What to Include in Your Tax Return: Income, Deductions, and Credits

What to include in your tax return starts with three categories of paper: identification for every person on the return, every income form a payer sent to you (and to the IRS), and records for anything you plan to claim as a deduction, adjustment, or credit. Before you dig for receipts, check the 2026 standard deduction — $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for head of household — because if your itemizable expenses won’t beat that number, you can skip a large portion of the recordkeeping altogether.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill

Identification for Everyone on the Return

Every person listed on the return needs a valid Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number: you, your spouse on a joint return, and each dependent. Federal law requires these identifiers, and the IRS rejects returns when the numbers don’t match its records.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6109 – Identifying Numbers

You also have to pick a filing status: Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household, or Qualifying Surviving Spouse. Your marital and family situation on December 31 of the tax year controls which status applies, and that choice drives your brackets and your standard deduction. An error here cascades through the rest of the return.

If identity theft is a concern, request an Identity Protection PIN — a six-digit number that must appear on your return for the IRS to accept it. Anyone with an SSN or ITIN can request one through an IRS online account, and parents can request one for dependents. If online verification fails, you can submit Form 15227 (available if your AGI is below $84,000 for individuals or $168,000 for joint filers) or book an in-person appointment at a Taxpayer Assistance Center.3Internal Revenue Service. Get an Identity Protection PIN

Income Forms You Need in Hand

The IRS gets copies of your income forms directly from the entities that pay you, so the numbers on your return have to match. Mismatches are the most common trigger for automated notices. Collect these before you start:

  • Form W-2 from every employer, sent by January 31, showing wages and taxes withheld.
  • Form 1099-NEC for independent contractor or freelance payments of $600 or more from a single client.4Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation
  • Forms 1099-INT and 1099-DIV from banks and brokerages for interest and dividend income, even small amounts.
  • Form 1099-K from payment apps and online marketplaces when goods-or-services payments exceed $20,000 across more than 200 transactions. If you fall below that threshold and no form arrives, the income is still reportable.5Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your Form 1099-K
  • Form 1099-R for distributions of $10 or more from pensions, annuities, IRAs, and other retirement accounts.6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498
  • Schedule K-1 if you own a share of a partnership, S-corporation, or certain trusts. These often arrive later than other forms.7Internal Revenue Service. Shareholders Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1120-S)

Page one of Form 1040 asks about digital assets. Check “Yes” if during the year you received cryptocurrency or other digital assets as payment, mined or staked them, or sold or exchanged them, regardless of whether you received a Form 1099-DA.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040 Exchanges and platforms increasingly report these transactions directly.

If you’re self-employed, net earnings of $400 or more must be reported, and self-employment tax applies. Filers who expect to owe $1,000 or more for the year also need to have made quarterly estimated payments during the year on Form 1040-ES rather than paying a lump sum at filing.9Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center Keep the payment confirmations; you’ll enter those amounts on the return.

Records for Deductions and Adjustments

Two separate mechanisms reduce what the IRS taxes: deductions shrink taxable income, and above-the-line adjustments reduce adjusted gross income before deductions apply. Both require documentation.

Standard Deduction or Itemize

Most filers take the standard deduction because no receipts and no Schedule A are needed. Itemizing on Schedule A pays off only when your deductible expenses exceed the standard deduction for your status.10Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions The items that usually push people past the threshold are mortgage interest (reported to you on Form 1098), state and local taxes, and charitable contributions. Unreimbursed medical expenses count, but only the portion above 7.5% of your AGI; on an $80,000 AGI, only medical costs above $6,000 qualify. Hold onto receipts, statements, and donation acknowledgment letters for everything you claim.

Above-the-Line Adjustments

These adjustments appear on Schedule 1 and reduce your AGI, which then affects eligibility for other credits and deductions. The most common ones:

Keep contribution statements and payment records for each adjustment. These are the items the IRS most frequently asks about in correspondence audits, and the burden of proof falls on you.

Records for Tax Credits

Credits reduce tax dollar for dollar, so they’re more valuable than deductions of the same size. Each one has its own eligibility rules and paperwork.

The Child Tax Credit provides up to $2,200 per qualifying child under age 17. Enter each child’s name and SSN on the return and complete Schedule 8812. The child’s SSN must be valid for employment and issued before the return’s due date. Filers who owe little or no federal tax may still receive up to $1,700 per child as a refund through the refundable Additional Child Tax Credit.15Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit

The Earned Income Tax Credit is for low- and moderate-income workers. The maximum for a family with three or more qualifying children was $8,046 for tax year 2025, and the amount adjusts each year for inflation.16Internal Revenue Service. Earned Income and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Tables You need proof of earned income and, if you’re claiming qualifying children, documentation that they lived with you for more than half the year. The EITC is fully refundable.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit covers up to $2,500 per student for the first four years of higher education, claimed on Form 8863 using Form 1098-T from the school, sent by January 31.17Internal Revenue Service. American Opportunity Tax Credit If the credit exceeds your tax liability, 40% of the remaining amount (up to $1,000) is refundable.

Foreign Accounts and Assets

Financial accounts outside the United States can create reporting obligations beyond the return itself, and these requirements catch more people than expected, particularly anyone with bank accounts in a country they used to live in.

When the combined value of your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year, you must file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (the FBAR) electronically with FinCEN. It’s a separate filing from your tax return.18Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts

Form 8938 may also be required with your tax return when foreign financial assets exceed certain thresholds. For unmarried taxpayers living in the U.S., the trigger is $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or $75,000 at any point during the year. Married couples filing jointly have thresholds of $100,000 and $150,000. Taxpayers living abroad have higher thresholds.19Internal Revenue Service. Do I Need to File Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets Penalties for missing these filings are severe and separate from any tax owed on the income the accounts generated.

Keep the Documents After You File

Collecting your paperwork is only half the job. The IRS can audit a return for years after it’s submitted, and without the backup you have no defense. Retention periods depend on the situation:20Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records

  • Three years from the filing date, or two years from when you paid the tax, whichever is later. This is the standard rule.
  • Six years if you underreported income by more than 25% of what your return shows.
  • Seven years if you claimed a deduction for worthless securities or bad debt.
  • Indefinitely if you didn’t file at all or filed a fraudulent return. No statute of limitations applies in those cases.

For property like a home or investments, keep the records of your purchase price and improvements until at least three years after you sell or dispose of the asset. Those records establish your cost basis and directly affect the gain you report.20Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records