Taxes For Dummies

Chapter 10

Finishing Up the 1040

IN THIS CHAPTER

Figuring your taxable income

Determining your tax liability

Seeing how much you’ve already paid

Finding out who owes who

You may feel that you’ve struggled through the income section of Form 1040 and Schedules 1, 2, and 3 (although we hope you haven’t because you’ve had this book to help you along), but wait! There’s more — you’ve now entered most of the necessary information, but you still need to finish up your return. Right now, you have all the ingredients for your tax return, but you haven’t mixed them together. Relax and let us help you. We’ll get you to the finish line, item by item, with your sanity intact.

Arriving at Taxable Income

You may be surprised to find out that this is going to be the simplest calculation you’ve ever made on a tax return. If you’ve already completed Schedules 1, 2, and 3, you’re all set to plug the bottom line of each part of those schedules into your return to arrive first at adjusted gross income, and then, at taxable income. All you need to do is transfer the numbers on your schedules to the ...