Form 1040 changes for tax year 2025

The IRS redesigned parts of page 1. There is a new checkbox for clients whose main home, and their spouse’s on a joint return, was in the US for more than half of 2025. The Dependents section now has numbered rows and asks for more information about each dependent, and many items that used to be written in by hand now have their own checkbox or entry space, including a Deceased box with the date of death.

On page 2, line 12e uses the higher standard deduction set by the new law. Line 13a stays the QBI deduction and the new line 13b brings in the total from Schedule 1-A, line 38, where the tips, overtime, car loan interest and senior deductions are worked out.

• Line 12e: $15,750 single or married filing separately, $31,500 joint, $23,625 head of household.
• Line 13b: additional deductions from Schedule 1-A, available whether or not the client itemizes.
• Line 19: child tax credit of up to $2,200 per child, with up to $1,700 refundable as the ACTC on line 28.
• Line 30: up to $5,000 of the adoption credit can be refundable, worked out for each child on Form 8839.

Brokers may, but do not have to, report basis on the new Form 1099-DA for 2025, and the digital asset question on page 1 must be answered whether or not a 1099-DA arrived. Contributions to governmental paid family leave programs are now included in income, and itemizers can count them as state and local taxes on Schedule A.

The instructions also flag the higher catch-up limit for ages 60 to 63 ($11,250, or $5,250 for 401(k)(11) and SIMPLE plans), the Form 1099-K threshold of over $20,000 and over 200 transactions, and Form 4547 for Trump account elections, which can be filed with the 2025 return.

The redesigned page 1 means your organizer needs a few more answers than last year.

• Where the client (and spouse) lived for most of 2025, for the new main home box.
• Full details for each dependent, since the new rows ask for more than name, SSN and relationship.
• Any Form 1099-DA, plus the client’s own basis records, because 2025 basis reporting is optional for brokers.
• Pay stubs or employer statements for tips and overtime, and the VIN and loan statement for a new car loan.
• Birth dates and SSNs for children born in 2025, if the parents want to file Form 4547.

For self-employed clients, the figures behind Schedules C, E and SE should come from a closed ledger, not from a shoebox in March. In HelloBooks, bank feeds and AI categorisation keep the year’s transactions sorted with a review queue for anything uncertain, and the client queries tool lets you ask for a missing document on the return itself, with automatic reminders until the client answers.