With tax season upon us, there are many cases where you’ll need to use PDFs as you submit your taxes. Whether it’s a 1040, W-4, or W-9, odds are that you’ll be working with PDFs. In this article, we’ll provide some useful tips for working with PDFs, so you can create your own tax forms or fill out other forms.
We’ll also provide links to PDF tax forms, IRS forms, and show you how to turn a PDF into a fillable form.
How Do You Get PDFs of Tax Forms?
You will need a different tax form depending on what sort of job you have. For example, a 1040 form is a traditional individual income tax return filed by most US taxpayers. A W-2, on the other hand, is needed for employers to report their employees’ earnings to the IRS.
Heading over to the IRS.Gov forms, you’ll see that most forms are readily available as PDFs. This is because the formatting settings of PDFs are preserved across almost every type of device. The PDF that you see will be formatted the same way for everyone who views it. This makes processing a lot of tax forms at once far easier for the IRS, which might help you receive a faster refund.
That said, IRS’s PDFs require special apps or software to edit. Fortunately, these apps are easy to access — on Apple devices, most editable PDFs work with Preview, and on Windows PCs you can download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is by design, as the IRS only wants certain sections of a PDF to be editable. These editable sections are called “fillable fields.” If you download one of these forms and open it, you’ll notice that you’re able to type in certain designated fillable fields. So why is this?
PDF Fillable Fields
Almost any PDF can be made into a fillable form. In fact, PDF.Live’s online editing tool will automatically detect form fields on a PDF and make them editable. You can also manually place them on a PDF.
Although all tax PDF forms are available at IRS.gov, all of which include already prepared fillable forms that will work on a computer, if you have a PDF that doesn’t include editable form fields, you can create them.
If you need to fill out a special PDF form on your own, or are an employer that needs to create a fillable form from a different PDF, PDF.Live can help.
Our PDF editor can make PDFs into fillable forms. Follow this guide to get started. Remember that PDF.Live allows for a few free tasks every day, but if you need to make a lot of PDFs into fillable forms, you should consider our Unlimited plan that has no limits on daily tasks.
How To Get a PDF of Your Tax Return
For a blank PDF of IRS Form 1040, your best bet is to get it directly from the IRS.
For a PDF of your tax return, if you use a tax service like TurboTax, your forms will be automatically provided to you in that format. Whether you use TurboTax or another application, you can convert your tax form to a PDF using the Print or Save as functions:
- Select Print or Save as
- Select printer destination as Save as PDF
- Make sure the file has a .pdf extension
PDF Tax Tools
Once you’ve submitted all your tax returns, you’ll accumulate documents with your tax details. It’s best to save these forms for your records. PDF.Live has a couple of tools that can help you out with this:
- Merge PDF — Merge all of your tax forms into a single document titled “2023 Taxes” for easier organization and storage.
- Convert PDF — Have some tax forms or attachments/schedules in a format that aren’t PDFs? Convert your DOC, Excel, PPT, and JPG files to PDFs so that you’ll be able to read them anywhere at any time. File formats that are of the same type will be possible to merge.
- Compress PDF — Tight on computer storage space? Use PDF.Live’s PDF compression service to store PDFs easier on your computer. This compressor will not alter or damage the layout of your PDF — it might reduce the file size.
- Fax PDF — Need to send your tax documents to the IRS or to someone else, such as your accountant? Fax.Live functions entirely in your web browser. No fax machine needed!
PDF.Live’s tools don’t require any additional downloads to function. Because PDF.Live is web-based, you can use our tools from any device that has an internet connection. Consider trying out our services today, entirely for free! PDF.Live offers limited daily tasks with no additional cost to you. If you like PDF.Live, consider our low-cost monthly subscription that allows for unlimited usage of our many PDF management tools.
IRS and State Tax Forms
Other IRS forms for businesses and individuals
California tax forms for individuals and businesses
Colorado tax forms for individuals and families
Colorado tax forms for other entities
Connecticut individual income tax forms
Connecticut business tax forms
Delaware personal income tax forms
D.C. individual income tax forms
Florida tax forms for businesses and individuals*
Georgia tax forms for individuals and businesses
Hawaii tax forms (alphabetical listing)
Kansas tax forms and publications
Louisiana tax forms for individuals and businesses
Minnesota department of revenue forms
Mississippi individual tax forms
Montana tax and state revenue forms
Nebraska revenue forms for individuals and other entities
New Mexico forms and publications
New York forms and instructions
Pennsylvania personal income tax forms
Pennsylvania business tax resources
South Carolina individual tax forms
South Carolina business tax forms
Tennessee department of revenue forms*
Vermont tax forms and publications
Washington state forms and publications*
West Virginia tax forms for businesses and individuals
Wyoming’s department of revenue*
*These states do not levy state income taxes; New Hampshire doesn’t levy a tax on earned wages. The links will take you to the states’ departments of revenue pages, where you can find forms and publications about their taxes.
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