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Every form, schedule, and term you’ll run into studying for the Intuit Academy Tax Level 1 exam, organized by topic. Bookmark this page — it’s meant to be a quick reference while you study, not something you read start to finish.

Filing Basics & Dependents

Form 1040

The main individual income tax return. Every other form and schedule on this list ultimately feeds a number back into Form 1040.

Filing Status

The category that determines your standard deduction and tax brackets: Single, Married Filing Jointly (MFJ), Married Filing Separately (MFS), Head of Household (HOH), or Qualifying Surviving Spouse.

Head of Household (HOH)

A filing status for unmarried taxpayers who paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for a qualifying person — generally gives a bigger standard deduction and better brackets than Single.

Dependent

A qualifying child or qualifying relative you can claim on your return, which can unlock credits like the Child Tax Credit or Credit for Other Dependents.

Qualifying Child

A dependent who meets relationship, age, residency, and support tests — the most common category of dependent.

Qualifying Relative

A dependent who doesn’t meet the Qualifying Child rules but meets a separate set of relationship/income/support tests.

Income

Form W-2

Wage and Tax Statement — issued by an employer, reports wages paid and taxes withheld for an employee.

Form 1099

A family of forms reporting income other than wages (1099-NEC for contract work, 1099-INT for interest, 1099-DIV for dividends, 1099-R for retirement distributions, and others).

Schedule 1

Reports additional income (like unemployment or gambling winnings) and adjustments to income that don’t have their own line on Form 1040.

Schedule B

Reports interest and ordinary dividend income when it’s above the IRS threshold requiring the detail.

Schedule C

Profit or Loss From Business — used by sole proprietors and self-employed taxpayers to report business income and expenses.

Earned Income

Money earned from working — wages, salaries, tips, and net self-employment income. Distinct from unearned income like interest or dividends.

Adjustments to Income

Adjustments to Income

Specific expenses (student loan interest, educator expenses, traditional IRA contributions, self-employment tax deduction, etc.) subtracted from total income to arrive at AGI — claimed whether or not you itemize.

Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)

Total income minus adjustments. One of the most important numbers on the return — it’s the gatekeeper for many credits and deduction limits.

Deductions

Standard Deduction

A flat-dollar deduction available to every taxpayer based on filing status, with no receipts or records required.

Itemized Deductions

Specific deductible expenses (mortgage interest, state and local taxes, charitable gifts, medical expenses above a threshold) claimed instead of the standard deduction when they add up to more.

Schedule A

The form used to itemize deductions instead of taking the standard deduction.

Taxable Income

AGI minus the standard deduction or itemized deductions — the number actually run through the tax brackets.

Retirement Accounts & Distributions

Traditional IRA

A retirement account funded with pre-tax (often deductible) contributions; withdrawals in retirement are taxed as ordinary income.

Roth IRA

A retirement account funded with after-tax contributions; qualified withdrawals in retirement are tax-free.

401(k)

An employer-sponsored retirement plan, typically funded with pre-tax payroll contributions (with a Roth 401(k) option at some employers).

Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)

The minimum amount that must be withdrawn each year from most retirement accounts once the account owner reaches the IRS-mandated age.

Early Withdrawal Penalty

An additional tax (on top of regular income tax) applied to most retirement account withdrawals taken before the age the IRS allows penalty-free access, unless an exception applies.

Form 1099-R

Reports distributions from pensions, annuities, IRAs, and other retirement plans.

Health Savings Accounts

Health Savings Account (HSA)

A tax-advantaged account for medical expenses, available to people with a qualifying high-deductible health plan — contributions are deductible, growth is tax-free, and qualified withdrawals are tax-free.

Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

An employer-sponsored account for medical (or dependent care) expenses funded with pre-tax payroll deductions — unlike an HSA, funds are generally “use it or lose it” each plan year.

Form 8889

Reports HSA contributions and distributions.

Tax Credits & Calculations

Tax Credit

A dollar-for-dollar reduction of tax owed — more valuable than a deduction of the same size, which only reduces taxable income.

Nonrefundable Credit

A credit that can reduce your tax bill to zero but won’t generate a refund beyond that.

Refundable Credit

A credit that can reduce your tax bill below zero, with the excess paid out as a refund.

Child Tax Credit (CTC)

A credit for each qualifying child dependent, partially refundable.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

A refundable credit for low-to-moderate income working taxpayers, with the amount based on income and number of qualifying children.

Schedule 2

Reports additional taxes owed, like the alternative minimum tax or excess advance premium tax credit repayment.

Schedule 3

Reports additional nonrefundable and refundable credits that don’t have their own line on Form 1040.

Withholding

Tax an employer takes out of each paycheck and sends to the IRS on your behalf, shown in Box 2 of your W-2.

Estimated Tax Payments

Quarterly payments made directly to the IRS by people whose income isn’t covered by withholding (like the self-employed).

Residency & Multi-State Filing

Resident

Generally, someone domiciled in a state or who meets that state’s day-count test — taxed by that state on all income, regardless of where it was earned.

Nonresident

Someone who isn’t a resident of a state but earned income there — typically taxed only on income sourced to that state.

Part-Year Resident

Someone who lived in a state for only part of the tax year — files as a resident for that portion and a nonresident for the rest.

Reciprocity Agreement

An agreement between two states letting residents of one state who work in the other pay income tax only to their home state.