How to file a tax return

One year, one pile of forms

A tax return covers one year. Put that year’s forms in one pile: wages, interest, contract or freelance income, and any other form a payer mailed or posted. The year printed on the form has to be the year of the return. A form from the year before belongs to that earlier return, not to this pile.

Open the return from the tax agency, or from software that submits to that agency. Use the instructions for the same year. Lines move. A blog that says “put wages on line 1” may be describing a different year than the form in your hand. When they disagree, the form’s own instructions win.

Practical steps

1. Step 01

   Sort the forms by the year on the front. Set aside anything from another year so it cannot be typed into this return.

2. Step 02

   If a payer told you a form is coming and it is not in the pile, ask that payer for a copy. Do not type a number you remember from a deposit.

3. Step 03

   Enter each box from the form into the line the instructions name. Wages from a job, interest from a bank, and contract income are different lines. Do not add them together first.

4. Step 04

   Look at the refund or the amount due before you submit. If you had tax withheld and the return says you owe a large extra amount, find the line that changed before you file. A missing form is a common reason.

5. Step 05

   Submit through the agency’s file option or the software’s submit button. Save the confirmation and a copy of the return. The copy is what you compare if a late form arrives.

Examples

• A job and a savings account

  The pile has a wage form showing 42,000 in wages and 3,200 in tax withheld, plus an interest form showing 40 in interest. Those are two entries, not 42,040 in wages. The return’s wage line gets 42,000. The interest line gets 40. The withheld amount is what you already paid in, and it is why a refund can exist. This is an illustration of where the numbers go, not a promise of what you will owe.

Questions