Tax Return
The form(s) you file with the IRS to report income, claim deductions and credits, and calculate your tax liability or refund. For individuals, this is Form 1040.
A tax return is the set of forms you submit to the IRS (and usually your state tax agency) each year to report your income, deductions, credits, and payments, and to calculate whether you owe additional tax or are entitled to a refund. For most US individuals, the primary form is Form 1040, "U.S. Individual Income Tax Return."
Your tax return may include multiple supporting schedules depending on your situation: Schedule 1 for additional income and adjustments, Schedule 2 for additional taxes (like AMT or the Additional Medicare Tax), Schedule 3 for additional credits and payments, Schedule A for itemized deductions, Schedule C for self-employment income, Schedule D for capital gains, and others.
Individual tax returns for the calendar year are due April 15. You can request an automatic 6-month extension to file (using Form 4868), which gives you until October 15. However, an extension to file is not an extension to pay — you must estimate and pay any tax owed by April 15 to avoid penalties and interest.
How it works
A tax return is the package of forms that reports your income, deductions, credits, and payments to the IRS and typically your state for a given tax year, ending in a calculation of whether you owe more tax or are due a refund. For most individuals the core document is Form 1040, but the return as a whole is usually a stack of forms, not a single page.
You build your return around whichever supporting schedules match your situation that year — Schedule 1 for extra income or adjustments, Schedule 2 for additional taxes like AMT, Schedule 3 for additional credits and payments, Schedule A if you itemize, Schedule C for self-employment income, Schedule D for capital gains, and others as needed. Each schedule's bottom-line number flows back onto the main Form 1040, which is where your total tax liability and total payments are finally reconciled.
People sometimes conflate the tax return with the tax refund, but a return can just as easily show a balance due — the return is the report, and the refund or balance owed is the outcome. The April 15 deadline applies to filing the return itself, and requesting an extension with Form 4868 pushes that filing deadline to October 15, but it does not push back the deadline to pay any tax you owe, which still falls on April 15 regardless.
Example: which schedules a return needs
A taxpayer has a full-time W-2 job, a small side freelance business, and a stock sale during the year. Their base Form 1040 alone cannot capture all of that activity.
Their return also includes Schedule C for the freelance profit, Schedule SE for the resulting self-employment tax, and Schedule D for the stock sale gain — each schedule's result flows back to the main Form 1040 to arrive at total tax liability.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a tax return and a tax refund?
Do I need to file a full tax return if my employer already withholds taxes?
How many forms make up a typical tax return?
Related Terms
Tax Year
The 12-month accounting period for calculating and filing taxes. For most individuals, the tax year is the calendar year (January 1 through December 31).
Extension
A request to push your tax return filing deadline from April 15 to October 15. An extension gives more time to file but not more time to pay any taxes owed.
Tax Liability
The total amount of tax you owe for the year before accounting for payments, withholding, and refundable credits. It is the bottom-line tax calculated on your return.
Tax Refund
Money returned to you by the IRS when your total tax payments (withholding + estimated payments + refundable credits) exceed your tax liability for the year.