Research
The Evolution of Form 1040: A Visual History of the U.S. Income Tax Return (1913 to 2026)
An original historical data asset and complexity index from The Ledgerism Brief. Last updated 2026-06-29.
Form 1040 is the central document of the U.S. individual income tax system. This briefing reconstructs its physical and structural evolution from the four-page original published in 1913 to the modular form-plus-schedules architecture used for tax years 2018 through 2025. It compiles page counts for the form and its instruction booklet, line counts, the number of attached schedules, and the histories of the 1040A, 1040EZ, and 1040-SR variants. It then builds an original Form 1040 Complexity Index anchored to verifiable, primary-source data points.
A note on verification before any number is read: the original 1913 form was confirmed directly from the IRS prior-year forms archive PDF, which is internally labeled “1913 FORM 1040, PAGE 1 OF 4” with the instruction directing filers to “SEE INSTRUCTIONS ON PAGE 4.” The current (tax year 2025) form and instruction booklet page counts were confirmed by inspecting the live IRS PDFs. The continuous year-by-year instruction-page series between those endpoints comes from a National Taxpayers Union compilation and is labeled Tier-2/3 throughout.
Executive summary
- The first Form 1040 was four pages total: three pages of form plus one page of instructions, confirmed directly from the IRS prior-year archive PDF for tax year 1913 (Source: IRS, f1040–1913.pdf).
- The 1913 form imposed a 1 percent “normal tax” above a $3,000 individual exemption ($4,000 for married couples), with an additional graduated surtax on net income above $20,000 rising in brackets up to income over $500,000 (Source: IRS, 1913 Form 1040 PDF, lines 6-8).
- The instruction booklet for Form 1040 grew from a single page in 1913 to a figure of roughly 200-plus pages by the mid-2010s, per a National Taxpayers Union compilation; the Tier-1-verified tax-year-2025 instruction booklet (i1040gi, catalog 24811V) is 126 pages (Source: IRS, i1040gi.pdf, verified 2026; NTU compilation for intermediate years, Tier-2/3).
- The number of lines on the main form rose from 34 in 1935 to 79 by 2014 (National Taxpayers Union), then was cut to 23 lines in the 2018 postcard redesign (Tier-2/3 / IRS).
- The 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act redesign split overflow content into six new numbered schedules (Schedule 1 through Schedule 6); these were consolidated to three schedules (1, 2, 3) starting in tax year 2019 (Source: IRS, Schedules for Form 1040; IRS prior-year Schedule 1 PDF).
- The 1040EZ was used for tax years 1982 through 2017; the 1040A was introduced in the 1930s and also discontinued after tax year 2017; both were retired by the 2018 redesign (Source: IRS prior-year archive; corroborated by Wikipedia citing NTU).
- Form 1040-SR (U.S. Tax Return for Seniors) was created by Section 41106 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 and first used for tax year 2019 (Source: IRS; Thomson Reuters Tax).
- The current tax-year-2025 Form 1040 is two pages and runs to 38 numbered lines, showing that the “postcard” expanded back well beyond its 23-line 2018 low (Source: IRS, f1040.pdf, verified 2026).
Key findings
- The original Form 1040 for tax year 1913 was four pages: three form pages plus one instruction page, verified directly from the IRS prior-year PDF labeled “PAGE 1 OF 4” (Source: IRS, f1040–1913.pdf).
- The 1913 normal tax rate was 1 percent on net income above the specific exemption of $3,000 individual / $4,000 married (Source: IRS, 1913 Form 1040, line 6 and Instruction 3).
- The 1913 form carried an additional graduated surtax on net income exceeding $20,000, scaling through $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, and over $500,000 (Source: IRS, 1913 Form 1040, line 8 schedule).
- The tax-year-2025 main Form 1040 is two pages (Source: IRS, f1040.pdf, verified 2026).
- The tax-year-2025 Form 1040 instruction booklet (i1040gi, catalog number 24811V) is 126 pages (Source: IRS, i1040gi.pdf, verified 2026).
- The tax-year-2025 Form 1040 runs to line 38, up from the 23-line 2018 redesign (Source: IRS, f1040.pdf, line 38, verified 2026).
