What is the meaning of "2015 estimated tax payments and amount applied from 2014 return" on line 65 of Form 1040?

Question

On Form 1040, line 65 says:

2015 estimated tax payments and amount applied from 2014 return

What does this mean? The instructions are extremely unhelpful.

Answer 1

The Form 1040 instructions have this to say about line 65:

2015 Estimated Tax Payments

Enter any estimated federal income tax payments you made for 2015. Include any overpayment that you applied to your 2015 estimated tax from:

• Your 2014 return, or
• An amended return (Form 1040X).

This is in the payments section of the tax return, where you report any payments that you have already made toward your 2015 taxes. There are several different ways that you might have already paid taxes, and these are spelled out in lines 64-73.

Some taxpayers are required to send in tax payments during the year to the IRS. Most taxpayers have taxes deducted from their paychecks automatically and don't need to do this, but if you sent money in to the IRS during the year for tax year 2015, line 65 is where you would report this. In addition to sending money in, if you had a refund due in 2014 and elected to have the IRS keep some of the refund and apply it to your 2015 taxes, you would also report this on line 65.

If none of these situations applies to you, leave line 65 blank or fill in "0".