OK-2006-04, March 3, 2006 Oklahoma City – In order to make it easier for Oklahomans to report the “Oklahoma Taxpayer Relief” rebate check amounts on their 2005 federal income tax returns, the Internal Revenue Service has adjusted its tax return procedures to allow the rebate to be reported on the short-form federal tax returns. For federal income tax purposes, the rebate has previously been determined to be taxable to each recipient. Taxpayers who would normally use a short-form IRS Form 1040EZ or Form 1040A may now report the rebate on either of these forms, rather than having to use the long-form IRS Form 1040 solely because of the rebate. “Although this procedural change comes after many have already filed their tax returns, about 60 percent of taxpayers still have yet to file,” says IRS spokesman David Stell. “We wanted to do what we could, as soon as it was possible, to make the process easier for those still working on their taxes.” Under these special procedures, short-form filers should report the rebate payments on the line normally designated for reporting unemployment compensation. For Form 1040EZ filers, this is line 3. For Form 1040A filers, this is line 13. No special identification or notation needs to be written on either form. Taxpayers who also received unemployment compensation during 2005 should add the amount of the rebate to the amount of unemployment compensation received, and then enter the combined amount on the appropriate line of whichever short form is used. Taxpayers who must file using IRS Form 1040 for other reasons should report the amount of the rebate received as “other income” on line 21. Taxpayers who would otherwise have filed a short-form 1040EZ or 1040A but instead have already filed the long-form 1040 to report the rebate on line 21 should not re-file on a short form. These instructions apply to rebate payments only and do not affect how other income is reported. Last year, about 14 percent of all federal individual income tax returns were filed using a traditional, paper Form 1040EZ or Form 1040A.