- The number of main-form lines grew from 34 in 1935 to 79 by 2014, per the National Taxpayers Union (Tier-2/3; corroborated via Wikipedia citing NTU).
- The 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act redesign cut the main form to 23 lines (Tier-2/3 / IRS; one NTU edition states 26 lines, flagged below).
- The 2018 redesign created six new numbered schedules, Schedule 1 through Schedule 6 (Source: IRS prior-year Schedule 1 (Form 1040) 2018 PDF; CBS News).
- The six 2018 schedules were consolidated to three (Schedules 1, 2, 3) beginning tax year 2019; Schedule 2 absorbed former Schedule 4, and Schedule 3 absorbed former Schedule 5 (Source: IRS, Schedules for Form 1040; Thomson Reuters Tax).
- Form 1040EZ was used for tax years 1982 through 2017 (Source: IRS prior-year archive; Wikipedia citing NTU).
- Form 1040A was introduced in the 1930s and discontinued after tax year 2017 (Source: IRS prior-year archive; Wikipedia citing NTU).
- Form 1040-SR for seniors was mandated by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (PL 115-123, Sec. 41106) and first used for tax year 2019 (Source: Thomson Reuters Tax; IRS).
- The Current Tax Payment Act of 1943 introduced employer wage withholding, a structural change to how 1040 liabilities are settled (Source: IRS, Historical Highlights of the IRS).
- The Individual Income Tax Act of 1944 created the standard deduction on Form 1040 (Source: IRS, Historical Highlights of the IRS).
- The individual filing deadline moved from March 15 to April 15 in 1954 (Source: IRS, Historical Highlights of the IRS).
Section 1: The 1913 original, verified directly
The IRS hosts the original 1913 form in its prior-year forms archive. The PDF is an IRS reprint that retains the printer specifications: the header reads “1913 FORM 1040, PAGE 1 OF 4,” and the body instructs filers, “(SEE INSTRUCTIONS ON PAGE 4.)” This confirms the widely cited “four pages, one of them instructions” structure from the primary document rather than a secondary summary.
The form title is “RETURN OF ANNUAL NET INCOME OF INDIVIDUALS,” for income “received or accrued during the year ended December 31, 1913,” under “the Federal Income-tax Law of October 3, 1913.” Line 6 provides for the “Specific exemption of $3,000 or $4,000, as the case may be.” Line 7 computes “TAXABLE INCOME on which the normal tax of 1 per cent is to be calculated.” Line 8 sets out the additional graduated tax: “When the net income shown above on line 3 exceeds $20,000, the additional tax thereon must be calculated as per schedule below,” with brackets running over $20,000 to $50,000, then $50,000 to $100,000, $100,000 to $250,000, $250,000 to $500,000, and over $500,000.
What the numbers mean: the 1913 form required taxpayers to know the rate schedule and perform the arithmetic themselves. There were no pre-printed lookup tables. The four-page document is the cleanest available baseline for any complexity comparison because it is a complete, self-contained instrument verifiable from a single primary PDF.
| Attribute | 1913 value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total pages | 4 (3 form + 1 instructions) | IRS, f1040–1913.pdf (labeled “PAGE 1 OF 4”) |
| Normal tax rate | 1 percent | IRS, 1913 Form 1040, Instruction 3 |
| Individual exemption | $3,000 | IRS, 1913 Form 1040, line 6 |
| Married exemption | $4,000 | IRS, 1913 Form 1040, line 6 / Instruction |
| Additional (surtax) threshold | Net income over $20,000 | IRS, 1913 Form 1040, line 8 |
| Top surtax bracket | Income over $500,000 | IRS, 1913 Form 1040, line 8 schedule |
Section 2: Page count of the form over time
The main form has stayed remarkably stable in physical page count even as content shifted. It was three form pages in 1913, compressed to roughly one to two pages through the mid-20th century, and has been a two-page (two-sided) form for most of the modern era, including the tax-year-2025 version verified for this briefing.
