When Should You Amend Your Tax Return?
A few years ago, after preparing my taxes, I realized I left off some income I earned that year. As a sole proprietor of a personal finance blog, I would receive several 1099-MISC forms each year from various vendors. A 1099-MISC is to freelancers what a W-2 is to a full time employee( a statement of income that is sent to you and filed with the IRS). I knew that since I left it off, it would only be a matter of time before the IRS checked the numbers and saw a mismatch. The solution? File an amended return.
It’s not that uncommon to forget something on your taxes considering how complicated they can be. Perhaps you didn’t record all of your deductions and credits or you entered the wrong filing status. A 1099-INT from one of your banks gets lost in the mail and delivered a few months late? If you make a major mistake, it becomes necessary to file an amended return. Here are some situations that call for filing an amended return:
- Change in filing status
- Inaccurate reporting of number of dependents
- Mistake in reporting your total income
- Error in figuring deductions and/or credits
- You e-filed, have one of the above situations, and you received confirmation from the IRS or state taxing agency that your return was accepted
There is an exception to the above rules. Let’s say you e-filed your tax return, but it’s rejected and you discover you made a mistake that usually calls for an amendment. If the return is rejected, you can fix the error without an amendment, because the IRS did not accept your return. If you missed the e-file deadline, print and paper file your corrected tax return. Also, be sure to pay attention to your state tax return. In some cases, it may be accepted although the federal tax return was rejected. If that is the case, you will need to amend your state tax return.
There is usually no need to file an amended return if you have made a calculation error. Normally, the IRS will fix these minor mistakes (this is most common with paper returns). Additionally, if you forgot to include documentation, such as a W-2 with a paper filed return, the IRS will request the documentation.
How to File an Amended Return
If you need to file an amended return, you should use Form 1040X. You can file an amended return for multiple years, but you need a separate Form 1040X for each year, and each return should be filed separately. As you fill out the form, understand that Column A should include original figures, and Column C should show the new figures. The difference between the two should be listed in Column B. If you are listing changes on various schedules, such as Schedule A or Schedule C, you will need to include them with your Form 1040X. There is no need to worry about the complicated calculations, TurboTax does the behind the scenes calculations for you when amending your return.
When you are claiming an additional refund, you should wait until your original refund arrives before you file your Form 1040X. You can cash your check, but you still should wait until your current tax return is resolved. That way, you know where you stand. In order to qualify for an additional refund, you will need to file within three years from the date of your original return, or within two years of paying your tax (whichever is later).
If your mistake resulted in under-paying your taxes, you should file your amended return as soon as you possibly can. The longer you wait to file your 1040X, the more you will pay in interest fees and penalties, if you owe. Unfortunately, there is no way to file your 1040X electronically but this may be offered sometime in the near future.
One important thing to remember when amending your tax return is to always keep a copy of your original filed tax return and create an amended tax return from an additional copy.
You can correct mistakes on your tax return with the help of an amended return; just make sure you follow proper procedures. For more information on amending your return see Amend a 2010 Tax Return.
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Turbo Tax glitch resulted in my return saying yes to ‘I made payments that require a 1099′ and yes to ‘I will send documentation of those payments’. It did it last year and this year too. I am a home daycare provider and did not make any payments requiring a 1099. I called last year and a Turbo Tax rep told me that I did not need to file an amended return because the glitch wasn’t a ‘tax issue’. Is that right? And what can I do to change this going forward?
I know this is so last minute but I’m freaking out. My husband & I e-filed married jointly on TT and thought we were able to claim our 21 year old as a qualified dependent because he made less than $3800.00. We’re getting a refund of $120.00 (F&S). I e-filed my son’s taxes on TT but as single, not a student and someone else can claim him (he’s getting a refund). All of this would have been perfect until I found another W-2 for him causing him to make more than $3800.00. His federal was accepted / state is still processing. Our federal and state were both accepted. Nobody has received a refund amount as we only just filed today (I work a lot and husband is over the road driver). I’d like to change my son’s returns right now because of the missed W-2 or do I have to wait until he gets his refund? I will have to wait to amend ours because I know that we’ll owe and I won’t have the money until later this week. Will I have to wait for our refund as well or can I amend it sooner? It was an honest mistake and I’m sick over it. Thank you so much in advance.
I filed my son’s return and said that no one is declaring him a dependent. He has already received his refunds. Now, in doing my taxes, I see that I can still claim him and need to do so (and did do so). Should I go in and amend his return now? Does Turbo Tax charge you again for this? Can I do it on TT and not pay? Plus, I see that I forgot to add income of $2K which was a withdrawal from my IRA. Should I wait for my refund and then amend? Do I use 1040X? Thanks.
I have exiled my return and as soon as I hit submit I realized I typed the wrong state tax withheld on a 1099 as 2400 instead of 240. What should I do? This reduces my refund amount greatly.
my son wrote the wrong amount of tax from the tax table, which resulted in lesser refund. Will he file an amendment return or the IRS can detect the mistake and automatically sen the
correct refund?
My son wrote the wrong amount of tax from the tax table, which resulted for a lesser refund. Does he need to file an amendment or will the IRS fix the computation?
I made a mistake on my federal taxes (something I thought I could deduct that I really can’t). That resulted in my getting a refund from both federal and state. I already received the federal refund and my state still says processing on the state’s website. Should I file an amendment now? Both returns were ‘accepted’ after I e-filed. Thanks.
