I have a tax literal that should be written at the top of the 1040, but it's overlapping with the title of the form, is there a way to fix this?
In 2018, the IRS developed a new Form 1040. As a result of this new design, the margins at the top of the page that had been there are no longer present. The literals that would normally be written in the margins no longer have the extra space to be printed and as a result they will overlap with the text at the top of the page. As various instructions dictate that certain literals must be written at the top of the Form 1040, these literals will continue to print at the top overlapping the pre-existing text on the form.
The information displayed by a literal is still transmitted in an e-filed return to the IRS, so the overlap is simply displayed when viewing the return. When printing the return for paper-file, the overlap will be present as well on the printed copy. The IRS will be able to process returns with this printing format.
In summary, this overlap is due to instructional requirements as well as the restrictions of the form design, and there is not a way to change the positioning of the text in the software.
Note: The IRS adjusted the 1040 form in 2019, which eliminates this issue for the 2019 tax year.
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