The intermediate-year figures below come from a National Taxpayers Union compilation reproduced in the Wikipedia entry for Form 1040 and are labeled Tier-2/3. The 1913 and 2025 endpoints are Tier-1, verified from IRS PDFs for this asset.
| Tax year | Form pages | Source tier |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 3 (form) + 1 (instructions) | Tier-1 (IRS PDF, verified) |
| 1935 | 1 | Tier-2/3 (NTU compilation) |
| 1945 | 2 | Tier-2/3 (NTU compilation) |
| 1985 | 2 | Tier-2/3 (NTU compilation) |
| 2017 | 2 | Tier-2/3 (NTU compilation) |
| 2018 | 2 | Tier-2/3 (NTU compilation) |
| 2025 | 2 | Tier-1 (IRS f1040.pdf, verified) |
Note on the 2018 figure: the NTU compilation lists the redesigned 2018 form as two pages. The 2018 redesign was marketed as “postcard-sized,” but the published form was still printed as a two-sided full sheet, which is why the page count does not drop. This is a useful caution against treating “postcard” as a literal page-count claim.
Section 3: Page count of the instructions over time
The instruction booklet is where complexity is most visible. It grew from a single page in 1913 to triple digits in the modern era. The series below is a National Taxpayers Union compilation (Tier-2/3) for all intermediate years; only the 1913 endpoint and the 2025 endpoint (i1040gi, 126 pages) are Tier-1 verified for this briefing.
| Tax year | Instruction pages | Source tier |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 1 | Tier-1 (IRS PDF, verified) |
| 1945 | 4 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 1955 | 16 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 1975 | 39 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 1985 | 52 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 1995 | 84 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 2000 | 117 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 2005 | 142 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 2010 | 179 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 2012 | 214 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 2017 | 220 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 2018 | 221 | Tier-2/3 (NTU) |
| 2025 | 126 | Tier-1 (IRS i1040gi.pdf, verified) |
What the numbers mean and an important limitation: the NTU series tracks the standalone i1040gi instruction booklet. The apparent drop from the 221-page 2018 figure to the 126-page tax-year-2025 booklet is partly real (the TCJA standard deduction increase removed itemizing for most filers) and partly an artifact of the post-2018 modular design. Content that once sat in the single 1040 booklet now lives in separate schedule instructions. NTU itself noted that, counting the form “and its corresponding schedules,” filers faced about 241 pages of instructions in a recent year, higher than the booklet-only count. The 126-page Tier-1 figure should therefore be read as “main 1040 booklet only,” not “all instructions a complex filer needs.”
Section 4: Line count over time
The number of numbered lines on the main form is the single best one-number proxy for on-form complexity. The National Taxpayers Union tracked the rise from 34 lines in 1935 to 79 lines by 2014.
| Tax year | Main-form lines | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1935 | 34 | NTU (Tier-2/3) |
| 1945 | 24 | NTU (Tier-2/3) |
| 1965 | 54 | NTU (Tier-2/3) |
| 1975 | 67 | NTU (Tier-2/3) |
| 2014 | 79 | NTU (Tier-2/3) |
| 2017 | 79 | NTU (Tier-2/3) |
| 2018 | 23 | IRS / NTU (Tier-2/3; see flag) |
| 2025 | 38 | Tier-1 (IRS f1040.pdf, line 38, verified) |
Conflict flag: the most widely cited figure for the 2018 redesign is a cut from 79 lines to 23 lines. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s “Tax Complexity 2019” report instead states the form went “from 79 lines to 26.” Both are defensible depending on whether sub-lines (for example 1a, 1b) and signature blocks are counted. This briefing reports the 23-line figure as the headline with the 26-line figure flagged.
The tax-year-2025 verification is the most underreported finding here: the form now runs to line 38. The “postcard” expanded by 15 lines from its 2018 low as the IRS folded content back onto the main form across 2019 to 2025.
Section 5: Number of schedules over time
Before 2018, Form 1040 used lettered schedules (Schedule A for itemized deductions, B for interest and dividends, C for business income, D for capital gains, SE for self-employment tax, and others), and these lettered schedules still exist.
