Teaching Teens How to File a 1040 Tax Return

Filing income taxes can be intimidating! And teaching students how to file a federal 1040 tax form can be a bit tedious. There are so many lines on the form, most irrelevant to younger folks, that it can become overwhelming. This is why I update this 1040 cheat sheet every year.

At the end of one school year when I had asked my consumer math students what they wished I had taught them more about, many answered, "Taxes." So even though they complained through our tax unit (who can blame them?), I learned that my students found the information valuable. 

Every year I update this Tax Task Cards Activity for the current tax season so that students can learn how to file a federal tax return. This is the 9th year I've updated the activity, and I will continue to update it every year. If you already own the activity, updates will always be free. You just have to re-download the file after it is updated. I update it every year.

In the activity, students walk through 20 task cards guiding them through completing a federal income tax Form 1040 and Schedule 1. They are given a W-2 for a fictional "William A. Pay" who works as a teacher in Boston and who paid some student loan interest last year. William had also been unemployed for part of the year, taking his unemployment compensation untaxed. Will this lead to him owing the IRS? 

Tax task cards activity

Included in the activity:

- 20 task cards, 

- blank checks, 

- a W-2, 

- a student answer sheet, 

- completed 1040 and Schedule 1, 

- answer key for the student answer sheet.

The final product of this activity is a completed federal tax Form 1040, Schedule 1 and an answer sheet. 

1040 changes this year (April 2023 tax season): 

There were only minor line changes to this year's 1040. The standard deduction for a single person increased from $12,550 to $12,950. Virtual currency is mentioned again this year. Here is a FREE cheat sheet for filing income tax returns. It is set up for working teens, but can be used for any simple federal tax return:

Free 1040 cheat sheet

I loved teaching consumer math to my high school seniors because it empowered them them to be in charge of their finances. I compiled this Consumer Math Activities Bundle with activities for teaching percents, taxes, budgets and paychecks, simple and compound interest, the stock marker and wants vs. needs. 

Consumer math activities bundle

I'm pretty passionate (read: borderline obsessed) with teaching teens financial literacy before they leave high school. I recently compiled a Consumer math curriculum that covers a lot of the topics we all wish we were taught before graduation.

Consumer math curriculum

Links:

1040 Cheat Sheet (free)

1040 Video Tutorial

Browse all financial literacy activities.

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