Should I Amend My Tax Return for A Small Amount (1440 × 600 px) (1)
Should I Amend My Tax Return for A Small Amount (411 × 600 px) (1)

Should I Amend My Tax Return for A Small Amount?

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Tax Day has come and gone, and you filed your taxes well before the tax deadline. But what happens if you realize you left something out? When should you amend your tax return?

Do You Need to Amend Your Tax Return?

First off, make sure you need to amend your tax return. If you’ve made minor math errors, the IRS states that they will be able to handle adjustments for minor math errors without requiring a Form 1040-X amended tax return. However, if you need to report additional income (W2s, Unemployment, etc), change your filing status, claim missed tax credits and tax deductions, then you do need to amend your tax return if it hasn’t already been accepted by the IRS.

How to Amend Your Tax Return

In order to file a Form 1040-X Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, you will need to either print and sign it, and then mail it, or you may be able to e-file it. At this time, you can use e-file to file amended tax returns for tax year 2020, 2021, and 2022. E-filing it will save on some delivery time, since it can take up to 20 weeks to process amended returns after the IRS receives them.If you’re amending a tax return and are expecting a bigger tax refund, the IRS advises that you wait for the original tax refund check to come in before sending in your amended return (you may cash the check you received). If you need help with amending your tax returns, TurboTax can guide you through the process.

Correcting a Tax Return

But wait, don’t hit the amend button so fast! There is another situation where you do not have to file an amendment. Did you already e-file your tax return and just receive a document reporting income? If you did, but your e-filed tax return was rejected by the IRS and not accepted due to a necessary correction, you don’t need to amend your tax return. All you need to do is add the previously missed forms, fix the reject error on your tax return and then it can be e-filed. And if you used TurboTax, we will guide you through correcting the reject status on your tax return. Lastly, remember when you amend your federal tax return you may need to amend your state tax return since some states follow Federal tax law. You can check the status of your amended return with the IRS using the Where’s My Amended Return tool.  

TurboTax Has You Covered

Don’t worry about knowing these steps for amending your tax return. TurboTax will guide you through amending your tax return, and if you used TurboTax Live to prepare your taxes, you can connect live via one-way video to a TurboTax Live tax expert in English and Spanish to get your questions answered year round.

Elle Martinez
Elle Martinez

Written by Elle Martinez

Elle helps families at Couple Money achieve financial freedom by sharing tips for reducing debt, increase income, and building net worth. Learn how to live on one income and have fun with the second. More from Elle Martinez

69 responses to “Should I Amend My Tax Return for A Small Amount?”

  1. I filed my taxes already but later I got a paper from my grandson that I claimed should I do an amendment

  2. My brother accidentally filed his taxes as single and that no one can claim him. He is 21 years old and my mother supports him. This caused some issues with my mom’s taxes so she filed without claiming my brother this year. Should they both amend their taxes? Is it worth it because my mom is not losing or gaining any additional dollars if she claims him. Thanks.

  3. What if I just found a doctor bill for $2,350.00 that I paid in 2014? Is it worth it for me to go back and deal with this, or is it not worth the hassle if it’s not going to be much of a difference? Thanks for any input!

    • Hi jorico —

      Before you choose to amend your 2014 return because of the doctor bill take a look at your 1040. Did you claim the standard deduction or did you itemize? If you itemized, or decide to itemize now, only the medical expenses that were over 7.5% of your adjusted gross income are included. If you do decide to amend, here are the instructions on how to do it in TurboTax: https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2589210

      — Joanna

  4. I filed early this morning on my taxes. I just got my 1098-T from school because the school kept having issues with updating to my new address. How or what do I need to do? When do I do it?

    • Hi Tammy,
      Wait to see if your taxes are accepted by the IRS. If they are excepted you can amend your return and include the 1098-T info. If they are rejected then you don’t need to amend. You can go into your tax return and add the 1098-T.
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

  5. What if the 1098 form you receive later doesn’t affect your taxes, would you still need to amend your taxes? The form we added resulted in a 0 and 0 for Federal and State.

  6. I e-filed my 2014 return before I saw my 1098 (I know my bad – I new the amount) When I received the 1098 I noticed the an error in the amount. I notified the preparer the 1098 was incorrect. She prepared and sent a corrected 1098 to me and the IRS. Do I need to file an amended tx turn. IRS accepted my return. I owed $$ this year, which was sent via my bank. Love turbotax by the way.

