Tax documents are written for computers and lawyers. You are neither.

AnyTaxDoc translates any common tax form or IRS letter into plain English — what it is, what each box means, and what to do next. Free, in about 60 seconds, no account.

Box 1 · Your document

Drop any tax document here.

Drag a photo or PDF — or pick an example to see a decode:

Live decoding is in early access. Meanwhile, here's exactly what a decode looks like — pick a sample below. ↓

No account. Documents are never sold, shared, or used to upsell you.

Just opened a letter from the IRS? Take a breath. Then take a photo of it. You'll know what it means, how serious it is, and how much time you have.

Sample decode

The document's words, next to yours.

Left column: what the document says. Right column: what it means. Run your eye down it like a ledger.

Form W-2 · Wage & Tax Statement, from your employer

Severity: none — routine No response needed

The form saysIn plain English

Box 1Wages, tips, other compensation$54,320.00

Your taxable pay for federal income tax. Often lower than your salary — pre-tax money like your 401(k) comes out first. That's normal, not an error.

Box 2Federal income tax withheld$4,918.00

Tax you already paid, straight from each paycheck. Your refund — or balance due — is simply your real tax for the year minus this number.

Box 12 · Code DElective deferrals — 401(k)$3,600.00

What you put into your 401(k). It already lowered Box 1, so there's no extra deduction to hunt for — the saving is baked in.

Box 17State income tax$2,141.00

Same idea as Box 2, but for your state return.

What to do with it

→Keep it. Copy the numbers into your return, or let your software import it.
→Your employer already sent a copy to the government — the IRS knows these numbers, so accuracy matters more than speed.
→Nothing to mail, nobody to call, no deadline attached to the form itself.

Form 1099-K · Payment Card & Third-Party Network Transactions

Severity: low — informational Report with your return

The form saysIn plain English

FilerPayment platform or marketplace(top-left box)

The app or marketplace that processed your payments. They sent this exact copy to the IRS too — that's the whole reason the form exists.

Box 1aGross amount of payment transactions$8,214.55

Everything that moved through the platform — before refunds, fees, and the cost of what you sold. It is not your profit, and you do not owe tax on this whole number.

Box 4Federal income tax withheld$0.00

Usually zero. If there's a number here, the platform already sent tax to the IRS for you — it counts as tax you've paid.

What to do with it

→Report the income — then subtract your costs, fees, and refunds so you're taxed on profit, not volume.
→Sold personal things at a loss (an old couch, used games)? There's a standard way to show that so it isn't taxed.
→Don't ignore it. The IRS matches this form against your return — mismatches are how CP2000 notices start.

Schedule K-1 · Your share of a partnership or S-corp

Severity: none — routine Often arrives late

The form saysIn plain English

Part III · Box 1Ordinary business income (loss)$6,480.00

Your slice of the business's profit. You owe tax on it even if the business never sent you the cash — the most surprising fact on the whole form.

Part II · Item LPartner's capital account analysis

A running tally of your stake: what you put in, your share of profits so far, and what you've taken out.

Box 19Distributions$2,000.00

Cash the business actually paid you. Mostly not taxed again — the profit in Box 1 already was.

What to do with it

→Hand it to your preparer, or enter it in the K-1 section of your tax software — box by box.
→K-1s famously arrive late, sometimes not until September. If yours hasn't come, file an extension instead of guessing.
→Keep every K-1 you've ever received — the running history matters when you eventually sell your stake.

IRS Notice CP2000 · Proposed changes to your return

Severity: moderate — respond, don't panic Deadline: 30 days from the notice date

The letter saysIn plain English

HeaderNotice CP2000 — Proposed amount due

This is a proposal — not a bill, and not an audit. Something reported to the IRS (a W-2 or 1099) doesn't match your return, and they're showing you their math.

SummaryProposed amount due$1,847.00

What you'd owe if their numbers are right. They're often right — but not always. You can agree, or show them why they're wrong. Both are normal.

Response date"…respond by the date shown"

Your real deadline — respond by it, even if your response is "I disagree." As long as you reply on time, nothing bad happens while they review it.

Response formAgree · Partially agree · Disagree

Your three options, right on the attached form: agree and arrange payment, agree with part of it, or disagree and attach your proof.

If ignored—

The proposal hardens into a real assessment, with penalties and interest still running. Ignoring it is the only truly bad option.

What to do with it

→Pull your tax documents for that year and find the mismatch — usually one form you forgot or a number entered wrong.
→Respond by the date on the notice, using the response form that came with it.
→If you agree but can't pay it all at once, the IRS has payment plans — you can set one up without hiring anyone.

Need to respond in writing? That's exactly what the Response Kit walks you through — deadline tracker, document checklist, payment-plan calculator, letter templates. $29, once.

A W-2 has 20 boxes, and most people understand four of them. A 1099-K arrives and looks like an accusation. A K-1 might as well be in Latin. And an IRS notice compresses a deadline, a threat, and your actual options into language written for liability, not clarity.

None of this is your fault — these documents were never written for the people who receive them. AnyTaxDoc is the translation layer: drop one in and get back what it means, why you got it, which numbers matter, and what — if anything — to do about it.

How it works

Step 1

Drop it in

A photo, a PDF, or just the form's name — "1099-K" is enough to start.

Step 2

Read it in plain English

A clear summary of what the document is and why you got it, plus a box-by-box table of what actually matters.

Step 3

Know your next step

Sometimes it's "file this away." Sometimes it's "respond by August 14." Either way you'll know — and the deadline is tracked.

The honest part

What we are. What we're not.

You're reading a tax website at a stressful moment. You deserve the whole picture up front.

Full disclosure

What we are

✓A free translator for common tax forms and IRS letters.
✓Built from the IRS's own publications and instructions — we translate them, we don't reinvent them.
✓Blunt about the rare situations that genuinely need a licensed professional. When yours is one, we'll say so plainly.

What we're not

✕Not a law firm, a tax preparer, or a tax-resolution company.
✕We never file anything, never contact the IRS for you, and never give individualized tax advice.
✕We never sell your information — not to advisors, not to marketers, not to anyone.

How we make money (since you're wondering)

The decoder is free, forever. If your IRS notice requires a written response, we offer an optional Response Kit — a deadline tracker, document checklist, payment-plan calculator, and letter templates you adapt yourself — for $29, once. That's the entire business model. No subscription, no phone calls, no upsells.

Responding to an IRS notice?

The Response Kit turns "I have to write back to the IRS" into a checklist: what to gather, what to say, and when it's due. You stay in control the whole way.

Build your Response Kit · $29

That document isn't going to explain itself.

Sixty seconds from now, you'll know what it means.

Decode a document — free