I already filed my 2012 Federal and State online and they were both accepted. I owe a large amount to Federal and received a small state refund. (I have not paid Federal amount yet.) I later realized that I should be able to make an IRA contribution and reduce the amount I owe on Federal by that amount. I think I should be able to amend my Federal and probably the State tax forms.
I haven’t seen any questions about this. Do you see any problems with I am thinking about doing?
I e-filed and then realized I forgot to include the last half of my Roth conversion from 2010. I recalculated my taxes and it appears adding this amount to AGI will not change my taxable income. Do I still need to do an amended return?
Hi i have amended my tax return because i have forgotten to add my children as my defendant but i am not sure if the kids father has claimed them as his defendant if i were to get audited due to who have the rights to claim the children what types of proof would i have to provide that i am the custodial parent?
Tax return completed (refund paid already) for 2012 tax year. Filed as married. Can I re-file as “married, filing separately” still? What does the spouse do to re-file?
I filed and it was accepted and realized I forgot to add a W2 what do I do now?
We e-filed over a month ago. Soon afterwards we realized we had put down the wrong year in which we bought our house, which would lower our return. Our status has been “return processing” for quite a while now. Should we go ahead and send an amendment?
i realized i left out some medical deductions that would have effected my return should I amend?
We received a refund already, then received an mended form regarding our sales of stock. It did not change our refund when we input the new numbers. Do we still have to do an amended with turbo tax!
I efiled with turbo tax and our refund was $8k. it’s been accepted. I realized i forgot to put a 1099-Q from my stpedaughter on there. it’s not significant to really change our taxes. When i went on turbo tax to amend it it chnage our amended refund to $0. what happened to the origional amount or has that already been accepted and turbo tax is just saying with the amended it isn’t increasing our refund? I need to mail the amended one soon. thanks
fyi-the increase in taxes is $20
I filed a return and then realized that Turbo Tax didn’t automatically pull in State refunds that should have been taxed. I have tried to use the amend function on Turbo tax with no success. The change is increased taxes. My return has been accepted. I can complete a 1040X, but will the IRS adjust on their end?
I missed a 1099-DIV form for 2011 but after filing 1040X, I notice no additional tax. There is no change in taxes (seems the amount on 1099DIV form did not push my income to a different slab). As there is a change only in Gross Income, should I still file 1040X? Will this be a problem in future?
I e-filed with turbotax and it was accepted. I thought I needed to amend them and started it on turbotax but found out that I do not need to do that. The amount now says $0. Will that change anything since I havent mailed it out or anything?
Hi,
Unfortunately, the amount changed, because you changed your tax return. You should not amend your tax return until it is accepted. If it was already accepted and you don’t need to amend you should be fine. You just need to have a copy of the tax return that was accepted if that is the correct one and make sure you re-enter your correct tax information so the correct information transfers over next tax year.
Thank you,
Lisa Greene-Lewis
I didn’t have to re-enter any information because it was still on there but the total still shows $0. I have the original that was accepted by the IRS saved to my computer. I just don’t understand why it’s still showing $0. My main concern is that since I didn’t amend it it wont affect what the IRS has and it wont affect my time on my return.
I filed our taxes at turbo tax and got accepted and got refund, then the w2 for 401k early withdrawal came, what do I do now? Do I have to amend if now?
Hi Marisol,
Yes unfortunately you will have to amend your tax return. You can go into your tax return and amend the software will guide you on what to do.
Thank you,
Lisa Greene-Lewis
Thanks for the good info!
My return was just accepted and I realized I filed my 1099-Misc income in the wrong box. The 1099 shows box 7- Nonemployee compensation but I filed it in box 3- other income. Do I need to amend?
I missed a W-2 for my son but it does not effect his refund since he did not make enough even with the additional wages from the missing W-2 (he is getting back all the taxes he paid). Do I need to do an amended return for this?
What if I e-filed my tax return and accidently added the amount of medicare paid to the federal paid and then left the medicare paid box blank. And then the IRS accepted my return? Should I contact the IRS and ask them if they will be reviewing my return or just go ahead and file an ammendment? I really don’t want to wait 12-16 weeks for my money to come in the mail. But, I don’t want to have Uncle Same all in my biz.
I just realized that I made errors on a return from 2006… can I still amend that return?
I noticed that even thought I reported my retirement check 1099 it didn’t include it in my income. The 1040 block 16a has the income annotated but in 16b it is zero. Unfortunately I didn’t see this error till I filed it and received my refund. How do I initiate an amendment? Can I send it electronically or do I have to print it and send the amended copy with the W2 etc via mail.
Hi Grace,
Even though you reported income from form 1099-R it may not be taxable. Without seeing the codes indicated on your form in general your income on form 1099-R is taxed according to codes indicated by the administrator of your retirement income. For instance, box 2a “Taxable amount” should be indicated. Your administrator may have put 0 was taxable. There are also other codes that may indicate that the income is not taxable. Please look at the actual amount in box 2a and the box 7 distribution code. The income may not be taxable. See http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099r.pdf for distribution code meanings.
If you do need to amend your tax return you can do it through TurboTax, but you will have to print and mail the return.
Thank you,
Lisa Greene-lewis
I already filed my tax return and submit it but only to find out the next day that I received a W-2 from social security . What should I do?
Hi Cristy,
Wait to find out if your return is accepted. Once it is accepted then you should amend your tax return. If it is not accepted you can just go in and fix it and resubmit it.
Thank you,
Lisa Greene-Lewis
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Thank you! Glad you enjoy our blog!
Lisa Greene-Lewis
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We are glad you enjoyed the post!
Thank you,
Lisa Lewis