About the 1040A Tax Form

The 1040A (nicknamed the "short form") is a shorter version of the Form 1040 U.S. individual income tax return. Use of Form 1040A is limited to taxpayers with taxable income below $100,000 who take the standard deduction instead of itemizing deductions.

A taxpayer who uses the 1040A tax return can only have income from the following sources:

• Wages, salaries, and tips.
• Interest and ordinary dividends.
• Capital gains distributions.
• Taxable scholarships and fellowship grants.
• Pensions, annuities, and IRAs.
• Unemployment compensation.
• Taxable social security and railroad retirement benefits.
• Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.

Several other restrictions apply as well.