IRS Form 1040A no longer exists. The IRS retired it after the 2017 tax year, along with Form 1040EZ, and folded both into a single redesigned Form 1040 that every individual filer now uses. If you used to file the 1040A because your return was straightforward, you still have a straightforward return; you just file it on the current Form 1040, occasionally with a one-page schedule attached.
What Form 1040A Used to Cover
Form 1040A sat between the bare-bones 1040EZ and the full Form 1040. To qualify, your taxable income had to be under $100,000, and your income could come only from certain sources: wages, salaries, tips, interest, dividends, capital gain distributions, pensions, annuities, IRA distributions, unemployment compensation, Social Security benefits, and Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.
Itemizing was not allowed. You had to take the standard deduction. The form did permit a few adjustments to income, most commonly the student loan interest deduction and the IRA contribution deduction, and it supported several popular credits: the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, education credits, and the credit for child and dependent care expenses. Anyone with business income, rental property, freelance work, or itemized deductions had to use the full Form 1040.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 prompted the IRS to redesign the whole system. Beginning with the 2018 tax year, the agency consolidated the three individual forms into one shorter Form 1040 so filers no longer had to pick among them.
What You File Instead
The current Form 1040 is a two-page form that handles the most common items directly. Wages, interest, dividends, pensions, Social Security benefits, and the standard deduction all appear on the main form itself.1Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return For the 2025 tax year (filed during the 2026 filing season), the standard deduction is $15,750 for single filers, $31,500 for married couples filing jointly, and $23,625 for heads of household.2Internal Revenue Service. New and Enhanced Deductions for Individuals
If your return was simple enough for the old 1040A, most of it still fits on the main form. You report your W-2 wages, interest, dividends, pensions, or Social Security benefits, take the standard deduction, and calculate what you owe or are owed.
The one real difference: some adjustments and credits that used to sit on the 1040A now live on separate schedules.
- Schedule 1 handles additional income (like unemployment compensation) and adjustments to income (like the student loan interest deduction and the IRA contribution deduction).3Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 1 (Form 1040)
- Schedule 3 handles additional credits, including education credits and the credit for child and dependent care expenses.
The Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit are still calculated on the main Form 1040 or its associated worksheets, so those don’t require an extra schedule. And if none of the schedule items apply to you, you skip the schedules entirely and file just the two pages.
Free Filing Options
Former 1040A filers usually have the kind of return that qualifies for free filing. If your adjusted gross income for 2025 is $89,000 or less, you can use IRS Free File to prepare and e-file your federal return at no cost through one of eight partnered software providers.4Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Tax Filing Season Opens With Several Free Filing Options Available Each partner sets additional eligibility criteria of its own, which may involve age, state residency, or military status, so compare the offers before picking one.5Internal Revenue Service. IRS Free File – Browse All Offers
If you already know how to complete your return by hand, Free File Fillable Forms lets you fill out and e-file the actual Form 1040 and its schedules directly. There’s no guided software and no automatic calculation, so it works best for confident filers.6Internal Revenue Service. Free File Fillable Forms
Deadlines and Extensions
Your 2025 federal return and any tax owed are due April 15, 2026.7Internal Revenue Service. IRS Announces First Day of 2026 Filing Season Filing Form 4868 gives you an automatic six-month extension to file, pushing that deadline to October 15, 2026.8Internal Revenue Service. File an Extension Through IRS Free File The extension covers filing, not payment. You still need to estimate and pay what you owe by April 15 to avoid penalties and interest.
Missing the filing deadline without an extension triggers a failure-to-file penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax per month, up to a maximum of 25%. If the return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty is the lesser of $525 or 100% of the tax owed.9Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 653, IRS Notices and Bills, Penalties and Interest Charges
Filing on time but paying late is cheaper: the failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5% of the unpaid tax per month, also capped at 25%. That rate drops to 0.25% per month once you have an installment agreement in place. It rises to 1% per month if the IRS sends a notice of intent to levy and you still don’t pay within 10 days.9Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 653, IRS Notices and Bills, Penalties and Interest Charges
Do You Have to File at All?
Not every former 1040A filer needs to file a return now. For the 2025 tax year, the gross income thresholds are $15,750 for a single filer under 65, $17,550 for a single filer 65 or older, $23,625 for a head of household under 65, $31,500 for married couples filing jointly (both under 65), and $34,700 for married couples filing jointly (both 65 or older). Below those amounts, you generally don’t have a filing obligation.10Internal Revenue Service. Check if You Need to File a Tax Return
Filing anyway is often worth it if you had federal tax withheld from your paycheck or qualify for a refundable credit like the Earned Income Tax Credit. You won’t see that money unless you file a return.