As taxpayers become more computer-savvy, the Internal Revenue Service keeps up by providing more electronic options for filing income taxes. The IRS e-file has provided taxpayers with secure tax return transmittal for over 20 years, enabling the transmittal of about 1 billion 1040 forms, according to the IRS. Even if you’ve never filed before, you can sign an e-file and send your income tax return to the IRS electronically. Because the IRS uses a five-digit PIN to identify taxpayers from previous years, you won’t have this number. That’s O.K. though. The IRS has a plan for this situation.
Step 1
Use a service such as “Free File” through the IRS or TurboTax or TaxACT to complete your income tax return electronically.
Step 2
Find the “prior year AGI” line of the income tax form. This will be line 37 of Form 1040, line 21 of Form 1040A or line 4 of Form 1040EZ. Place a “0” on this line to indicate that you did not earn income in the previous tax year that required income tax filing.
Step 3
Leave the Prior Year PIN/Electronic Filing PIN field blank at the end of the form. Because you entered “0” in the AGI field, you will not need a PIN.
Step 4
Complete the form and submit it according to the specific requirements for the service or software you are using. Because you entered a “0” in the AGI field and left the PIN field blank, your form should submit without issue.
