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Zak Patterson edited this page Apr 3, 2021 · 15 revisions

Federal 1040 Roadmap

Prioritizing implementation of schedules, and tracking their progress

We will assume the standard deduction for now, and prioritize features for people that take the standard deduction, which is x% of tax payers.

Standard deduction items

  • Schedule B: enumerates interest and/or dividend income, and is required if either interest or dividends received during the tax year exceed $1,500 from all sources or if the filer had certain foreign accounts.

    • Partially completed, remaining is Part III about foreign accounts

  • Schedule D: is used to compute capital gains and losses incurred during the tax year. NOTE: Along with Schedule D, Form 8949 and its Instructions may be required.

    • Completed, except for non-covered transactions
    • Form 8949 Needed for non-covered transactions

  • Schedule C: lists income and expenses related to self-employment, and is used by sole proprietors.

  • Schedule SE is used to calculate the self-employment tax owed on income from self-employment (such as on a Schedule C or Schedule F, or in a partnership).

  • Schedule E is used to report income and expenses arising from the rental of real property, royalties, or from pass-through entities (like trusts, estates, partnerships, or S corporations).

  • Schedule 1 is used to report most income from sources other than wages, interest, dividends, pensions (including retirement accounts), and Social Security, and is also used to calculate adjustments to income.

  • Schedule 2 is used to report certain other types of income, such as a child's unearned

  • Schedule 4 is used for calculation of certain types of taxes, among them self-employment tax and uncollected Social Security and Medicare taxes.

  • Schedule 5 is used to add up tax payments, such as estimated tax payments or any payments made when an extension of time is filed.

Credits

  • Schedule EIC is used to document a taxpayer's eligibility for the Earned Income Credit.

  • Schedule 8812 is used to calculate the Child Tax Credit.

  • Schedule R is used to calculate the Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled.

  • Schedule 3 is used to claim nonrefundable tax credits.

Itemizing

  • Schedule A: itemizes allowable deductions against income; instead of filling out Schedule A, taxpayers may choose to take a standard deduction of between $12,000 and $24,000 (for tax year 2018), depending on age, filing status, and whether the taxpayer and/or spouse is blind.

Additional forms

  • Form 2555: Foreign Earned Income, is filed by taxpayers who have earned income from sources outside the United States exempt from U.S. income tax. U.S. citizens or resident aliens are taxed on their worldwide income. For those who qualify, however, Form 2555 can be used to exclude foreign earned income. Also, it can be used to claim a housing exclusion or deduction. A filer cannot exclude or deduct more than their foreign earned income for the tax
  • Form 4868: Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, is used to request an extension of time to file a federal income tax return for an individual (there is no extension to pay the tax).
  • Form 8812: The Additional child tax credit is a refundable tax credit.
  • Form 8822: Change of Address, is used to report a change of address to the Internal Revenue Service.
  • Form 8850: Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Credit, is used in implementation of the federal government's Work Opportunity Tax Credit program.
  • Form 8889: Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), is used by Health Savings Account HSA holders. HSA administrators are required to send HSA account holders and file forms 1099SA and 5498SA with the IRS each year.
  • Form 8917: Tuition and fees deduction.
  • Form 8962: The Premium tax credit is a refundable tax credit is used in conduction with healthcare subsidies offered for individuals and families participating in a healthcare exchange. Health exchanges send participants a form 1095-A each year.

Specialty things

These should be delayed without a compelling reason to prioritize them, such as a convincing percentage of unsupported taxpayers.

  • Schedule F is used to report income and expenses related to farming.

  • Schedule H is used to report taxes owed due to the employment of household help.

  • Schedule J is used when averaging farm income over a period of three years.

In 2014 there were two additions to Form 1040 due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act – the premium tax credit and the individual mandate.[6]

Miscellaneous

  • Schedule 6 allows the taxpayer to appoint a third party to discuss the return with the IRS.

Note: The list of schedules and their descriptions are lifted directly from wikipedia.

States roadmap

We should begin generating state returns. We will order them by perceived difficulty for now, as well as state population size. This will attempt to categorize them by complexity.

State Abbr Pop Has tax CG 1 Graduated 2
Pennsylvania PA 12,801,989 TRUE FALSE FALSE
Illinois IL 12,671,821 TRUE FALSE FALSE
Ohio OH 11,689,100 TRUE FALSE FALSE
North Carolina NC 10,488,084 TRUE FALSE FALSE
Michigan MI 9,986,857 TRUE FALSE FALSE
Massachusetts MA 6,892,503 TRUE FALSE FALSE
Colorado CO 5,758,736 TRUE FALSE FALSE
Kentucky KY 4,467,673 TRUE FALSE FALSE
Utah UT 3,205,958 TRUE FALSE FALSE
New Hampshire NH 1,359,711 TRUE FALSE FALSE
California CA 39,512,223 TRUE FALSE TRUE
New York NY 19,453,561 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Georgia GA 10,617,423 TRUE FALSE TRUE
New Jersey NJ 8,882,190 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Virginia VA 8,535,519 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Indiana IN 6,732,219 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Missouri MO 6,137,428 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Maryland MD 6,045,680 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Minnesota MN 5,639,632 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Alabama AL 4,903,185 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Louisiana LA 4,648,794 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Oregon OR 4,217,737 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Oklahoma OK 3,956,971 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Connecticut CT 3,565,278 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Puerto Rico PR 3,193,694 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Iowa IA 3,155,070 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Mississippi MS 2,976,149 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Kansas KS 2,913,314 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Nebraska NE 1,934,408 TRUE FALSE TRUE
WestVirginia WV 1,792,147 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Idaho ID 1,787,065 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Maine ME 1,344,212 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Rhode Island RI 1,059,361 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Delaware DE 973,764 TRUE FALSE TRUE
District of Columbia DC 705,749 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Guam GU 161,700 TRUE FALSE TRUE
U . S . Virgin Islands VI 103,700 TRUE FALSE TRUE
American Samoa AS 57,400 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Northern Mariana Islands MP 52,300 TRUE FALSE TRUE
Arizona AZ 7,278,717 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Wisconsin WI 5,822,434 TRUE TRUE TRUE
South Carolina SC 5,148,714 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Arkansas AR 3,017,804 TRUE TRUE TRUE
New Mexico NM 2,096,829 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Hawaii HI 1,415,872 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Montana MT 1,068,778 TRUE TRUE TRUE
North Dakota ND 762,062 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Vermont VT 623,989 TRUE TRUE TRUE
Texas TX 28,995,881 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Florida FL 21,477,737 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Washington WA 7,614,893 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Tennessee TN 6,829,174 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Nevada NV 3,080,156 FALSE FALSE FALSE
South Dakota SD 884,659 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Alaska AK 731,545 FALSE FALSE FALSE
Wyoming WY 578,759 FALSE FALSE FALSE

References:

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