IRS Releases New Form 1040

The IRS has unveiled a new streamlined Form 1040 that reflects the many tax law changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Churches will want to let employees know that the new form is different from its predecessors in several ways, including the following:

• It is half the size of the previous Form 1040 and consists of two half-pages.
• Health care coverage (mandatory through 2018) is reported by checking a box on page 1 (it was reported on line 61 on the 2017 form).
• All personal exemptions were repealed after 2017 and so there is no way to claim them on the 2018 Form 1040.
• Some lines have been consolidated. For example, taxable and tax-exempt interest are reported on line 2 (they had separate lines on the 2017 form).
• Wages are now reported on line 1 (instead of line 7 for the past several years).
• Adjusted gross income (AGI) is reported on line 7 (instead of line 37 for the past several years).