The Wonderful World Of U.S. Tax Forms Quiz

Answer: Married filing jointly

The 1040-EZ form, as the last two letters of its name may suggest, is a simplified version of the more thorough Form 1040. The 1040, also known as the U.S. Individual Income Tax Return form, is one of the most common and widely-known forms in U.S. tax law because most taxpayers have to complete one. The Form 1040-EZ is best-suited for filers who are single or married and filing jointly and are claiming no dependents in their tax return. The maximum income threshold used to be $50,000, but the number was amended to $100,000. This means that those with taxable income higher than $100,000 should not use the simplified form.

Per the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an individual may file as single, married filing jointly (which is usually preferred), married filing separately, head of household, or qualifying surviving spouse.

Answer: Received unemployment compensation

Form 1040 is rather comprehensive and covers most of the common types of income, such as wages, dividends, government benefits, and tax credits. However, the IRS instructs taxpayers to add an attachment to their return, called Schedule 1, if they receive any additional income such as prizes or awards, gambling winnings, or unemployment compensation. Taxpayers wishing to claim deductions for specific expenses, such as educator expenses or student loan interest, also have to fill out this additional schedule.

Answer: Restaurant server

Form 4137 is a relatively brief document (considering how long other tax forms tend to be) that is only to be completed by people who received tips but did not report them to their employer. A common example of people who have to use this form are restaurant servers, who receive (and sometimes depend on) tip income. If a server did not report tips to their employer, they are still required to declare that income and use Form 4137 to calculate how much Social Security and Medicare tax they owe on these earnings.

The form doesn't need to be filed by employees who received less than $20 of tips in a calendar month, and that amount of money does not get taxed.

Answer: Credit

Section 23 of the Internal Revenue Code allows taxpayers to receive a credit for any "qualified adoption expenses" that they incur. The Code defines that term in the same section, and includes "reasonable and necessary adoption fees" that are directly connected to the adoption of an "eligible child". Naturally, the Code also defines "eligible child" as someone under the age of 18 or someone who "is physically or mentally incapable of caring for himself".

The amount of qualified adoption expenses that can be claimed as a credit used to be a maximum of $5,000 per eligible child, but the amount was later increased by U.S. lawmakers to $10,000.

Answer: Filing a return electronically (e-filing)

The IRS permits, and indeed encourages, people to send forms electronically. This is because receiving less paperwork potentially means that IRS employees have to spend less time processing each individual return. Even though this option exists, a taxpayer who wishes to file electronically (also known as e-filing) must submit Form 8453 upon completing this process.

The form alerts the IRS that the taxpayer has sent their return electronically, rather than in paper form. Taxpayers who use software to file their taxes almost always receive an automatically-generated Form 8453 that they have to fill out.

Answer: Members of the Armed Forces

The moving expenses deduction, which allowed taxpayers to deduct certain expenses incurred in moving to a new workplace, was eliminated by the Republican-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, signed into law by President Donald Trump. However, the law provided an exception for members of the U.S. military on active duty who had to move, as Form 3903 puts it, "because of a permanent change of station".

The deduction is only allowed if the cost of transportation, storage, travel, and lodging related to moving exceeds the amount of expenses paid to the taxpayer by the government.

Answer: W-2

Most U.S. taxpayers will recognize Form W-2, as it is often necessary to complete even the most basic of tax returns. Employers who pay "remuneration for services" (in other words, wages to employees) have to file a Form W-2. The information in this document not only goes to the IRS, but employees also get a copy from their employer. The form outlines how much compensation the employee was paid in a taxable year, as well as any income that was withheld. This helps the employee know how much to report on each item when filing their tax returns.

The IRS accepts Form 4852 as a substitute in the event that an employer either doesn't provide a W-2, or provides an incorrect W-2.

Answer: 2021

Recognizing that losing a spouse can be a devastating experience, the Tax Code provides some relief to a taxpayer whose spouse died. The Code allows a qualifying surviving spouse or QSS (which before 2022 was known as a "qualifying widow or widower") to file their individual returns as if they were still married for two tax years after the death of the spouse.

A taxpayer may not file under this status on the same year that their spouse died, because they are still considered married for the remainder of that year.

Therefore, if a taxpayer's spouse died in 2020 and certain requirements were met, they could claim QSS status in 2021 and 2022.

Answer: You paid someone to care for your children

The Tax Code offers a variety of tax credits to ease the burden on certain taxpayers. One of the most popular credits is the child tax credit, which generally provides a tax break to families with children under the age of 17 and who meet certain other requirements. This benefit is not the same as the "child and dependent care expenses" credit, which allows taxpayers to receive a credit for expenses incurred in caring for their children or another qualifying dependent because the taxpayer could not do so (most likely because they were working).

Generally, only people who are married filing jointly can claim this credit, although there may be an exception for married persons filing separately.

Answer: Yes

Form 9465, or the "Installment Agreement Request", may be used by taxpayers who meet certain conditions and are not able to pay the full amount they owe on their tax returns or a related IRS notice. The form is to be filled out by those who believe they will not be able to pay their taxes in full within 120 days. Taxpayers generally have to pay a fee for this service, although they may be eligible for reduced fees if they do not owe that much money.