Federal Tax Forms, Instructions

Which federal income tax form should I use?

For the 2023 tax year, US citizens and resident aliens will file either Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR. Form 1040 was redesigned in tax year 2018 to eliminate the need for the Short Form 1040A and Easy Form 1040EZ. A year later Form 1040-SR was created as an option for Seniors age 65 and older.

2023 Federal Tax Forms

• US citizens and residents: file Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR
• Commonwealth residents: file Form 1040-SS
• Puerto Rico residents: file Form 1040-PR or 1040-SS
• Nonresident individuals: file Form 1040NR
• Amended return: file Form 1040X

We all thought just the one Form 1040 would prevail after the modular redesign. Soon after, however, Form 1040-SR for Seniors was created by the IRS. Placing the two forms side-by-side it's clear that Form 1040 is essentially the same as Form 1040-SR. Seniors can of course choose to file Form 1040 instead of Form 1040-SR.

Nonresident and Commonwealth resident income tax returns will continue to use the same federal tax forms as in the past. Residents of Puerto Rico can choose between the English 1040-SS and the Spanish 1040-PR federal tax forms.

Finally, use Form 1040X if you need to amend a prior year or 2023 federal income tax return.

Where are the printable federal tax forms?

If you are browsing our website on a desktop or laptop computer, you should see a sidebar navigation area off to the left. Mobile phone and narrow width tablet readers may find the sidebar navigation has been pushed to the bottom of each page.

The sidebar navigation changes depending upon where you are on our website. The sidebar navigation for the federal tax forms part of our website has three sections:

1. Income Tax Preparation
2. Most Commonly Filed Federal Tax Forms
3. List Of Federal Tax Forms By Year

Those attempting to download and print just a handful of forms might find it easier to use the commonly filed sidebar navigation section. Click on the Schedule A, Schedule B, or Schedule C links for example. Then scroll down that page and find the form and instructions download links for the most recent three years (2023, 2022, 2021).

Prefer one page with a long list of 2023 federal tax forms? Use the lower section of the sidebar navigation to select one of the years provided. To help get you started, here are the same list of federal tax forms pages.

• 2023 Federal Tax Forms
• 2022 Federal Tax Forms
• 2021 Federal Tax Forms
• 2020 Federal Tax Forms
• 2019 Federal Tax Forms

Prior year federal income tax forms are provided to help those who did not file last year or the year before last. You can still file and claim a refund for up to three years after the missed federal income tax due date. If you owe back taxes, read the current Form 1040 instructions for more information about late filing penalties and fees.

How to print federal income tax forms?

All federal tax forms in PDF format, whether obtained from our site or any other, are meant to be printed from Adobe Acrobat Reader. They should not be printed from your browser (Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari). Most browsers will try to open the PDF files for you. You should disable that feature while preparing your federal tax forms.

Tips for printing federal income tax forms:

• Download the PDF file to your desktop, then, open with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Printer page sizing should say Actual Size and not Fit, Shrink, or Scale.
• US Letter size 8.5 x 11.0 inches is preferred, though, A4 paper size is certainly understandable if you are overseas.
• Deselect any Save Ink or Save Toner printer settings if the words and form lines are not crisp.
• Try printing in black and white mode if grayscale seems too light.

Visit our site and download the federal tax forms using Internet Explorer if you are failing with Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Safari for example. If you insist on using Chrome, then, change your browser settings to enable Download PDF files instead of automatically opening them in Chrome.

Please realize that we pull the tax forms direct from the publisher, our federal government. If they don't look, print, or work right, your browser or printer is probably the culprit. They are official IRS income tax forms. We do not alter the files in any way.