Amended Return

What Is an Amended Return?

An amended return is a form filed in order to make corrections to a tax return from a previous year. An amended return can correct errors and claim a more advantageous tax status, such as a refund. For example, one might choose to file an amended return in instances of misreported earnings or tax credits. Mathematical errors, however, do not require amendments because the IRS automatically corrects for such errors when processing the tax return.

Who Should File an Amended Return?

All taxpayers are required to file their taxes annually for the previous tax year. Taxpayers may realize that they made a mistake in filling out their tax forms, or their circumstances may have changed after they have submitted or mailed a return that has been accepted by the government. If this occurs, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has provided a way for these individuals to redo their taxes by providing an amended return form, Form 1040-X, on the IRS website.

An amended tax return can be filed even after the tax filing deadline for the tax year has passed.

Not all errors need amending by the form. A mathematical error, for example, will be spotted and corrected by the IRS when the initial tax return is sent in for processing. When this happens, any refund owed will be adjusted and any extra tax liability due will be billed to the taxpayer. In the event that the individual fails to include a required form or schedule in their submitted original tax return, the IRS will send a letter requesting that they mail the missing information to one of their offices.

When to File an Amended Return

A taxpayer must file an amended return if:

How to Amend a Tax Return

Form 1040-X has three columns: A, B, and C. Under column A, the figure that was reported in the original or last-amended tax form is recorded. The taxpayer will need to input the adjusted or correct number in column C. The difference between columns A and C is reflected in column B. The adjustments made to a tax return will either result in a tax refund, balance due, or no tax change. The taxpayer also has to explain what changes they are making and the reasons for making each change in a section provided on the back of Form 1040-X.

Disadvantages of an Amended Tax Return

The drawback of filing an amended tax return is that Form 1040-X cannot be submitted electronically for every tax year, although the IRS has recently started accepting e-filed amended returns for tax year 2019. If filling out the form manually, the taxpayer has to mail the printed-out document to the IRS Service Center that processed the original tax form. The IRS manually processes amended returns, and the process can take 16 weeks — or even longer, if the amended return is not signed, is incomplete, has errors, requires additional information, needs clearance by the IRS bankruptcy department, has been routed to another specialized area, or has been affected by identity fraud.

There is, however, a three-year statute of limitations for issuing tax refund checks. Therefore, the taxpayer must file any amended returns that will result in a tax refund within three years after the date they filed the original tax return. An amended return filed to account for additional income or overstated deductions does not fall under any such statute and can be filed at any time.

Download Amended Tax Return Form Here

All current and prior revisions of the IRS Form 1040-X are available on the IRS website here.