An individual tax return is an official form that a person or a married couple submits to a federal, state, or local taxing agency to report all taxable income received during a specific period, usually the previous year. This record is used to assess the amount of tax that is due or was overpaid for that period.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the federal taxing authority in the U.S. The United States has a voluntary reporting system that permits either electronic or hard-copy filing of individual tax returns.

All countries have agencies that oversee national tax collection. Some tax agencies provide individual taxpayers with pre-filled individual tax returns, while others require the taxpayer to fill out and file the returns on their own.