You must use one of three forms to file your return -- Form 1040EZ, Form 1040A, or Form 1040. (But also see Does My Return Have To Be On Paper, later.)

Form 1040EZ

Form 1040EZ is the simplest form to use.

You can use Form 1040EZ if all of the following apply.

1. Your filing status is single or married filing jointly.
2. You (and your spouse if married filing a joint return) were under age 65 on January 1, 1999, and not blind at the end of 1998.
3. You do not claim any dependents.
4. Your taxable income is less than $50,000.
5. Your income is only from wages, salaries, tips, unemployment compensation, Alaska Permanent Fund dividends, taxable scholarship and fellowship grants, and taxable interest of $400 or less.
6. You did not receive any advance earned income credit (EIC) payments.
7. If you were a nonresident alien at any time in 1998, your filing status is married filing jointly.
8. You do not claim a student loan interest deduction or education credit.
9. You do not owe any household employment taxes on wages you paid to a household employee.

You must meet all of these requirements to use Form 1040EZ. If you do not, you must use Form 1040A or Form 1040.

Table 1-3 Other Situations When You Must File

Form 1040A

If you do not qualify to use Form 1040EZ, you may be able to use Form 1040A.

You can use Form 1040A if:

1. Your income is only from wages, salaries, tips, IRA distributions, pensions and annuities, taxable social security and railroad retirement benefits, taxable scholarship and fellowship grants, interest, ordinary dividends (including Alaska Permanent Fund dividends), and unemployment compensation,
2. Your taxable income is less than $50,000,
3. Your only adjustments to income are:
   1. The deduction for contributions to an IRA, or
   2. The student loan interest deduction.
4. You do not itemize your deductions,
5. Your only taxes are:
   1. The amount from the Tax Table,
   2. Alternative minimum tax (see chapter 31), or
   3. Advance earned income credit (EIC) payments, if you received any (see chapter 37).

   Caution. You cannot use Form 1040A for 1998 if you owe any employment taxes on wages you paid to a household employee (see Publication 926, Household Employer's Tax Guide).

6. Your only credits are:
   1. The credit for child and dependent care expenses (see chapter 33),
   2. The credit for the elderly or the disabled (see chapter 34),
   3. The child tax credit (see chapter 35),
   4. The education credits (see chapter 36),
   5. The earned income credit (see chapter 37), or
   6. The adoption credit (see chapter 38).

If you do not meet all of the above requirements, you cannot use Form 1040A.

Form 1040

If you cannot use Form 1040EZ or Form 1040A, you must use Form 1040. You can use Form 1040 to report all types of income, deductions, and credits, including those you cannot put on either Form 1040EZ or Form 1040A.

You may have received Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ in the mail because of the return you filed last year. If your situation has changed this year, it may be to your advantage to file Form 1040 instead. You may pay less tax by filing Form 1040 because you can take itemized deductions, adjustments to income, and some credits that you cannot take on Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ.

You must use Form 1040 if:

1. Your taxable income is $50,000 or more,
2. You itemize your deductions,
3. You received or paid accrued interest on securities transferred between interest payment dates,
4. You received nontaxable dividends or capital gain distributions,
5. You have to complete Part III of Schedule B (Form 1040) because:
   1. You received a distribution from a foreign trust, or
   2. You had a bank, securities, or other financial account in a foreign country at any time during the year. Note: If the combined value of the foreign account(s) was $10,000 or less during all of 1998, or if the account(s) was with a U.S. military banking facility operated by a U.S. financial institution, you may be able to use Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ,
6. You had income that cannot be reported on Form 1040EZ or Form 1040A. This includes gain from the sale of property, barter income, alimony income, taxable refunds of state and local income taxes, and self-employment income (including farm income),
7. You sold or exchanged capital assets or business property,
8. You claim adjustments to gross income for payments to a medical savings account; moving expenses; one-half of your self-employment tax; payments for self-employed health insurance; payments to a Keogh, SEP, or SIMPLE plan; the penalty on early withdrawal of savings; alimony paid; certain required repayments of supplemental unemployment benefits; jury pay turned over to your employer; qualified performing artists' expenses; or other allowable adjustments to income,
9. Your Form W-2 shows uncollected employee tax (social security and Medicare tax) on tips or group-term life insurance in box 13. See chapter 7,
10. You received $20 or more in tips in any one month and did not report all of them to your employer. See chapter 7,
11. You must pay tax on self-employment income. See Schedule SE (Form 1040), Self-Employment Tax,
12. You must pay household employment taxes. See Schedule H (Form 1040),
13. You have to recapture an investment credit, a low-income housing credit, a qualified electric vehicle credit, or an Indian employment credit you claimed in a previous year,
14. You have to recapture tax on the disposition of a home purchased with a federally-subsidized mortgage. See chapter 16,
15. You have to pay tax on an excess golden parachute payment,
16. You claim credits against your tax for any of the following:
    1. Mortgage interest credit,
    2. Foreign tax credit,
    3. Any general business credit,
    4. Credit for prior year minimum tax,
    5. Credit for fuel from a nonconventional source,
    6. Credit for federal tax on fuels,
    7. Qualified electric vehicle credit,
    8. Regulated investment company credit, or
17. You file any of the following:
    1. Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income,
    2. Form 2555-EZ, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion,
    3. Form 4563, Exclusion of Income for Bona Fide Residents of American Samoa,
    4. Form 4970, Tax on Accumulation Distribution of Trusts,
    5. Form 4972, Tax on Lump-Sum Distributions (See chapter 11.),
    6. Form 5329, Additional Taxes Attributable to IRAs, Other Qualified Retirement Plans, Annuities, Modified Endowment Contracts, and MSAs,

       Note: Do not file Form 1040 only because you have to file Form 5329. File Form 5329 by itself. (See chapters 11 and 18.)

    7. Form 8271, Investor Reporting of Tax Shelter Registration Number,
    8. Form 8814, Parents' Election To Report Child's Interest and Dividends, or
    9. Form 8853, Medical Savings Accounts and Long-Term Care Insurance Contracts.

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