Tips for Printing Tax Forms

How to print the federal tax forms?

All federal tax forms in PDF format whether obtained from our site or any other are meant to be printed from Adobe Acrobat Reader. They should not be printed from your browser (Chrome, Edge, Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari). Most browsers will try to open the PDF files for you. You should disable that feature while preparing your federal tax forms. You can enable it again when you are finished printing.

Tips for printing federal income tax forms:

• Download the PDF file to your desktop or a folder, then, open with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Printer page sizing should say Actual Size and not Fit, Shrink, or Scale.
• US Letter size 8.5 x 11.0 inches is preferred, though, A4 paper size is certainly understandable if you are overseas.
• Deselect any Save Ink or Save Toner printer settings if the words and form lines are not crisp.
• Try printing in black and white mode if grayscale seems too light.

Revisit our site and download the federal tax forms using Internet Explorer if you are failing with Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Safari for example. If you insist on using Chrome, then, change your browser settings to enable Download PDF files instead of automatically opening them in Chrome.

Please realize that we retrieve the tax forms direct from the publisher, our federal government. If they don't look, print, or work right, your browser or printer is probably the culprit. They are official IRS income tax forms. We do not alter the PDF files in any way.

Where are the printable federal tax forms?

If you are browsing our website on a desktop or laptop computer, you should see a sidebar navigation area off to the right. Mobile phone and narrow width tablet readers may find the sidebar navigation has been pushed to the bottom of each page.

The sidebar navigation changes depending upon where you are on our website. The sidebar navigation for the federal tax forms part of our website has three sections:

1. Income Tax Preparation
2. Commonly Filed Federal Tax Forms
3. Discontinued Tax Forms

Filers looking to download and print a handful of forms should find it convenient to use the commonly filed sidebar navigation section. Click on the Schedule A, Schedule B, or Schedule C links for example. Then scroll down that page and find the form and instructions download links for the most recent three years.

Prior year federal income tax forms are provided to help those who did not file last year or the year before last. You can still file and claim a refund for up to three years after the missed federal income tax due date. If you owe back taxes, read the current Form 1040 instructions for more information about late filing penalties and fees.

Can I use 2023 instructions to file 2024 forms?

No, the results will not be correct. Please ensure that both your tax forms and instructions booklet display the same calendar year for which you are filing. If you are filing your taxes before the April 15, 2025 due date, for example, you most likely want the 2024 tax forms and instructions. The IRS will publish most of their forms and instructions by the end of January. Forms are normally published before the instructions in the order in which they are completed. Sometimes we just have to wait.

Last updated: November 6, 2024

Federal Tax Forms