The 2018 TCJA redesign added six new numbered schedules on top of the lettered ones, to hold content stripped from the shortened main form:
| Schedule (2018) | Purpose | Status after 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule 1 | Additional income and adjustments | Retained |
| Schedule 2 | Tax (AMT, etc.) | Retained; absorbed Schedule 4 |
| Schedule 3 | Nonrefundable credits | Retained; absorbed Schedule 5 |
| Schedule 4 | Other taxes (incl. self-employment) | Merged into Schedule 2 (2019) |
| Schedule 5 | Other payments and refundable credits | Merged into Schedule 3 (2019) |
| Schedule 6 | Foreign address / third-party designee | Moved back onto main form (2019) |
Starting in tax year 2019, only numbered Schedules 1, 2, and 3 remain. This is the clearest structural arc of the modern era: six new schedules in 2018, consolidated to three by 2019, where they have stayed through tax year 2025 (Source: IRS, Schedules for Form 1040; IRS prior-year Schedule 1 (Form 1040) 2018 PDF; Thomson Reuters Tax).
Section 6: The variant forms (1040A, 1040EZ, 1040-SR)
| Variant | First tax year | Last tax year | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form 1040 | 1913 | current | The full return | IRS prior-year archive |
| Form 1040A | 1930s | 2017 | Mid-length simplified form | IRS archive; Wikipedia/NTU |
| Form 1040EZ | 1982 | 2017 | Shortest form, simple filers | IRS archive; Wikipedia/NTU |
| Form 1040-SR | 2019 | current | Seniors 65+, large print, standard-deduction chart | BBA 2018 Sec. 41106; IRS |
The 2018 redesign retired both the 1040A and the 1040EZ, folding all filers onto a single 1040 plus optional schedules. The 1040-SR, created by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 and first used for tax year 2019, is functionally the modern successor to the simple-filer concept for taxpayers aged 65 and older.
Section 7: Milestone years
| Year | Milestone | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 16th Amendment ratified; first Form 1040 introduced | IRS Historical Highlights |
| 1943 | Current Tax Payment Act introduces wage withholding | IRS Historical Highlights |
| 1944 | Individual Income Tax Act creates the standard deduction | IRS Historical Highlights |
| 1954 | Filing deadline moves from March 15 to April 15 | IRS Historical Highlights |
| 1982 | Form 1040EZ introduced | IRS archive; Wikipedia/NTU |
| 1986 | Tax Reform Act of 1986 signed | IRS Historical Highlights |
| 2003 | E-filing exceeds 40 percent of individual returns (52.9 million) | IRS Historical Highlights |
| 2018 | TCJA “postcard” redesign; six new schedules; 1040A/1040EZ retired | IRS; CBS News |
| 2019 | Six schedules consolidated to three; Form 1040-SR debuts | IRS; Thomson Reuters Tax |
Original synthesis: the Ledgerism Form 1040 Complexity Index
This index is original to The Ledgerism Brief. It is built only from data points that are either Tier-1 verified or drawn from the National Taxpayers Union compilation, with the source tier stated for every input.
Methodology and formula
The index combines the three measurable dimensions of 1040 complexity into a single score, indexed to 1913 = 100.
Three components, each normalized to its 1913 value and then weighted:
- Form lines (weight 0.40). 1913 baseline taken as 31 lines (the commonly cited line count of the original three-page form; flagged as approximate).
- Instruction pages (weight 0.40). 1913 baseline = 1 page.
- Number of attached schedules in the numbered-plus-core architecture (weight 0.20). 1913 baseline = 0 numbered schedules. To avoid dividing by zero, the schedule component uses (schedules + 1) for both the year and the 1913 base, so 1913 = 1.
Component index for year Y = (value in Y / value in 1913) x 100.
Composite Index = 0.40 x (lines index) + 0.40 x (instruction-pages index) + 0.20 x (schedules index).
Worked endpoints:
- 1913: all components at 100 by construction. Composite = 100.
- 1985 (Tier-2/3 inputs: 68 lines, 52 instruction pages, 0 numbered schedules): lines index = 68/31 x 100 = 219; pages index = 52/1 x 100 = 5,200; schedules index = (0+1)/(0+1) x 100 = 100. Composite = 0.40(219) + 0.40(5,200) + 0.20(100) = 87.6 + 2,080 + 20 = 2,188.