  7. Hi,

    I received my K1 schedule after e filed the federal and state, both are received and accepted status. Can I send in the amend now? I am a little confused with the forms, it has 1040X form and 1040 form with other documents, I wonder do I need to send in all the form, or just 1040X form with K1 schedule (Copy or original?)Thanks!

  8. What can I do if I had a tax company file my taxes and they messed them up, Then they had to amend my taxes and they messed that up to. How do I go about getting everything fixed?

  9. We are trying to figure out if we need to amend our taxes from the past 2 years. When we took our 2011 taxes to an accoutant, she put all the college expenses on our dependant daughter’s taxes. Therefore, we did the same thing in 2012. When we used TurboTax this year, it had us claim all the college expenses on our taxes since she is a dependant. Should we amend our 2011 & 2012 taxes to claim the college tuition/expenses sinceour daughter didn’t get anything when she claimed the expenses on her taxes?

  10. I filed my taxes using deluxe version of turbo tax not expecting a k-1. My return accepted by irs & already received refund. When I started the amend process thru turbotax after receiving a k-1 it said I have to have premier version to amend k-1. Is that correct?

  11. I am self employed and I got a letter from irs stating I need to show sorce of income I looked it up and it’s a schedule c form do I need to file an amendment with that or just send in the firm

  12. We forgot to enter one of our RMD’s on the 2013 return. The distribution was taken and the income tax withheld. We missed it because we had to print the 1099R from the computer. Do we have to file an amended return since the tax was withheld?

  13. I just filed our 2014 federal return and we were due to receive a refund. The return was accepted. Then I got a K-1 for trust income and we’ll owe taxes now. Should I wait to receive the refund check before amending our return?” If so, should I cash the check or send it back with the amended return? I would prefer not to have to amend the return again. (I’ll also be amending our state return.) Thank you.

  14. Hi,
    I originally filed my taxes with my girlfriends kids as dependents. The return was approved but I only received a partial payment from the IRS. I got a letter saying they dont qualify as dependents so she carried them instead. Im trying to file an amendment on the turbotax website but the information is auto-populating as if I got the full refund. How do i change that to show the actual amount I owe?

  15. I went to a random guy to do my taxes. I’m single and he says I owe state $700. He did my parents as well and he says they owe state $700. Did we get scammed? Should we amend our tax return?

  16. I have already efiled my federal return and it has been over 3 weeks, I am seeing a message stating it is still being processed. I have just discovered I made an error on my 1095a form and am sure this is why it is taking so long. Should I wait for a rejection notice or is this something the IRS will fix? I will actually be getting back less than previously thought.

  17. Completed my son’s taxes and received a confirmed e-file acceptance. I left out his 1098-T (Tuition Statement). When I went to amend in Turbo Tax and added the 1098-T information it did not change his refund totals. Do I need to file an amendment?

    • Hi John,
      I always recommend amending and correctly filing missed forms since the IRS also receives a copy, however in this case if it is a deduction you could possibly get and it doesn’t make a difference the IRS may adjust your tax return by including the 1098-T amount if you don’t file an amendment. Make sure though that when you did the amendment your son claimed himself. He has to claim himself in order to get an education credit or deduction. If you claimed him that may be why it’s not making a difference. He would not be eligible to take the deduction or credit in this case.
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

    • After doing our 2014 taxes, we realized that our last 3 returns may be wrong. We took our taxes to an accountant in 2011 and she put our daughter’s tuition and college expenses on her taxes, even though we claimed her as a dependant. We then did our taxes with TurboTax in 2012 & 2013 the same way, claiming her tuition on her taxes. Should we amend and claim the college expenses on our taxes?

  18. Hi, my son did not file his K-1 last year for a family business in the US. He is overseas. Should he file an amendment this year? if so, how should he do it?

  19. i just efiled and found a mistake which no longer lets me claim one of my children ( year of birth mistake) it turned my small refund to taxes owed. what do i do next?

  20. Hi I was wondering if I can go back and add my girlfriends children after I received my refund. My girlfriend doesn’t work and we live together. I supported the kids all year.

