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The New Tax Form Is Postcard-Size, But More Complicated Than Ever
"A person with knowledge of the new form said on Monday that it was meant to replace not just the 1040, but the 1040A (the “short form”) and the 1040EZ (for filers without any dependents)."
Replace a 14 line form with a 23 line form (over 50% longer). That will simplify things.
“The ‘shorter’ 1040 is a fraud, like everything else Trump does,” “They eliminated 50 lines from the old 1040 by moving them to new schedules.”
“The claim that (the new 1040) is going to be very simple is a blatant lie if you talk about for everyone” “It will be simpler for a lot of people — less fair, but simpler.”
Note: The article provides pictures of the new form, but I can't reproduce them here.
Forbes has a good blow by blow description of how this shell game works (i.e. most lines simply moved to other, new schedules so that you're more likely to miss them an make errors).
Schedule 1 - Income Adjustments (the stuff that used to be on p. 1 of the 1040, like IRA deduction, self-employed health insurance deduction, etc. The IRS didn't even change the numbers when moving the lines to Schedule 1.) https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s1--dft.pdf
Schedule 3 - Nonrefundable credits (what used to be lines 48-54 on p. 2 of the 1040, such as foreign tax credit; the IRS didn't change the numbers when moving the lines to Schedule 3): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s3--dft.pdf
Schedule 4- Other taxes (what used to be lines 55-63, such as self-employment tax, plus a new line).
The new line references what seems to be a new Form 965-A. Not something I'm familiar with, but 2017 guidance for individuals said to just fill in this as "other income" on line 21. (That line now appears on Schedule 1, but it seems you've got to file your calculations in 2018.) https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s4--dft.pdf
Schedule 6 - Foreign Address and Third Party Designee (the former used to be a line at the bottom of your address on p. 1, the latter used to be right above your signature on p. 2) https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s6--dft.pdf
Line 9: "Qualified business income deduction (see instructions)" If you think putting the infamous pass-through income on one line is a simplification, you may be subject to believing alternative facts. I hate to think what those instructions are.
Comments
Replace a 14 line form with a 23 line form (over 50% longer). That will simplify things.
Let's just say that it's twice as long (23 = 2 x 14) and call it a day.
By Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle
“The ‘shorter’ 1040 is a fraud, like everything else Trump does,” “They eliminated 50 lines from the old 1040 by moving them to new schedules.”
“The claim that (the new 1040) is going to be very simple is a blatant lie if you talk about for everyone” “It will be simpler for a lot of people — less fair, but simpler.”
Note: The article provides pictures of the new form, but I can't reproduce them here.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2018/06/30/heres-how-the-new-postcard-sized-1040-differs-from-your-current-tax-return
That page includes links to all the new draft forms; I've extracted them here for convenience:
Draft 1040: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040--dft.pdf
Schedule 1 - Income Adjustments (the stuff that used to be on p. 1 of the 1040, like IRA deduction, self-employed health insurance deduction, etc. The IRS didn't even change the numbers when moving the lines to Schedule 1.)
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s1--dft.pdf
Schedule 2 - Tax (what used to be lines 44-47 on p. 2 of the 1040; the IRS didn't change the numbers when they got moved to Schedule 2):
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s2--dft.pdf
Schedule 3 - Nonrefundable credits (what used to be lines 48-54 on p. 2 of the 1040, such as foreign tax credit; the IRS didn't change the numbers when moving the lines to Schedule 3):
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s3--dft.pdf
Schedule 4- Other taxes (what used to be lines 55-63, such as self-employment tax, plus a new line).
The new line references what seems to be a new Form 965-A. Not something I'm familiar with, but 2017 guidance for individuals said to just fill in this as "other income" on line 21. (That line now appears on Schedule 1, but it seems you've got to file your calculations in 2018.)
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s4--dft.pdf
Schedule 5 - Other payments (e.g. excess SS; what used to be lines 64-74, renumbered as 65-75 because of the added line in Schedule 4)
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s5--dft.pdf
Schedule 6 - Foreign Address and Third Party Designee (the former used to be a line at the bottom of your address on p. 1, the latter used to be right above your signature on p. 2)
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s6--dft.pdf
Awwww...