- 2018 (23 lines; 221 instruction pages; 6 numbered schedules): lines index = 23/31 x 100 = 74; pages index = 221/1 x 100 = 22,100; schedules index = (6+1)/1 x 100 = 700. Composite = 0.40(74) + 0.40(22,100) + 0.20(700) = 29.6 + 8,840 + 140 = 9,010.
- 2025 (Tier-1 endpoints: 38 lines; 126 instruction pages; 3 numbered schedules): lines index = 38/31 x 100 = 123; pages index = 126/1 x 100 = 12,600; schedules index = (3+1)/1 x 100 = 400. Composite = 0.40(123) + 0.40(12,600) + 0.20(400) = 49.2 + 5,040 + 80 = 5,169.
| Tax year | Lines | Instr. pages | Numbered schedules | Composite Index (1913 = 100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 31 (approx.) | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| 1985 | 68 | 52 | 0 | 2,188 |
| 2018 | 23 | 221 | 6 | 9,010 |
| 2025 | 38 | 126 | 3 | 5,169 |
Insight 1: complexity is dominated by instruction-page growth, not form length. Because instruction pages grew from 1 to triple digits while form lines barely doubled, the index is driven almost entirely by the booklet. Any honest 1040 complexity story is a story about the instructions, not the form.
Insight 2: the 2018 redesign cut on-form complexity but pushed peak total complexity. The form shrank to 23 lines, but instruction pages hit their high (221) and six schedules appeared, so the composite index peaked in 2018, not before. The “simplification” relocated complexity rather than removing it.
Insight 3: 2025 is a partial reversal, not a return to simplicity. The composite fell from 9,010 (2018) to 5,169 (2025) as schedules consolidated to three and the main booklet shrank to 126 pages, yet the 2025 score is still roughly 51 times the 1913 baseline, and the main form expanded back to 38 lines.
Stated limitations of the index: the 1913 line count (31) is approximate; the instruction-page weight makes the index sensitive to whether schedule-instruction pages are included (NTU’s 241-page “form plus schedules” figure would raise every modern score); component weights (0.40/0.40/0.20) are an editorial judgment, not an empirical derivation. The index is a comparative storytelling tool, not an official metric.
Charts to create
- Title: “Form 1040 instruction booklet: 1 page (1913) to 126 pages (2025).” Data: instruction-page series from Section 3. Source: IRS endpoints + NTU compilation. Insight: complexity lives in the instructions. Citation-worthy because it is the single most quotable complexity trend.
- Title: “The postcard that wasn’t: 1040 main-form lines, 1935-2025.” Data: line-count series from Section 4 (34 in 1935, 79 in 2017, 23 in 2018, 38 in 2025). Source: NTU + IRS f1040.pdf. Insight: the 2018 cut partially reversed by 2025.
- Title: “Six to three: the schedule consolidation of 2018-2019.” Data: Section 5 table. Source: IRS Schedules for Form 1040. Insight: visualizes the merge of Schedules 4 and 5 into 2 and 3.
- Title: “The Ledgerism Form 1040 Complexity Index, 1913 = 100.” Data: Section synthesis table. Source: composite of IRS + NTU inputs. Insight: peak complexity was 2018, not today, and not the distant past.
- Title: “A century of 1040 variants.” Data: Section 6 timeline bars (1040 1913-present, 1040A 1930s-2017, 1040EZ 1982-2017, 1040-SR 2019-present). Source: IRS archive + BBA 2018. Insight: the consolidation of three filing options into one-plus-schedules.
Methodology
Source-selection criteria: Tier-1 primary sources (IRS prior-year forms archive, live IRS form and instruction PDFs, IRS Historical Highlights, National Archives, Library of Congress, statutory citations) were used for every endpoint and every structural claim that could be checked against an actual document. The continuous year-by-year page-count and line-count series between 1913 and 2018 is a National Taxpayers Union compilation (Tier-2/3) and is labeled as such on every table.
Inclusion/exclusion rules: a figure was included only if it traced to a document we could open (the 1913 and 2025 PDFs were inspected directly, including counting page objects and reading line numbers) or to the named NTU compilation. Figures with no traceable source were excluded.
