Preparing your own taxes is not as daunting a task as many of you might perceive it to be. As a matter of fact, if you decided to do your own taxes, you could probably end up saving thousands of dollars in the process. Most individuals earning income in the U.S. must file a tax return. This is the law. Most individuals file a tax return using Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. At first glance, the Form 1040 will typically be perceived to be a very complex government form, which can only be completed by trained tax professionals. This is a great misconception, although your tax professional might want you to think this way. That is true only to a small extent, because in actual fact, if you were to take some time to peruse this form in detail, you would probably discover that more than 90% of what's on the form will be totally irrelevant to you. Typically, after identifying the lines that are relevant to you, you will be pleasantly surprised to discover just how easy it is to do your own taxes.