History of the 1040ez and Its Inevitable Decline
Andy West
December 15, 2011
The first tax forms used in this country occurred during the early part of the 20th century. In fact, the three years of reporting, from 1912 through 1914 saw Americans using the same form to file reports to the Federal government about their income, expenses and various deductions.
Starting after that period, the government created a new form for each calendar tax year. Some of the forms admittedly grew in length and complexity over the years. It wasn't until the advent of the short form, the 1040ez, in 1982 that a bulk of tax payers got a break in the filing process.
It was in that year this new, shortened 6-section tax filing form was created and made available for the public's use. There were, of course, stipulations as to who could use the shortcut form and when.
The main requirement today is the filer cannot be reporting on income over the $100,000 level. And while users of the form may be either single or married, they can have no other dependents nor are users of this form permitted to take any but the standard deductions.
For many tax filers this is certainly a great scenario when it comes time to submit forms for tax reviews at the end of the tax year. Interestingly, however, the Internet is making all of the time and effort savings formerly provided by forms like the 1040ez obsolete.
How is this happening?
Good question. Online tax filing services do away with the need for using a paper tax form because everything is collected, processed and completed electronically. The realm of the digital world is powerful and now companies are bringing all that power, time and money savings directly to the tax filer.
These Internet-based, tax filing services have the software built right into their websites. Gone now are the days when one would have to procure a CD with which to load up software on a personal computer.
Be assured this is a very good thing from the perspective of the concerned tax filer. Ensuring one had the very latest disc with all the current (at the time of pressing the CD) deductions and law changes, could be time consuming and quite stressful.
Of course, this only covers one half of the filing software most were required to have when the time came. In addition to the federal government tax filing requirements, most all of the U.S. states have requirements of their own. This meant twice the software, and often, twice the cost as well.
Now, however, the 1040ez and most of the states 540ez forms can safely be done away with. The only catch now requires the tax filer to choose an online tax filing service to process their income and deductions and make reports available to applicable government agencies.
Another great benefit of no longer needing to fill out paper tax forms is nothing needs to be sent off in the postal mail. Everything is filed with the IRS or state tax departments electronically.
The better online services have direct electronic connections to enable them to deliver one's tax filing directly where they need to be in short order.
This leads to a benefit thought unheard of in prior tax years--namely amazingly quick tax refunds. The power of Internet communications and the computers used to verify the return's information means they can be processed in time spans of a week or two, not several months required of paper tax forms like the 1040ez and others. And who doesn't want to get their filing done and over with and have the benefits of access to their tax refund money as quickly as possible?
Starting after that period, the government created a new form for each calendar tax year. Some of the forms admittedly grew in length and complexity over the years. It wasn't until the advent of the short form, the 1040ez, in 1982 that a bulk of tax payers got a break in the filing process.
It was in that year this new, shortened 6-section tax filing form was created and made available for the public's use. There were, of course, stipulations as to who could use the shortcut form and when.
The main requirement today is the filer cannot be reporting on income over the $100,000 level. And while users of the form may be either single or married, they can have no other dependents nor are users of this form permitted to take any but the standard deductions.
For many tax filers this is certainly a great scenario when it comes time to submit forms for tax reviews at the end of the tax year. Interestingly, however, the Internet is making all of the time and effort savings formerly provided by forms like the 1040ez obsolete.
How is this happening?
Good question. Online tax filing services do away with the need for using a paper tax form because everything is collected, processed and completed electronically. The realm of the digital world is powerful and now companies are bringing all that power, time and money savings directly to the tax filer.
These Internet-based, tax filing services have the software built right into their websites. Gone now are the days when one would have to procure a CD with which to load up software on a personal computer.
Be assured this is a very good thing from the perspective of the concerned tax filer. Ensuring one had the very latest disc with all the current (at the time of pressing the CD) deductions and law changes, could be time consuming and quite stressful.
Of course, this only covers one half of the filing software most were required to have when the time came. In addition to the federal government tax filing requirements, most all of the U.S. states have requirements of their own. This meant twice the software, and often, twice the cost as well.
Now, however, the 1040ez and most of the states 540ez forms can safely be done away with. The only catch now requires the tax filer to choose an online tax filing service to process their income and deductions and make reports available to applicable government agencies.
Another great benefit of no longer needing to fill out paper tax forms is nothing needs to be sent off in the postal mail. Everything is filed with the IRS or state tax departments electronically.
The better online services have direct electronic connections to enable them to deliver one's tax filing directly where they need to be in short order.
This leads to a benefit thought unheard of in prior tax years--namely amazingly quick tax refunds. The power of Internet communications and the computers used to verify the return's information means they can be processed in time spans of a week or two, not several months required of paper tax forms like the 1040ez and others. And who doesn't want to get their filing done and over with and have the benefits of access to their tax refund money as quickly as possible?
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