Resources
Tax and crypto glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms that show up in IRS letters, crypto tax reports, offshore disclosures, and opinion letters, written by the attorneys and accountants who deal with them every day. Each term links to the guide or service page where we go deeper.
Browse by topic: All terms Business and Corporate (18) Crypto Tax (71) International Tax (24) IRS Forms (47) IRS Notices and Letters (10) Opinion Letters (4) Tax Controversy (68) Web3 Regulation (7)
Showing 47 terms in IRS Forms.
F
- Form 1040
- Form 1040 is the U.S. individual income tax return that every citizen and resident with a filing requirement submits each year to report income, deductions, credits, and tax owed or refunded.
- Form 1040-X
- Form 1040-X is the amended U.S. individual income tax return, used to correct a return that has already been filed, including adding unreported income or fixing crypto gains.
- Form 1065
- Form 1065 is the annual U.S. return of partnership income, filed by partnerships and multi-member LLCs taxed as partnerships, which report income at the entity level and pass it to partners on Schedule K-1.
- Form 1099-B
- Form 1099-B is the broker statement reporting proceeds from sales of stocks, bonds, and other securities, and until Form 1099-DA took over in 2025, some crypto exchanges used it to report digital asset sales.
- Form 1099-K
- Form 1099-K reports payments received through payment card processors and third-party networks such as PayPal, Venmo, and some crypto payment platforms, once the annual threshold is met.
- Form 1099-MISC
- Form 1099-MISC reports miscellaneous income such as rents, prizes, and certain other payments of 600 dollars or more, and some crypto exchanges use it to report staking, rewards, and referral income.
- Form 1099-NEC
- Form 1099-NEC reports nonemployee compensation of 600 dollars or more paid to independent contractors, and the income is subject to both income tax and self-employment tax.
- Form 1116
- Form 1116 is the foreign tax credit form, used to claim a dollar-for-dollar credit against U.S. tax for income taxes paid to a foreign country on the same income.
- Form 1120
- Form 1120 is the U.S. corporation income tax return filed by C corporations, and a pro forma version is required from foreign-owned single-member LLCs that must file Form 5472.
- Form 1120-S
- Form 1120-S is the S corporation's annual return, due March 15 for calendar-year companies, reporting income and passing it through to shareholders on Schedule K-1.
- Form 12153
- Form 12153 is the request for a Collection Due Process hearing, filed within 30 days of a final notice of intent to levy or a notice of federal tax lien filing to have Appeals review the collection action.
- Form 14457
- Form 14457 is the Voluntary Disclosure Practice preclearance and application form submitted to IRS Criminal Investigation by taxpayers with potential criminal exposure who want to come forward.
- Form 14653
- Form 14653 is the certification of non-willful conduct signed by U.S. persons residing outside the United States who submit under the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures.
- Form 14654
- Form 14654 is the certification of non-willful conduct for U.S. residents submitting under the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures, and it also computes the 5 percent miscellaneous offshore penalty.
- Form 2553 (S corporation election)
- Form 2553 elects S corporation status for a corporation or LLC, due within two months and 15 days of the start of the tax year it is to take effect, with late-election relief available if the requirements are met.
- Form 2555
- Form 2555 is the form used to claim the foreign earned income exclusion, which lets qualifying Americans living abroad exclude an inflation-adjusted amount of wages or self-employment income from U.S. tax.
- Form 2848
- Form 2848 is the power of attorney and declaration of representative that authorizes an attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent to represent you before the IRS and receive your confidential tax information.
- Form 4180
- Form 4180 is the IRS interview form used to determine whether an individual is a responsible person who willfully failed to pay over employment taxes, the two elements of the trust fund recovery penalty.
- Form 433-A and 433-A (OIC)
- Form 433-A is the collection information statement for individuals that discloses income, expenses, assets, and debts to the IRS; the OIC version is the required attachment to an Offer in Compromise.
- Form 433-B
- Form 433-B is the collection information statement for businesses, disclosing the entity's income, expenses, assets, and liabilities when a business owes taxes or applies for an Offer in Compromise.
- Form 433-F
- Form 433-F is the short collection information statement used by the IRS Automated Collection System to evaluate installment agreements and hardship status for individuals with simpler finances.
- Form 4868
- Form 4868 is the application for an automatic six-month extension of time to file an individual income tax return, moving the deadline from April 15 to October 15.