Handling conflicts: where the 2018 redesign line count is reported as both 23 and 26, both are shown with the 23 figure as headline. Where the 2018 form is described as a “postcard” but published as two pages, the two-page figure is used and the marketing term flagged. Where the post-2018 instruction-page drop could mislead, the modular-design caveat and NTU’s 241-page “form plus schedules” figure are stated.
Derived figures: the Complexity Index formula, weights, normalization, and worked arithmetic are shown in full in the synthesis section so any reader can reproduce or re-weight it.
Data limitations: the 1913 line count (31) is approximate; intermediate-year page counts are a secondary compilation; the index weights are editorial.
Date of last update: 2026-06-29.
Source quality ranking
Tier 1 (primary / government / official):
– IRS prior-year forms archive, 1913 Form 1040 PDF (f1040–1913.pdf), verified internally as “PAGE 1 OF 4.”
– IRS current Form 1040 PDF (f1040.pdf), tax year 2025, verified at 2 pages and 38 lines.
– IRS current instructions (i1040gi.pdf), catalog 24811V, verified at 126 pages.
– IRS, Schedules for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR; IRS prior-year Schedule 1 (Form 1040) 2018 PDF.
– IRS, Historical Highlights of the IRS (milestone years).
– U.S. National Archives, IRS Form 1040 (1913) document image.
– Statutory: Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (PL 115-123), Sec. 41106 (Form 1040-SR mandate).
Tier 2 (credible research bodies / official analysis):
– National Taxpayers Union and NTU Foundation tax-complexity studies (instruction-page and line-count series; compliance-hour and cost figures).
– Treasury Office of Tax Analysis projections (filer-schedule usage), cited via NTUF.
– Tax Foundation, “America’s First Income Tax Form” (1913 four-page confirmation).
Tier 3 (reputable journalism / reference):
– Wikipedia, “Form 1040” (used only as a pointer to its NTU citation; figures cross-checked).
– Thomson Reuters Tax and CBS News (2018-2019 schedule and 1040-SR reporting).
– Library of Congress, “The First Form 1040.”
Excluded: secondary blog posts and tax-prep marketing pages that restated page counts without sourcing; any figure that could not be traced to a primary document or the named NTU compilation.
Citation format
- Source: Internal Revenue Service, Form 1040 for tax year 1913, prior-year forms archive (f1040–1913.pdf).
- Source: Internal Revenue Service, Form 1040 (2025), f1040.pdf, accessed 2026.
- Source: Internal Revenue Service, Instructions for Form 1040 (2025), i1040gi.pdf, catalog number 24811V.
- Source: Internal Revenue Service, Schedules for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR.
- Source: National Taxpayers Union, tax-complexity compilation (Form 1040 line and instruction-page series).
- Source: Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, Public Law 115-123, Section 41106.
Journalist-friendly additions
Most quotable statistics
- The 1913 Form 1040 was four pages, one of them instructions; today’s instruction booklet alone is 126 pages (IRS, verified 2026).
- The main form went from 34 lines (1935) to 79 lines (2017), then to 23 lines (2018), and back up to 38 lines (2025).
- The 2018 “postcard” added six new schedules; they were cut to three the very next year.
- The 1913 top structure taxed income over $500,000 with an added surtax on top of the 1 percent normal tax over a $3,000 exemption.
Data limitations
The full year-by-year instruction-page and line-count series is a National Taxpayers Union compilation (Tier-2/3), not independently re-verified page-by-page for this asset. The post-2018 instruction-page drop partly reflects content moving to separate schedule instructions, not pure simplification. The 2018 line count is reported as 23 or 26 depending on counting method. The 1913 line count used in the index (31) is approximate.
Downloadable dataset, recommended fields
tax_year, form_pages, instruction_pages, main_form_lines, numbered_schedules, variant_forms_available, complexity_index_1913base, source_tier, primary_source_url, notes.
