Tax Forms

Tax forms in USA can be classified into 5 broad categories as per the Internal Revenue Service which is regulated by the United States Department of Treasury. Every earning person is liable to fill up the tax forms based on their income range. There are separate tax forms serving different purposes.

The 5 categories of tax forms are as follows:

Form W-4

Form W-9

Form 1040

Form SS-4

Form 8822 Form W-4 allows taxpayers to keep a track of the sum that is being deducted by his or her employer as a federal tax. Filling up this tax form confirms if the employer is withholding the exact and required federal tax income from the pay package of the employee. There is a portion in the form called 'exemption from withholding'. This means that if an employer is excluded from the tax deduction, he or she has to fill up the line numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 and sign it off for validation. The duration of exemption from withholding is one year and it is not applicable for those whose income exceeds USD 850 and the unearned or honorary income such as interests and dividends crosses USD 300. In this respect, a second person can also claim this employee to be a recipient on his tax return. In case an assessee does not hold any exemption of tax, s/he will have to fill up the portion concerning personal allowances in the W-4 tax form.

The second page of the form of the W-4 tax form consists of the withholding allowances based on itemized deductions, adjustment to income, certain credits, and sometimes two-earner/multiple job conditions. Another option in the W-4 tax form is for those who want to claim the status of 'head of the household' in their tax return. This is applicable only for those who are unmarried or pays a maintenance cost of over 50 percent for their house. The tax credit column enables the taxpayer to adjust tax allowances with regard to the credits for child or dependent ones. Separate forms are issued in case of non-wage income which does not require the undergoing of formalities ensued by income tax department. Before filling up the W-4 tax form, one has to go through the Form 1040-ES subjected to estimated tax payments. The violation to this will lead to the owing of additional tax. In case of more than one earner in a family, the tax will be levied upon by totaling all the incomes of family.



The W-9 tax form is applicable to the U.S persons only and it is formulated with the aim to find the accurate TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number) for the person who wants to register an information return with the Internal Revenue Service. To claim such service, the person needs to have the exact TIN with every details, for example, the income paid to the taxpayer, his real estate transactions, the mortgage interests paid by him, acquisition or forsaking of any guaranteed property, debt cancellation, or the contributions made by the taxpayer to IRA. W-9 Tax form confirms a set of details of the person's TIN number for the requester who is claiming for the same, such as the exact TIN, deprived from any backup withholdings, and a clean exclusion of the backup withholdings for the U.S exempt payee. In case of any exemption from the taxes, the person is required to mention every detail of his additional incomes that is not connected with the withholding taxes.

The 1040 tax form determines the individual income tax return for the U.S citizens. Form 1040 requires the filling of a set of columns that include the following: an initial label, filing status, exemptions, income, and adjusted gross income in the first page. The second page of Form 1040 includes columns such as tax and credits, other taxes, payments, refund that also includes amount owed by the claimer, third party designee, signature of the claimer, and a last row for paid preparer's use only.

Form SS-4 is meant for the application of Employer Identification Number. The employer who does not have his Employer Identification Number (EIN) is required to fill up Form SS-4 to claim it. This form can be filled only by the employers, partnerships, estates, corporations, trusts, churches, Indian tribal entities, government agencies, certain individuals, and few others. EIN can be asked on any returns, statements, or other documents.

Form 8822 is used to inform the IRS about the change of home or business mailing address or business location. In case this change of mailing addresses leads to any effect in the children's income tax background, the person filling up the Form 8822 has to give details of each child separately in form 8822. In case of any representative filling up Form 8822 for the taxpayer, he has to produce his power of attorney. Detailed information regarding the changes have to be mentioned in the form and in case of change of both business and home mailing address, the taxpayer has to fill separate forms for each. The form is then sent to the Internal Revenue Service soon after.

These are the details of tax forms issued worldwide. Tax forms curb the unnecessary hazards one might face in any kind of taxation issues.

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