Free IRS Form 1040 for 2025

A 1040 form (US Individual Income Tax Return) is an IRS form that taxpayers use to file their annual taxes. Single filers, those who are married filing jointly, and those who are married filing separately all use Form 1040. Moreover, it’s important to file your form by the tax deadline—April 15 of each year.

Your employer doesn’t send Form 1040 to you. Instead, you seek it out yourself and prepare it using employer-provided forms, like Form W-2, Form 1099-MISC, and Form 1099-NEC.

You may be wondering whether you need to file Form 1040. In most cases, you must file if your income exceeds the standard deduction or if you earned more than $400 in net self-employment income. Even if you’re not required to file, it may still be worth it, as you could qualify for a tax refund.

The majority of US taxpayers use Form 1040 to calculate their tax liability or determine the refund owed to them. However, depending on your situation, you may need a different type of Form 1040 to fulfill your income tax obligations.

• Form 1040-SR: Designed for individuals 65+, featuring enhanced readability. Seniors can choose between this and the standard version.
• Form 1040-NR: For non-resident aliens involved in US trade or business, representing estates, trusts, or deceased individuals.
• Form 1040-ES: Used by freelancers, gig workers, and business owners for estimating and paying quarterly taxes on self-employment income, interest, dividends, and rents.
• Form 1040-V: A payment voucher for taxpayers owing balances on Form 1040. It ensures efficient IRS payment processing, but it is not mandatory.
• Form 1040-SS: For residents of US territories like Puerto Rico or Guam, to report self-employment income and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes.
• Form 1040-X: Allows amendments to previously filed returns, correcting errors or omissions on prior Forms 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ.

Additional Schedules Used With Form 1040

Sometimes, complex financial information might not fit on your 1040 form. In these cases, you can use additional schedules. Schedules are supporting forms that provide additional details for specific types of income, deductions, and credits reported on your main 1040 form. Explore the different schedule types below and what they cover:

• Schedule A: Itemized deductions for medical expenses, mortgage interest, and charitable donations.
• Schedule B: Interest and ordinary dividend income.
• Schedule C: Profit or loss from business (sole proprietorship).
• Schedule D: Capital gains and losses.
• Schedule E: Rental income, royalties, or pass-through income from partnerships and S corporations.
• Schedule SE: Self-employment taxes.
• Schedule 1: Additional income and adjustments to income.
• Schedule 2: Additional taxes.
• Schedule 3: Additional credits and payments.

Form 1040 is relatively simple to fill out, as it’s only two pages and broken down into multiple sections. Follow these Form 1040 instructions to complete yours accurately.

1. Enter Your Identifying Information

Start by entering your identifying information, including the following:

• Your full legal name
• Your Social Security number
• Your spouse’s full legal name (if filing jointly)
• Your spouse’s Social Security number (if filing jointly)
• Your home address (number and street)
• City/town
• State
• ZIP code
• Foreign country, province, and postal code (if applicable)

Also, indicate your filing status:

• Single
• Married filing jointly
• Married filing separately
• Head of household

2. Clarify Your Involvement With Digital Assets

Indicate if you received or sold any digital assets during the 2025 tax year. If the answer is Yes, you may need to file additional forms, such as Schedule D, Schedule 1, Schedule C, or Form 8949.

3. List Your Dependents

List all your dependents, including any qualifying children or relatives who rely on you for support. Provide the following information about each dependent:

• First and last names
• Social Security number
• Your relationship to them
• Whether they lived with you for more than half of the year
• Whether they’re a full-time student
• Whether they’re totally and permanently disabled
• Whether a tax credit applies to them

4. Provide Income Information

Lines 1a through 11a help you report income information on your tax return. Complete these lines with the following information:

• Line 1a: The total amount from Form(s) W-2, line 1.
• Line 1b: Household employee wages not reported on Form(s) W-2.
• Line 1c: Tip income not reported on line 1a.
• Line 1d: Medicaid waiver payments not reported on Form(s) W-2.
• Line 1e: Taxable dependent care benefits from Form 2441, line 26.
• Line 1f: Employer-provided adoption benefits from Form 8839, line 31.
• Line 1g: Wages from Form 8919, line 6.
• Line 1h: Other earned income (type and amount).
• Line 1i: Nontaxable combat pay election.
• Line 1z: Add lines 1a through 1h.
• Line 2a: Tax-exempt interest.
• Line 2b: Taxable interest.
• Line 3a: Qualified dividends.
• Line 3b: Ordinary dividends.
• Line 3c: Whether your child’s dividends are included in Line 3a or Line 3b.
• Lines 4a-c: IRA distributions.
• Lines 5a-c: Pensions and annuities.
• Line 6a-d: Social security benefits
• Lines 7a-b: Capital gain or (loss). Attach Schedule D if required.
• Line 8: Additional income from Schedule 1, line 10.
• Line 9: Add lines 1z, 2b, 3b, 4b, 5b, 6b, 7a, and 8. This is your total income.
• Line 10: Adjustments to income from Schedule 1, line 26.
• Line 11: Subtract line 10 from line 9. This is your adjusted gross income.

