As part of the pre-approval (or approval) process, your mortgage lender will probably ask to see the last two years of federal income tax returns. Make sure you include all pages of your returns and any associated schedules. Here's a little more detail about the specific forms you will encounter.
If you don't have any income other than W-2 (wage earner) income or any adjustments (like a deduction for dependents or student loan interest), you may file a Form 1040EZ. It is only one page. And it's not terribly common.
Most tax payers will file Form 1040. This form is two pages. It is a summary of your income, adjustments, and credits.
It's likely that you will also have a number of schedules attached to your tax return. Use Form 1040 as a guide. In the above example, Henrietta and Hillary probably file a Schedule B, Schedule C, and Schedule E since there is income listed in each of those categories. Common forms and schedules include:
Pay close attention if you have page 2 of a Schedule E. This is your indication that you might need to keep digging. If you have ownership interest in a partnership or S Corp, it will be listed here. In the example below, Henrietta and Hillary will need to provide K-1s for Acme Books, Acme Corporation, and Oklahoma Oil LP.
If the K-1s indicate that either Henrietta or Hillary own more than 25% of the business, they will also need to provide business tax returns. If they own less than 25% of the business, the K-1s are sufficient. In the example below, Oklahoma Oil is just an investment for Henrietta. She only needs to provide the K-1s.
If you are self-employed (you own 25% or more of any business) and you file separate returns for your business, you will also need two years of business tax returns. You will have Form 1065 if your business is a partnership, Form 1120 for a corporation, or Form 1120S if you own an S Corporation.
Form 1065 is five pages long. It will come with a Schedule K-1 for each partner.
Form 1120S is also five pages long and will come with a Schedule K-1 for each shareholder.
Form 1120 is very similar to 1120S. It is also five pages long. It may come with Form 1125-E for compensation of officers.
In addition to the actual tax returns, your lender will want to see W-2s and/or 1099s for all sources of income. You will have used these documents to prepare your tax returns (or you would have provided them to your CPA). But you don't actually send them to the IRS. They may be stored separately from your actual tax forms (or your CPA might not have returned them). Don't assume they are in the same folder!
If in doubt, bring the whole folder! Your loan officer can pick out the specific documents she needs.
If your CPA files your taxes, ask him or her to email the tax returns directly to your loan officer.
If you use TurboTax, log onto their web site (good luck remembering your user name and password), select My TurboTax, then My Docs. Save the tax returns as a pdf document.
If all else fails, you can get tax transcripts directly from the IRS. Sometimes you can get them online. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for them to arrive via snail mail. Plan ahead! If you have to call them you'll spend at least 30 minutes on the phone. Fun times!
You will need two things from the IRS: Tax Return Transcripts for the previous two years (the actual returns) and Wage and Income Transcripts for the previous two years (W-2s and 1099s).
