I have a question. Why is a tax return called a "return?" The tax return is the form you fill out when you report your income to the IRS and pay your taxes.

Question

I have a question.  Why is a tax return called a "return?I have a question. Why is a tax return called a "return? " The tax return is the form you fill out when you report your income to the IRS and pay your taxes. If you overpay, the check they send you is a refund. But every day I hear people calling the refund their "tax return, " and it's easy to understand how people could make that mistake, when they "return" your money to you. So why is the report to the IRS called a return?  

Answer 1

Haha in Finland, the "IRS" sends you a form that already has everything filled out (thanks to info sent by your employer). You just need to check it, add things your employer can't know, and then you *return* it to the "IRS - so in Finland it would make sense! Maybe it was like that before all these big tax return companies got the government to make it harder to do your own taxes?  

Comments

@capri yeah, just bringing up how the word "return" makes sense in the Finnish system. Tax report sounds better :)