IRS drafts tax return for seniors, updates 1040 for 2019

The Internal Revenue Service has posted a draft version of a new tax return for senior citizens, as well as a new draft version of the Form 1040 for 2019 that taxpayers and practitioners will be filing next year.

The draft version of the brand new Form 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors, was mandated by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, according to Kiplinger’s. Among the changes are larger font sizes and the removal of the shading around some of the boxes to improve contrast for taxpayers with declining vision. The draft form also includes a Standard Deduction Chart instructing taxpayers to “add the number of boxes checked in the 'Age/Blindness' section of Standard Deduction.” An IRS official highlighted the new form during a recent IRS tax forum in National Harbor, Maryland. Along with the new Form 1040-SR, the IRS also posted a new draft of Schedule R, “Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled.”

In addition to those two drafts, the IRS also posted a new draft of the Form 1040 for next tax season. Among the changes to this year’s form, according to Forbes, are moving the signature box to page 2, spaces for entering the names of a spouse and children, the removal of the checkbox for health care coverage since it’s no longer mandatory, separate lines for the Earned Income Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit and American Opportunity Credit, and some other line items changing position.

The IRS also posted a draft versions of Schedule 1 (Additional Income and Adjustments to Income), Schedule 2 (Additional Taxes) and Schedule 3 (Additional Credits and Payments) for the Form 1040, which were introduced last tax tax season as a supplement to the shortened Form 1040 mandated under the 2017 tax law.

Cohn, Michael