometimes referred to as above-the-line deductions, because you claim them just before the bottom line of the form, the one where you enter your adjusted gross income. By reducing your total gross income, your taxable income will be lower and your tax bill should be smaller, too. Adjustments allowed on Form A include educator expenses, certain IRA contributions, student loan interest, and some college tuition and fees.
Finally, choose Form if your earnings are larger, you itemize deductions or you have more complex investments and other income to report. This usually means added tax paperwork needs to be filed, too. Additional paperwork also is associated with the many tax credits that show up only on the long Form The extra work, however, is offset by the added savings these credits, such as the one for taxes you paid to a foreign country or the one that helps cover some adoption costs, can produce for filers.
The longest tax return also offers more than a dozen above-the-line deductions that you can claim directly on the form itself versus the four adjustments found on the A.
The previous other alternatives—Forms EZ and A ended starting in the tax year. Take this quick IRS quiz. You can only use Forms A and EZ for tax years through Starting with the tax year, these forms are no longer used.
Only form and SR remain in use. You are still able to use Forms A or EZ to file taxes for years previous to Each form served the same purpose—to report your income and determine if you owe additional taxes or, better yet, get a refund—but the forms varied in complexity. Form EZ is, not surprisingly, the easiest to fill out. While anyone can file Form , you must meet certain requirements to use the shorter EZ or A forms. You could take the standard deduction, but you wouldn't be able to itemize deductions, claim adjustments to income such as contributions to an IRA or claim any tax credits except for the Earned Income Tax Credit EIC , which is available to certain low-income taxpayers.
Also, you could not use EZ if you had any income from self-employment, alimony, dividends or capital gains. You could use Form EZ if all of the following apply:. It offered more room for tax breaks than Form EZ—including childcare, education, and retirement savings e. Still, it was limited in terms of allowable deductions and credits compared to the standard If you couldn't use Form EZ—for example, because you had dependents to claim—you would have been able to use A if:.
And starting with tax year , is the only form you can use unless you qualify for the seniors form, SR. This is the most complex of the forms for individual tax filers—it was simplified, starting in —but it also gives you the most options for claiming deductions and credits.
You should file Form if:. As a rule of thumb, the longer the tax form, the more tax breaks, and credits will be available. Filing Form EZ or A instead of Form was often faster and with fewer recordkeeping requirements, but you may miss out on money-saving tax credits and deductions.
As of , the EZ and A versions of form have been discontinued. Internal Revenue Service. Individual Income Tax Return. For tax years beginning the tax return you submit in , the A and EZ forms are no longer available. They have been replaced with new and SR forms. For those who are filing prior year returns, you can continue to use form A or EZ for tax years through Form A is a shorter version of the more detailed Form , but is more complex than the simple EZ form. When preparing Form A, you must list your dependents and choose your filing status before you begin to report any income.
For tax years before , each dependent can provide for an exemption. Each exemption works just like a deduction; the amount reduces your taxable income, so the more exemptions you have, the lower your tax liability will be. The top portion of the form includes a section where you must list the name and Social Security number of each dependent and provide their relationship to you. For tax years after , dependents no longer provide and exemption deduction but rather provide a credit.
These credits can be wither a child tax credit or a dependent tax credit depending upon the age of the dependent. The income section of the A form only allows you to report limited types of income. Specific items include wages, salaries and tips, interest and dividend income, capital gains, IRA, pension and annuity distributions, unemployment compensation, Alaska permanent fund dividends and Social Security benefits.
If you have other types of income, such as from a business you operate as a sole proprietorship, you still must report the income since it is taxable, but you must file Form After reporting your income, the A form allows you to claim certain adjustments to arrive at your adjusted gross income.
These include deductions for educator expenses, IRA contributions, student loan interest and tuition payments. The second page of Form A allows you to subtract a standard deduction and your exemption deductions for tax years prior to from your adjusted gross income to arrive at your taxable income.
You then need to determine the amount of tax you owe by finding the appropriate range for your taxable income and filing status in the tax tables in the instructions. Once you calculate your tax, Form A allows you to claim a limited number of tax credits such as for child and dependent care expenses, child tax credit, the credit for the elderly or disabled and education tax credits.
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