Reasons to consider amending prior U.S. federal income tax returns

Claim additional refund

Let us review your last 3 years' income tax returns to see if any money was left on the table when you filed your Form 1040. Causes of overpaying taxes include:

• rushing through tax return preparation
• being unaware of income tax law changes
• not knowing about exceptions to penalties
• unqualified tax preparers not doing a thorough interview, just looking at the tax documents you brought in
• non-professional tax preparers not taking the time to understand your occupation and overlooking job-related deductible expenses (whether an employee or an independent contractor)

Beat the IRS at their own game

If the IRS has filed a Substitute for Return due to your failure to file a tax return, you may be able to reduce the amount they say you owe, or even get a tax refund!  Go to our "Haven't Filed?" page for more details on filing back tax returns.

Correct errors or omissions before the IRS catches them

• If the correction goes in your favor, the IRS will pay you interest from the due date of the original tax return through the day they mail you a tax refund check. Sweet.

• If the correction goes against you, filing an amended tax return (Form 1040X) will reduce any penalty and interest that would otherwise be charged when they find the error or omission later on and change your tax return

Add yourself to spouse's prior return if you did not file

If your spouse filed his or her own tax return without you and you need to file a tax return for yourself, it is often advantageous to amend the spouse's tax return to Married Filing Jointly and add your information rather than filing a separate return for yourself.  Please note: This must be done within 3 years of the original due date in order to obtain a refund.

The Icing on the Cake

Filing an amended income tax return can not only generate a tax refund or reduce the income tax you owe, but it can also pay you interest if you are due a tax refund, or reduce the penalty & interest assessed if you owe the government.

Quite often the extra interest you receive due to filing an amended tax return will pay for our fee and still have some left over, not to mention the income tax refund amount itself.

Time Limits

While you generally can amend previously filed Form 1040s at any time, keep it mind the following:

1. Claims for refund must be filed within 3 years after the date you filed your original return, or 2 years after the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.
2. Amending a return TO the Married Filing Jointly filing status must be done within 3 years of the original filing date or original due date if later.
3. These time periods may be suspended if the taxpayer or spouse is unable to manage their financial affairs due to a medically determinable physical or mental impairment expected to last for a year or more (or until death if within a year) as long as the ill person has not given someone else Power-of-Attorney over their financial affairs.

Change from Married Filing Jointly Prohibited

Returns originally filed as Married Filing Jointly cannot be amended to any other filing status.  This is because the government already has both spouses on the hook for any tax liability (this is call joint and several liability) and would be against their best interest to release one of the spouses from such liability.

Processing of Amended Returns

Amended tax returns cannot be e-filed.  Since Form 1040X is manually scrutinized and input by the Internal Revenue Service, it can take from four to six months to be processed.

While this will delay any tax refunds you will be receiving, the IRS will usually put any pending enforcement action "on hold" while the amended return is being processed.