5. Input Your Tax and Credits

The next section pertains to taxes and credits, covering lines 11b through 24. You use these lines to determine how much tax you owe after accounting for your taxable income and any credits that reduce your bill:

• Line 11b: Amount from line 11a (adjusted gross income).
• Line 12a: Whether someone can claim you or your spouse as a dependent.
• Line 12b: Whether your spouse will itemize their deductions on a separate return.
• Line 12c: Whether you were a dual-status alien.
• Line 12d: Whether you or your spouse was born before January 2, 1961, or is blind.
• Line 12e: Whether you will opt for the standard deduction or itemized deductions (choose the latter if your itemized deductions will exceed the standard deduction).
• Line 13a: Qualified business income deduction from Form 8995 or Form 8995-A.
• Line 13b: Additional deductions from Schedule 1-A, line 38.
• Line 14: Add lines 12e, 13a, and 13b.
• Line 15: Subtract line 14 from line 11b. If zero or less, enter “0.” This is your taxable income.
• Line 16: Tax. Indicate if any tax is from Form 8814, Form 4972, or another form.
• Line 17: Amount from Schedule 2, line 3.
• Line 18: Add lines 16 and 17.
• Line 19: Child tax credit or credit for other dependents from Schedule 8812.
• Line 20: Amount from Schedule 3, line 8.
• Line 21: Add lines 19 and 20.
• Line 22: Subtract line 21 from line 18. If zero or less, enter “0.”
• Line 23: Other taxes, including self-employment tax, from Schedule 2, line 21.
• Line 24: Add lines 22 and 23. This is your total tax.

6. Note Your Payments & Refundable Credits

The Payments & Refundable Credits section, which consists of lines 25a-33, shows how much you’ve already paid toward your taxes and how much the IRS owes you in refundable credits. When you complete the following lines, you’ll know whether you’ve paid enough, overpaid, or still owe more:

• Line 25a: Federal income tax withheld from Form(s) W-2.
• Line 25b: Federal income tax withheld from Form(s) 1099.
• Line 25c: Other forms.
• Line 25d: Add lines 25a through 25c.
• Line 26: 2025 estimated tax payments and amount applied from your 2024 return.
• Line 27a-c: Earned income credit (EIC).
• Line 28: Additional child tax credit (ACTC) from Schedule 8812.
• Line 29: American opportunity credit from Form 8863, line 8.
• Line 30: Refundable adoption credit from Form 8839, line 13.
• Line 31: Amount from Schedule 3, line 15.
• Line 32: Add lines 27a, 28, 29, 30, and 31. These are your total other payments and refundable credits.
• Line 33: Add lines 25d, 26, and 32. These are your total payments.

7. Give Refund Details or Calculate the Amount You Owe

At this point in filling out your 1040 form, you’ll know whether you’re owed a refund or need to pay more.

First, look at line 34, which will contain the amount you overpaid, if any. Only complete line 34 if line 33 is more than line 24. If this is the case, you can subtract line 24 from line 33 to get the amount you’re owed.

Then, in line 35, provide your banking information so the IRS knows where to deposit the difference. In line 36, you can indicate if you want any of the amount you’re owed to be applied to your 2026 tax obligations.

If line 33 is less than line 24, go to line 37. Subtract line 33 from line 24 to get the amount of tax you owe. You can also fill out the estimated penalty in line 38 if you were late in paying or filing.

8. Finalize Details

If you want to allow another person to discuss your return with the IRS, add their name and details in the “Third-Party Designee” section. Complete your form by signing it and adding the date and your occupation. Ensure that you have your spouse sign if you’re filing jointly.

The easiest way to file Form 1040 is online. The IRS works with several approved services that allow for online filing, such as Direct File and Free File. Some services have income limits, so be sure to check the requirements before you get started. You can also explore different online payment options to fulfill your tax obligations.

You may choose to file Form 1040 by mail. The address you send it to will depend on your state of residence and whether you’re also including a payment. Be sure to check the IRS’s requirements to ensure your return is processed correctly.

Whether you e-file or file by mail, be sure that you do so by the April 15, 2026, deadline.

You may need to pay two different penalties if you don’t submit your taxes on time, depending on what actions you fail to complete:

• Failure-to-file penalty: 5% of the tax due for each month or partial month the return is late; accrues up to a maximum of 25% (minimum penalty of $510).
• Failure-to-pay penalty: 0.5% of the unpaid taxes for each month or partial month the tax remains unpaid; accrues up to a maximum of 25% of your unpaid taxes.

If you fail to file and fail to pay, the IRS doesn’t charge the full amount for both penalties at the same time. Instead:

• The failure-to-file penalty is reduced by the amount of the failure-to-pay penalty (which is 0.5% per month).
• After five months, the failure-to-file penalty hits its maximum.
• The failure-to-pay penalty, however, continues accruing until you pay the tax in full.

View Legal Templates’s free sample of Form 1040 below. You can get a better idea of what a 1040 form looks like and see what lines you may need to fill out. When you have all your information returns, you can complete Form 1040 using our fillable form. Your final document will be printable and downloadable in PDF format.