- Form 5471
- Form 5471 is the information return U.S. persons file to report ownership of, or certain transactions with, a foreign corporation, with different filing categories depending on ownership and control.
- Form 5472
- Form 5472 is the information return filed by 25 percent foreign-owned U.S. corporations, foreign corporations doing business in the United States, and foreign-owned single-member LLCs, reporting transactions with related parties.
- Form 656
- Form 656 is the Offer in Compromise application, submitted with a collection information statement and the application fee to propose settling a tax debt for less than the balance owed.
- Form 8300
- Form 8300 is the report a business must file within 15 days of receiving more than 10,000 dollars in cash in one transaction or related transactions, and a 2021 law extended it to digital assets pending IRS regulations.
- Form 843
- Form 843 is the claim for refund and request for abatement, used to ask the IRS to refund penalties or interest already paid or to abate certain penalties and additions to tax.
- Form 8621
- Form 8621 is the annual return for U.S. shareholders of a passive foreign investment company (PFIC), including most foreign mutual funds and ETFs, reporting distributions and elections.
- Form 8821
- Form 8821 is the tax information authorization that lets a designated person receive your IRS transcripts and notices without the authority to represent you.
- Form 8832 (entity classification election)
- Form 8832 lets an eligible entity, typically an LLC, choose how it is taxed: as a corporation, a partnership, or a disregarded entity. Without it, a single-member LLC is disregarded and a multi-member LLC is a partnership.
- Form 8833
- Form 8833 is the treaty-based return position disclosure, attached to a return when a taxpayer relies on a U.S. tax treaty to reduce or modify tax on an item of income.
- Form 8854
- Form 8854 is the initial and annual expatriation statement filed by anyone who renounces U.S. citizenship or terminates long-term residency, certifying five years of tax compliance and reporting net worth for the exit tax.
- Form 8857
- Form 8857 is the request for innocent spouse relief, filed by a taxpayer seeking to be relieved of tax, penalties, and interest on a joint return that are attributable to a spouse or former spouse.
- Form 8858
- Form 8858 is the information return for U.S. persons who own a foreign disregarded entity or operate a foreign branch, reporting the entity's activity and financials.
- Form 8865
- Form 8865 is the return U.S. persons file to report interests in certain foreign partnerships, with four filer categories based on control, ownership percentage, contributions, and acquisitions or dispositions.
- Form 926
- Form 926 is the return a U.S. person files to report a transfer of cash or property to a foreign corporation, required under IRC Section 6038B.
- Form 941
- Form 941 is the employer's quarterly federal tax return reporting wages paid, income tax withheld, and both shares of Social Security and Medicare tax.
- Form 9465
- Form 9465 is the installment agreement request, used to ask the IRS for a monthly payment plan on a tax balance when you cannot pay in full.
- Form W-2
- Form W-2 reports an employee's wages and the taxes withheld, including wages paid in cryptocurrency, which are reported at fair market value on the payment date.
- Form W-8BEN
- Form W-8BEN is the certificate a non-U.S. individual gives to a U.S. payer or broker to establish foreign status and claim reduced treaty withholding on U.S.-source income.
- Form W-9
- Form W-9 is the request for taxpayer identification number that businesses collect from U.S. contractors and payees before issuing 1099 forms, and that brokers and crypto exchanges collect before reporting on Form 1099-DA.
S
- Schedule 1
- Schedule 1 reports additional income (business income, rental income, unemployment, and other income such as staking rewards and airdrops) and adjustments to income, and its totals flow to Form 1040.
- Schedule B
- Schedule B reports interest and dividend income on Form 1040 and contains Part III, the questions asking whether you had a foreign financial account or received a distribution from a foreign trust.
- Schedule C
- Schedule C is the Form 1040 attachment on which sole proprietors and single-member LLC owners report business income and expenses, with the net profit subject to income and self-employment tax.
- Schedule D
- Schedule D is the Form 1040 attachment that summarizes capital gains and losses for the year, separating short-term from long-term and carrying the totals to the return.
- Schedule K-1
- Schedule K-1 is the statement a partnership, S corporation, or trust issues to each owner or beneficiary reporting their share of income, deductions, and credits for the year.
- Schedule SE
- Schedule SE computes self-employment tax (15.3 percent Social Security and Medicare) on net earnings from self-employment reported on Schedule C, and half of that tax is deducted on Form 1040.