  21. on my last year’s tax return I did not claim any dependents. My girlfriend and her 11 year old son lived with me at the time. She did not work, and neither did he. I was their sole support. I am wondering if I can file an amendment to my 2013 return to claim them both as dependents?

    • Hi Chuy,
      Yes you can as long as you provided over half of their support, they lived with you the entire year, did not earn over $3,900 each for 2013, they were a US citizen or National, and no one else claimed them.
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

  22. Hi i just e-file the return after the filed I print my copy. And that when I found I make a mistake on the form 5329 it supposed to my 5329 but it put in under my spose name and SS#. What should I do? Help
    Thank you

    • Hi,
      Wait to see if your e-file is accepted or rejected. If it is rejected you can go in and fix it. If it is accepted you will have to file an amended return which you can do with TurboTax.

      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

  23. I filed 2 of my dependents on my taxes, and I found out that somebody have claimed one of my children on their tax returns. Know I need to apply for an amended return. What should I do.

  24. My husband is in the military, and while retrieving his w-2 for 2014, we found that there was a separate travel w-2 from 2013. Should we amend our 2013 taxes and add this w-2?

  25. hi i recieved a 1099c after i filed my taxes last year it was for a cancellation of debt i filed online last year with turbo tax what do i do now?

  26. I filed my 86-year-old father’s taxes for him using TurboTax. His income is very low, most of it comes from Social Security, so his tax liability is $0. He found a 1099-DIV for $300 that we forgot to include and it makes no difference in his tax liability – it is still $0. Should I file an amended return, even though there is no refund due or amount owed to the IRS?

  27. Do I need to file an amended return if I received a late K1 and when I complete the amended return it makes no difference in the refund/amount owed? If no difference is made to the return after inputting the K1 does it still need to be filed as an amended return?

  28. Hey I have a question….I need to have my last years tax return amended and my accountant has them and is working on them. However I just received a bill for last years taxs. To be on the safe side should I have my accountant still process the amended return to make sure all our deductions and credits are there?

  29. Hi my 2012 and 2013 return was e-filed and rejected due to my daughter claiming exemption for herself. She’s under 24, and in 2012 she was full-time student, not the case for 2013. I’m unable to claim exemption for her as qualifying child or relative(income more than $3900)…does that mean I can’t claim HoH status, or do I still keep that and enter her name, SS#, with “QND”?

    Thank you!

    • Hi Tina,
      Unfortunately, you have to have a “qualifying child” or “qualifying relative” in order to claim head of household. Your daughter meets neither test for Head of Household in 2013. It sounds like she meets the “qualifying child” test for 2012, but your daughter could not claim herself if you wanted to claim HOH for 2012.
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

  30. Does TT submit 1099-MISC info to the IRS or just include it all in Gross Receipts/Sales? I can’t find anywhere on the printed forms where it shows separately the income I entered in TT. I had listed a $600 job under Other Income as a separate line, and then got a 1099-MISC for it after I filed. So my amended return does not show anything different that I can see. Do I even need to file it? Basically I just moved $600 from “Other Income” to a 1099-MISC.

  31. I need to amend my 2012 return with a form 5329. I filed my return online but cannot seem to understand how to proceed.

  32. I already filed my 2013 taxes with a local tax shop. But was not aware that I could claim something from my child attending college. I recieved a 1098 form? how do I amend my taxes to see if I will receive credit for tution paid. can I now amend my taxes with turbo tax.

    thanks

    • Hi Jackie,
      Yes, you can amend your taxes with TurboTax. You will have to go into the tax program and enter your same information, then press file by paper so the program will know you already filed. Then you will be able to go back into the return and amend it. If you already filed with TurboTax you would have been able to go back into your tax return and amend it by just adding the additional information from the 1098 form. Make sure your tax return was accepted by the IRS before you amend it. If it is rejected the person who prepared your taxes can add the 1098 info and resend it to the IRS. After you have entered your tax information into TurboTax, follow these instructions to amend:
      https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894381
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

  33. Hi….I got final K1’s last year but I don’t recall that TT asked me to input that they were final although when I switch to forms I see the box asking if it is a final. How do I correct my 2012 return and can I just delete the K1’s that TT brought forward into my 2013 return?

