If you’re comparing Form 1040 vs. the 1040-EZ, the choice has already been made for you: the IRS retired Form 1040-EZ after the 2017 tax year. Every individual filer now uses the redesigned Form 1040, which was rebuilt to handle simple returns on its main page and expand through attachable schedules only when your situation calls for them. Taxpayers 65 or older have the option of Form 1040-SR, a large-print version that works identically.
The 1040-EZ Is Gone
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 reshaped the individual code, roughly doubling the standard deduction, ending personal exemptions, and changing how several credits worked.1Legal Information Institute. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) Rather than maintain three different individual returns, the IRS scrapped both the 1040-EZ and the mid-tier 1040-A and rebuilt the standard Form 1040 as a shorter, modular document. Starting with the 2018 tax year, that one form has been the individual return.
The design goal was a single core return that fits everyone. Simple situations stop at the main page. Complex ones grow by attaching numbered schedules.
What the 1040-EZ Covered
The old 1040-EZ was built for the narrowest possible slice of filers. To use it, you had to clear every one of a strict set of tests. In its final 2017 version, that meant:2Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040EZ – 2017 Income Tax Return for Single and Joint Filers With No Dependents
- Filing status of Single or Married Filing Jointly only.
- You (and your spouse, if joint) had to be under 65 and not blind.
- No dependents claimed.
- Taxable income under $100,000.
- Income limited to wages, salaries, tips, taxable scholarships, unemployment compensation, and Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.
- Interest income no higher than $1,500.
- No above-the-line adjustments — no student loan interest deduction, no educator expense deduction, no IRA contribution deduction.
- Standard deduction only; itemizing was not allowed.
Fail any single test and you were pushed to the full 1040. In practice, the form fit a young single worker with one W-2 and a modest savings account. Almost everyone else needed something bigger.
How Today’s Form 1040 Handles Simple Returns
The current Form 1040 is a two-page return that collects your identification, income, deductions, and tax. It accepts all five filing statuses, any number of dependents, and every income type in the code.3Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040 If your tax life is a W-2, the standard deduction, and no dependents, you fill out the first page and a few lines of the second. That’s the whole return.
Complexity comes in through schedules, filed only when they apply.4Internal Revenue Service. Schedules for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR Schedule 1 reports additional income and above-the-line adjustments such as the student loan interest deduction, educator expenses, and IRA contributions. Schedule 2 covers additional taxes like the Alternative Minimum Tax. Schedule 3 handles additional credits and payments, including the foreign tax credit and education credits. Schedules C, D, E, and F pick up self-employment, capital gains, rental and partnership income, and farm income; Schedule SE calculates self-employment tax. Someone with a side business now has a straightforward path — Schedule C for the profit, Schedule SE for the Social Security and Medicare portion, Schedule 1 for the deduction of half that tax. None of it was possible on the 1040-EZ.
What You Gain on the Current 1040
The 1040-EZ’s limits weren’t just paperwork — several of them cost real money. The full Form 1040 recognizes Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household, and Qualifying Surviving Spouse. Head of Household, in particular, was locked out of the 1040-EZ despite being available to unmarried filers who pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home for a qualifying dependent. For the 2026 tax year, the standard deduction is $24,150 for Head of Household compared to $16,100 for Single, a gap of $8,050 that comes straight off taxable income.5Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Married couples filing jointly get $32,200 for 2026.
Dependents unlock credits the 1040-EZ could not touch. The Child Tax Credit is worth up to $2,200 per qualifying child under 17, with a refundable portion of up to $1,700 for filers whose tax bill is too low to absorb the full amount.6Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit Dependents who don’t qualify for the Child Tax Credit, such as older children or aging parents, can still bring the Credit for Other Dependents, worth up to $500 each. A single parent who once had to file Single on a 1040-EZ can pick up thousands of dollars between Head of Household status and these credits on the current form.
Form 1040-SR if You’re 65 or Older
The 1040-EZ excluded anyone 65 or older. Starting with the 2019 tax year, the IRS introduced Form 1040-SR as an alternative to the standard 1040 for senior filers.7Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return If you’re 65 or older by the end of the tax year, you can use it.
Functionally, the 1040-SR is the same return. It accepts every schedule the regular 1040 accepts and carries no income limit. The differences are visual: larger type, checkboxes for age and blindness status, and a standard deduction chart printed on the last page that already factors in the additional deduction seniors receive.8IRS. 2025 Form 1040-SR U.S. Income Tax Return for Seniors For 2025, a single senior checking one age box gets a standard deduction of $17,750, compared to $15,350 for a non-senior single filer on the regular 1040. Either form is acceptable; the 1040-SR just makes the extra deduction easier to find.
Filing a Simple Return for Free
Part of what made the 1040-EZ appealing was that most people could finish it on their own. The current 1040 looks longer, but free electronic options have largely erased that gap for straightforward returns.
IRS Free File partners with private tax software to offer guided preparation at no cost for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less.9Internal Revenue Service. E-file: Do Your Taxes for Free The software asks questions, chooses the correct schedules, and flags errors before you submit. For a W-2 filer taking the standard deduction, the experience is at least as simple as the old 1040-EZ.
Above that income threshold, IRS Free File Fillable Forms give you blank electronic versions of the 1040 to complete on your own without guided help. Most commercial tax software also offers a free tier for simple returns, though eligibility varies by provider and by year. If your return is genuinely simple, losing the 1040-EZ shouldn’t cost you anything except the name.