2025 Form 1040, Line 1
Line 1 Wages: Your W-2 Box 1 Total
2025 Form 1040, Line 1 — add every W-2 Box 1 (wages, salaries, tips). That is your wage base under IRC §61(a)(1): compensation for services, counted before Lines 2–8 add the rest of your income.
Box 1, not Box 5
Line 1 takes Box 1 federal wages only. Box 5 Medicare wages is usually higher — 401(k) deferrals, HSA salary reductions, and pre-tax health premiums escape income tax but not Medicare tax. Mixing the boxes overstates your income.
Everything that lands here
All employers' W-2s, allocated tips in Box 8, plus household-employee wages and other tip income that flow in through Schedule 1. If you had a job, your return starts here — this is the floor every later line builds on.
From the practice: Wages vs. income vs. compensation — the vocabulary, decoded →
Questions, answered
- Which W-2 box goes on Line 1?
- Box 1 — federal wages. Not Box 5 (Medicare wages), which is usually higher because it includes 401(k) deferrals and other items excluded from income tax.
- Multiple jobs — how do I add them?
- Add Box 1 from every W-2 you received, all employers, plus allocated tips and household wages that flow through Schedule 1.
- Why doesn't Line 1 match my salary?
- Pre-tax 401(k), HSA, and health premiums leave Box 1 but stay in Box 5. Bonuses and taxable fringes push it the other way.
Keep reading: Total Income (Line 9) · AGI (Line 11) · Taxable Income (Line 15)