Big news yesterday, as the Internal Revenue Service announced it has a draft available of the new Form 1040 for the upcoming tax year. The aim is to consolidate all three previous types of the form into one, so that all individual taxpayers are using the same form. The IRS notes:

The new Form 1040 uses a “building block” approach, in which the tax return is reduced to a simple form. That form can be supplemented with additional schedules if needed. Taxpayers with straightforward tax situations would only need to file this new 1040 with no additional schedules.

The National Association of Tax Professionals predicts that about 30% of taxpayers will file the 1040 alone (with no supporting schedules), and fully 65% will file either the 1040 alone or the 1040 and only one other schedule. The remaining folks will file with more than one schedule.

The IRS is working with the tax community to get feedback on the new form by mid-July, and hopes to release a second draft in August. Tax professionals can submit comments regarding the draft to their tax preparer associations or to WI.1040.Comments@IRS.gov.

Source: IRS Working on a New Form 1040 for 2019 Tax Season | Internal Revenue Service