Federal Tax Forms Are Filed Quarterly, Annually, Or Not At All?

Answer 1

Federal tax forms includes all of the Internal Revenue Service forms that individuals, partnerships, and corporations use to provide information to the Internal Revenue Service on their income, expenses, and, of the most interest to the Internal Revenue Service, how big the taxpayer's tax liability is.

Federal tax forms may be updated annually, as is the case for annual tax returns. These federal tax forms are updated not only with the year, but also to reflect legislation, such as new or expired tax credits, income limitations or additional information which is being required by the Internal Revenue Service. For example, in 2008, the Form 990, which is a federal tax form required to be filed annually by organizations exempt from paying tax under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c), was totally revamped to reflect the Internal Revenue Service's decision that they wanted to see more information about these organizations which do not pay income tax to the federal government.

While most people's knowledge of federal tax forms is limited to the annual returns that they may file, there are also federal tax forms which will never be filed with the Internal Revenue Service, such as Form W-9. Form W-9 is used by companies to request taxpayer information from individuals, partnerships, or corporations, which they plan to pay. Since the Internal Revenue Service may require the company to withhold taxes on behalf of the payee, the company must know whether the payee is exempt from backup withholding (many corporations are, but individuals typically are not), as well as the payee's legal name and tax identifying number, such as a social security number or employer identification number.

There are federal tax forms for nearly every transaction. If you win a substantial amount of money playing cards in a casino, or even at a bingo night for charity, you may receive a Form W-2G, for gaming proceeds. A copy of Form W-2G will be sent to the Internal Revenue Service. This means that the Internal Revenue Service will be expecting to see that income included on your next individual tax return, Form 1040, when it is filed. Of course, you may reduce the tax liability that the gambling winnings generate by including on your 1040 your gambling losses, which can be deducted only to the extent of your gambling winnings.