150-word press summary
The U.S. Form 1040 has grown from a four-page document in 1913, with a single page of instructions, into a modular system whose tax-year-2025 instruction booklet alone runs 126 pages, according to figures verified directly from the IRS by The Ledgerism Brief. The main form itself has stayed near two pages, but its line count climbed from 34 in 1935 to 79 by 2017 before the 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “postcard” redesign cut it to 23 lines and added six new schedules. Those six schedules were consolidated to three in 2019, and the form has since expanded back to 38 numbered lines for 2025. The Ledgerism Form 1040 Complexity Index, anchored to 1913, peaks in 2018 rather than today, showing the redesign relocated complexity into instructions and schedules rather than removing it. The 1040A and 1040EZ were both retired after tax year 2017.
Suggested headlines
- From 4 Pages to 126: A Visual History of IRS Form 1040, 1913 to 2026
- The Postcard That Wasn’t: How the 2018 1040 Redesign Moved Complexity Instead of Cutting It
- Form 1040 Peaked in Complexity in 2018, Not Today, New Index Finds
- Six Schedules to Three: Charting the 1040’s Decade of Redesign
- A 1 Percent Tax and a $3,000 Exemption: What the Original 1913 Form 1040 Looked Like
FAQs
- How many pages was the first Form 1040? Four pages for tax year 1913: three form pages plus one instruction page (IRS, f1040–1913.pdf).
- What was the tax rate on the 1913 form? A 1 percent normal tax above a $3,000 individual / $4,000 married exemption, plus a graduated surtax on income over $20,000 (IRS, 1913 Form 1040).
- How long are the current 1040 instructions? The tax-year-2025 booklet (i1040gi) is 126 pages (IRS, verified 2026).
- How many lines does the current 1040 have? The 2025 form runs to line 38 (IRS, f1040.pdf).
- Did the 2018 redesign really make a “postcard”? The form was cut to 23 lines but still printed as two pages, and six new schedules were added (IRS; NTU).
- How many schedules does the 1040 have now? Three numbered schedules (1, 2, 3) since 2019, plus the older lettered schedules as needed (IRS).
- When were the 1040A and 1040EZ discontinued? Both after tax year 2017 (IRS archive; Wikipedia/NTU).
- When did the 1040EZ start? Tax year 1982 (IRS archive; Wikipedia/NTU).
- What is Form 1040-SR and when did it start? A senior-focused 1040 mandated by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, first used for tax year 2019 (IRS; Thomson Reuters Tax).
- Has the form actually gotten simpler since 2018? Partly: schedules dropped from six to three and the main booklet shrank, but the form grew back to 38 lines by 2025 and total instruction content remains high (IRS; NTU).
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040, tax year 1913 (prior-year forms archive). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040–1913.pdf
- Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040 (2025). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf
- Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040 (2025), catalog 24811V. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
- Internal Revenue Service. Schedules for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/schedules-for-form-1040
- Internal Revenue Service. Schedule 1 (Form 1040) 2018. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040s1–2018.pdf
- Internal Revenue Service. Prior year forms and instructions (1040 archive). https://www.irs.gov/prior-year-forms-and-instructions?find=1040
- Internal Revenue Service. Historical Highlights of the IRS. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/historical-highlights-of-the-irs
- U.S. National Archives. IRS Form 1040 (1913). https://www.archives.gov/files/historical-docs/doc-content/images/irs-form-1040-1913.pdf
- National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Tax Complexity 2019: Modest Steps Toward Simplification. https://www.ntu.org/foundation/tax-page/tax-complexity-2019-modest-steps-toward-simplification
- National Taxpayers Union. All tax-complexity studies. https://www.ntu.org/foundation/tax-page/all-tax-complexity-studies
- Tax Foundation. America’s First Income Tax Form. https://taxfoundation.org/blog/americas-first-income-tax-form/
- Tax History Project (Tax Analysts). U.S. 1040 Tax Forms archive. https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-history-project/1040-archive
- Library of Congress. The First Form 1040 (In Custodia Legis). https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/04/the-first-form-1040/
- Thomson Reuters Tax. IRS releases draft of new simplified tax return for seniors: Form 1040-SR. https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/irs-releases-draft-of-new-simplified-tax-return-for-seniors-form-1040-sr/
- Wikipedia. Form 1040 (used as pointer to NTU compilation; figures cross-checked). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_1040
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