What Is A Tax Return?

A tax return is basically a report recorded with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) or with another tax collection organisation, such as California Franchise Tax Board. This report is generally comprised of information which is made use of to compute income tax or other types of taxes. Tax returns are usually made by making use of forms provided by the Internal Revenue Service or any other appropriate taxing agency.

As per the Internal Revenue Code, returns can be categorised as tax returns or alternatively as information returns, even though the term tax returns is used to refer to both types of returns in a broad context.

However, in a narrower context, tax returns are basically reports of tax liabilities as well as payments, comprising of financial data used to calculate the tax.