I have always struggled with teaching my students how to file their taxes. I started exploring what I thought would best serve my student population and found the NGPF activity Calculate: Completing a 1040. Here's how I adapt it for my class.

In this activity, students practice filing a 1040 for various individual scenarios to determine if each person gets a refund or owes taxes.  

Materials Needed

I have my students complete this activity on paper, as I really want them to see how the numbers from the W2 fit into the actual tax form. 

I give my students the following: 

1) NGPF Completing a 1040 form

2) The current year’s 1040 tax form from the IRS website (1 per scenario)

3) Printed and stapled W2’s for each scenario (linked in the NGPF activity under the person's name, Edgar, Melinda, etc)

Getting Started 

I pass out all of the papers to my students and have them take a deep breath! I remind them that they can do this, and we are going to walk through it together. I briefly go through what each paper is and explain how they will be used.  

The first scenario we do completely together.

I have the “answer key” or completed 1040 form (from the NGPF website) up on my TV so all students can see it.

We walk through the form line-by-line and reference page 2 of the “Completing a 1040 form,” which I tell them is their cheat sheet. This helps them fill in the boxes they may not know the information for. 

Next Steps

For the second scenario I will have them work with a partner to complete.

The third scenario students complete on their own. If you have students that need to do the third one with a partner, that’s fine!

The fourth scenario I include as part of their unit test. Surprise!

I do not have students complete the audit to save time.

*Note: to find their tax owed for line 16, I pull up this chart on my TV (skip to pg. 64) and show them how to find their taxable income. I do NOT print it out, as it’s 113 pages!

How I Grade

I have students staple all of their 1040 forms together and put their name on the top page. They turn this in and I grade them to check for understanding. Students get points for completion.

My ProTip 

I always walk through this lesson from beginning to end before I teach it to my students. This helps me to anticipate questions and gives me confidence for the lesson!

About the Author

Laura Falk

Laura is an NGPF Ambassador and a personal finance educator at Fairbanks High School in Milford Center, Ohio. She has 20 years of teaching experience and loves to share how she implements NGPF curriculum into her classroom.