[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-303276-105":53,"doc-detail-303276-en":127},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":120,"head_meta":122,"extra_data":124,"updated_unix":126},105,"en","federal-and-state-tax-return-simplification-and-reform-for-seniors","Federal and State Tax Return Simplification and Reform for Seniors","","Federal and many state governments provide social security tax deductions for seniors, yet most seniors must still report and calculate income taxes when income exceeds the standard deduction. Senior income typically includes Social Security benefits and retirement-related assets such as 401K, IRA, annuities, and pensions. The paper proposes a linear tax rate and a simplified federal-state formula, and a reform to combine taxable incomes for qualified seniors with limited retirement-taxable income thresholds (adjustable with revenue changes), aiming to reduce compliance time and cost while supporting IRS goals for clearer, easier-to-follow senior tax rules.",{"@graph":63,"@context":119},[64,80,102],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":46,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/paper-templates/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/federal-and-state-tax-return-simplification-and-reform-for-seniors/303276/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/federal-and-state-tax-return-simplification-and-reform-for-seniors/303276.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Riley West","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-04","2026-09-19",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":101},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",6,{"@type":103,"mainEntity":104},"FAQPage",[105,111,115],{"name":106,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":108},"What problem does the paper address for senior taxpayers?","Question",{"text":109,"@type":110},"Senior taxpayers must still report and compute income taxes when their income is above the standard deduction, even though many rely on social security and retirement sources.","Answer",{"name":112,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":113},"How does the paper propose simplifying federal and state taxes?",{"text":114,"@type":110},"It proposes a linear tax rate and a simpler federal-state tax formula for social security and retirement taxes, reducing reliance on complex calculations.",{"name":116,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":117},"What reform is proposed for qualified seniors’ taxable income?",{"text":118,"@type":110},"The paper proposes combining taxable incomes for qualified seniors meeting retirement taxable-income thresholds, with eligibility limits adjustable based on post-reform tax revenue changes, while targeting lower processing burden and costs.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":121,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":123,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":125,"site_id":56},303276,1790379362,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":128},{"doc_id":125,"user_id":129,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":130,"doc_module":9,"category_id":45,"category_name":46,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":131,"file_id":132,"file_url":133,"file_type":134,"file_size":135,"view_count":101,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":136,"language":137,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":138,"faqs":139,"seo_title":140,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":141,"read_time":76},1099523885074,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Federal and State Tax Return Simplification and Reform for Seniors  \nRobert Kao1and John Lee2  \nKeywords: Senior Tax Return, Tax Simplification, Federal Tax Return, State Tax Return  \nAbstract  \nFederal and many state governments provide social security tax deductions for seniors, but tax systems still require all seniors whose incomes are more than standard deduction to report and calculate their income taxes. Normally, senior income sources are from social security benefits, 401K retirement funds, IRA, annuities, pensions, and others. This paper provides a linear tax rate and tax formula to simplify federal and state social security and retirement taxes compared with the existing complicated tax calculation systems. This research also provides a reform proposal to combine all taxable incomes for qualified seniors, who have certain retirement taxable incomes, such as less than $25,000 for Single Filers or $50,000 for Married Filing Jointly, and have no federal or state tax responsibilities. These numbers can be adjusted according to the tax revenue change after the tax reform. The benefits would include tax processing time and cost reductions for those qualified seniors and governments. It will comply with the IRS’ goal of making tax laws easier for senior citizens to understand and comply. In other words, the proposed method could achieve tax efficiency and optimal senior personal income taxation for federal and state governments.  \nJEL codes: G18, H21, H24, H71, C02  \nIntroduction and Literature Review  \nBased on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Public Law No: 115-123, H.R.1892), IRS has created a new Form 1040-SR for the taxpayers who are 65 or older. This new form is a variation of the standard Form 1040 for [the U.S. tax](the U.S. tax) return for seniors. It was revised and simplified from the original Form 1040 for the eligible taxpayers and they have an option of filing either form. The new form is almost identical to the Form 1040 except that it has a larger print and also provides users for more prominence to some specific tax benefits (IRS, 2020) .  \nThe new form has a higher standard deduction to seniors who do not itemize the tax report. It incorporates a chart detailing the amount of the additional standard deduction for taxpayers who are eligible in this category. The new Form 1040-SR allows income from certain other sources than the old Form 1040-EZ that only allowed the reporting of their incomes from wages, salaries, and tips.  \nThe Form 1040-SR has an additional standard deduction for seniors to have another incentive to avoid itemizing deduction. It allows the eligible taxpayers to report Social Security benefits and distributions from qualified retirement plans, annuities, or similar deferred-payment arrangements. It allows to include unlimited interest and dividends and capital gains and losses.  \nGale and Pechman (2001) from Brookings Institution has provided a testimony and presented in the Congress about the tax code simplification discussions and collaborative research. Tax simplification is supported by an understanding of the causes of complexity and the likely outcome of simplification efforts. They included numerous benefits for the simpler taxes. It would reduce taxpayers’ costs of complying with the tax system in terms of time, money, and mental anguish. Also, it would likely raise the use of tax subsidies-say, for education-reduce unintentional tax evasion, and increase the likelihood that taxpayers would see the tax system as fair.  \n1 School of Business, Park University, Parkville, MO  \n2 Rigel Technology Corporation, Olathe, KS  \nMany other studies have been devoted to personal taxation simplifications. Diamond and Saez (2011) suggested considering the optimal progressivity of earnings taxation and considered whether capital income should be taxed. Freebairn (2012) suggested several personal income taxation reform options and proposed the removal of tax expenditures for some forms of labor","cbCaiq9LTVptZQPt","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiq9LTVptZQPt","pdf",247172,9,"English","# Introduction and Literature Review\n## New Form 1040-SR and standard deduction changes\n## Tax simplification benefits discussed in prior research\n## Reform proposals and policy context","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the paper address for senior taxpayers?\",\"answer\":\"Senior taxpayers must still report and compute income taxes when their income is above the standard deduction, even though many rely on social security and retirement sources.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper propose simplifying federal and state taxes?\",\"answer\":\"It proposes a linear tax rate and a simpler federal-state tax formula for social security and retirement taxes, reducing reliance on complex calculations.\"},{\"question\":\"What reform is proposed for qualified seniors’ taxable income?\",\"answer\":\"The paper proposes combining taxable incomes for qualified seniors meeting retirement taxable-income thresholds, with eligibility limits adjustable based on post-reform tax revenue changes, while targeting lower processing burden and costs.\"}]","Federal and State Tax Return Simplification and Reform for Seniors | PDF",1789801466]