    Thanks…

    • Hi Susan,
      I’m not sure if you used TurboTax online or desktop. If you used the online version you can delete forms by:
      -opening your tax return
      -click on tools in the lower left corner
      -in the pop up window click “Delete a form”
      -in “Review Forms List” click delete next to form you want to delete.
      Here are more instructions for you https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894474-how-do-i-delete-forms-in-turbotax-online
      If you are on desktop, change to forms mode by clicking forms in the upper left hand corner, scroll to the form you want to delete, click on “Forms on the top tab” scroll down to “Remove K-1” and click there.
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

  34. Just doing our 2013 taxes, we found a huge error in our 2012 tax return. We double entered a right off on property. We need to amend the taxes and send a sizable check to both Federal and State. We are sending them with a letter to explain what happened. Can we do this through a 1040x???

  35. What do I need to include when filing an amendment to my taxes? The 1040X for federal along with the schedule C and SE and for state (CA) the 540X, schedule C a copy of the 1040X but I can’t seem to figure out what else. Do I need to include the 1099-misc that I received which is the reason for the amendment to both federal and state? Thanks.

  36. Hi, Thanks for your help. I have files my 2013 taxes and already received both Federal and State refunds. My wife’s employer made a small error on her W-2 and I received a small unexpected 1099-Misc. I went through TurboTax’s amendment process and see I owe the IRS $6 and the state of Georgia $1. Should I both filing the amended forms for such a small amount?

    • Sorry for the typos. That should read: Hi, Thanks for your help. I have filed my 2013 taxes and already received both Federal and State refunds. Since filing we learned my wife’s employer made a small error on her W-2; also, I received a small unexpected 1099-Misc. I went through TurboTax’s amendment process and see I owe the IRS $6 and the state of Georgia $1 (net of the refunds). Should I bother filing the amendments for such small amounts?

  37. I need to amend my 2012 return. I only got a child tax credit for one of my sons. What line does the credit go on? I think I got everything right but just want to make sure. Also do I file any other schedules with the 1040X form. I don’t think so because it’s a pretty straight forward adjustment both of my sons have their SS#s and I’m taking the standard 1000 dollar tax credit for each of my kids. Thanks in advance for any help given.

  38. I need to amend my 2012 tax returns. But I did not e-file my taxes last year, I printed them from Turbo tax and mailed them in. Turbo Tax is telling me I cannot amend since I haven’t e-filed.

  39. I efiled my taxes and they were accepted by the IRS for a refund of roughly $2000. Then I realized I had printed the wrong W-2 and was using 2012 numbers instead of my 2013 W-2. As a result, I had to file an amended return, which I also did through turbo-tax. I now owe $350. I mailed the 1040x as instructed along with a check for payment, but how do I go about reimbursing the government the $2000 from my original erroneous return?

  40. I e-filed my 2013 taxes but want to change my status from married/filing separately to head of house hold. Should I wait for the original refund to come in or should I file 1040X right away.

  41. I put down the child’s birthdate incorrectly, just the day is off. I assumed that I need to file an amended return, but there is no where on the form to add the birthdate, just the year. What do I need to do?

    • Hi Deanna,
      You should wait and see if your tax return is accepted or rejected. If it’s rejected you can just fix your tax return.
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

  42. I filed Jan 28th, accepted by irs. Cleared 4883c feb18. got tax advocate mid march. Heard from TA mid april. nothing more till today. TA left message saying IRS deleted my return by accident. Now what?

    • Hi David,
      So sorry that happened to you. You will most likely have to send another copy via mail, because you will not be able to efile it again if they already accepted it. If you have a PDF copy saved you can print it out and mail it. If not, you can go into your TurboTax account and access your tax return and print it out. Follow these instructions
      http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-answers/?state=1371144491280
      Thank you,
      Lisa Greene-Lewis

  43. There mus tbe others with my problem of getting to the final message “No signature form is required since you signed your form electronically.”
    BUT IT DID NOT GO THROUGH !! Is this a systemic problem of TurboTax? Or did Iget scammed? Or ???????

    • Hi,
      Sorry you are having problems. It would be better if you call 1.800.4.intuit to speak with a live tax agent about your issue.
      Thank you,
      Lisa

      • How can I amend my tax return the guy that done them he messed them up an I was told I needed to amend them and I don’t no how to go about doing that

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