What should we do when we realized that we made a mistake on our return but it was already filed?
Basically, it will depend on whether you e-filed or not. If you e-filed and the IRS rejects your return, then you have a chance to fix the error and resubmit. However, if you e-filed and the IRS accepts your return (meaning the return is already on the way), then you will have to wait till after you receive your refund. Once you receive your check, you should prepare and file a Form 1040X. Note is that this form can only be mailed and cannot be filed electronically. Once you mail the form, it may take the IRS up to 3 months to process the Form 1040X, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear from them after 2 months.
There are basically 4 steps to file a 1040X:
- Have your original Form 1040 handy – You will need information on the original form to file the 1040X
- Note Changes – Take notes on each change on the original tax forms and the reason for each change
- Fill out Form 1040X – The information on steps 1 and 2 will help with this
- Mail the form – Remember to include all accompanying documents.
It is more work to correct errors but it is very important to be accurate with our filing because we don’t want to be caught with an filing error with the IRS. I will be sure to keep everyone updated on the progress.
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{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }
i need help with filling out a 1040x
i need step by step on how to fill out a 1040x form i am so confussed on filling it out and i need help. please
is there someone there that can help me with my 1040x
todd: Do you still need help? Please email me at david [at] moneyning.com and I can try to help.
Hello.
I think this try.
My immigrant wife, without my knowledge, filed her 2007 tax return in February. I had to file “Married/filing Single” and lost many benefits including “head of household” and tuition for both of my children. Instead of receiving a check, I owe over $3,000 on April 15th. After paying this, is a 1040X possible?
southernyankee: She was just trying to help so don’t get mad at her..
You should file a 1040X but I’m sure your wife needs to file one also. However, with something as complicated as this since there are two tax returns that need to be in sync of each other, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask for professional help. You might want to go to those HR Block offices and ask them what they think because they will probably offer free advice.
neploxo tak, i`m glad,
Sir,
I want to know how can I request for a 1040X Form to comply with the rules and regulations on how to file the said 1040X Form, and when to file it.
Joseph: the latest form can be downloaded from the IRS
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040x.pdf
Remember to write the tax year you are amending at the top of Form 1040X as the form can be used for any calendar year. You can send it off right away once you are done filling it out.
Do I need to file a 1040X if there is no change to the refund amount? I reported more on form 8917 and when I received the actual 1098-T the amount was less. However, the credit on the 8917 was the exact same with the new/correct info. Thanks for any help.
scbhump: If there is an adjustment in any forms (up or down). You should report it using a 1040x.
Sir: I received an additional W-2 after I filed. I got the 1040x form from the IRS website but I am having some issues. The big problem at this point is the additional $300 stimulus payment (for my child that was born at the end of 2008) that they say they owe me……where does that go? Please help.
My wife hade an ITIN number for the past years, now she become a Resident allien.
She have now a S.S number can I use the 1040X to claim my past EIC.
because on my past declaration the person who prepare my declaration says that I dont qualify to the EIC because my wife has an ITIN number
I made an error using TurboTax and I need to fill out form 1040X and I am not sure where to put the recovery rebate credit on 1040X. The form on irs.gov was last modified in Nov. 2007. Any ideas if the IRS will modify the form? If not, any ideas where to put this recovery rebate? Thanks.
The new 1040X for 2008 has not been issued yet. I don’t know why the hold up.
My daughter filled out my tax return online with irs website. I dont blame her but she made a mistake where dependant is concern.She forgot to check off for yourself so now I wont get a refund rather I have to pay back. I need step by step help to fill out form 1040x so I can get a return.
I filed 1040a online on turbotax, i am a student on an f1 status, been in us since aug 15 2007 (260 days in yr 2007) and 349 days in year 2008 i hv been in USA. I filed my taxes the previous yr using 1040nr-ez…..unlike tht, this time i filed using 1040a on turbotax, got a refund credit of 300$ on federal and sum $537 on state tax..NYC state tax….my witheld was 366 on fedrl and 66 on state as on w2….i already got my retrn for fed (366+refund rebate = 666) and my state refunds enroute in a month…..wat is suggested? and wat r the consequences?? what are the chances of anything?? ur reply would be highly appreciated….ohh i m frm India….
I filed my 1040 and state 1040 in last week of Feb 2009 (both returns were accepted and I received refunds for both). Subsequently I received a corrected 1099 from my online broker. Now the tax still remains the same (with the new figures from corrected 1099 ). Do I have to still file 1040x and state 1040x ? Any reply would be highly appreciated.
I am filing amended returns for a friend. The original preparer filed them as single & head of household, it should have been done as married filing jointly. Do I file two amended returns or 1? And, HOH return had a refund, do I enter this on line 19 of the 1040x as a negative number?
I need help on my 1040x amended form, i keep getting stuck on line 6.
My husband and I filed an amended U.S. Income tax return form 1040X 3 weeks ago for the $8000 first time homeowner credit to be applied to our 2008 taxes. I was wondering if anyone knew when we could expect to receive that credit. We filed our original return by turbo tax and had that direct deposit into our account, will the credit also be direct deposit or do we have to wait for a paper check?? Please someone help me…
Hi Kimberly, I sent my amended return in Mid-March. I received a notice from them almost 8 weeks later that stated they could not find my original return and to send in a copy. Then I called the hotline to talk to a real person who told me she didn’t know why I received that letter, everything was there. What’s worse is the person who receives my resent tax return & amendment will wonder why I sent it in since they have it. So, I don’t know if I have to wait another 8 weeks to get my refund or not. Good luck to you.
i efiled both fed & state married/joint… i entered the main earner’s income, but missed the chance to enter the spouse info. As soon as I noticed, I went back and entered the spouse income info and the program (amounts/etc…) changed and showed as though all changes went through ok. However about 4 days later we received a fed return we shouldn’t have (the corrections/update obviously DIDN’T go through). Both fed & state returns were accepted. I am going to the IRS office to try to correct this. I called the office but they don’t have a live person or anyway to ask questions to make sure I take everything needed… Do both of us need to be present at the IRS office to take care of this?, Do each of us need to fill out a separate correction form?, How do we give back the money they gave us (by check, money order…) and pay what we owe?, Will this trip to the IRS office take care of both fed & state even though we have not received the state refund?…
My wife and i got into a fight, real bad. She left and then filled her taxes “single” alone and it was accepted by irs. it’s has been a 2 weeks.
Now she feels bad, is scared. We have decided to fix it and amend the taxes (which will include my tax information)
We file the amended forms and fixed everything to married filling jointly and mailed it ASAP.
We are ready to pay back IRS, the $1000 refund she got
Are we going to be in trouble? She really overreacted on this
hi my mom made a mistake on claiming if someone can claim her as dependent or not. and she check the box yes. and the finical aide office of my school told me to file a 1040X to change the status. so i did. i filed it around last year’s December, but never got a word from the IRS. so im very frustrated now. anyone have any idea or suggestion on what i should do?
hi
i would like to know when will i be able to receive my 1040x form that was filed on march 30, 2010?
by mail or direct deposit?
Please advise
HELP… I filed my taxes and now need to fill out a 1040x to amend for the first time home buyers credit. I sent in a form back in March and was then informed that I sent the wrong form and this is the one I need to send. I can’t seem to get past line 6 and really need help. If there is anyone who can help please let me know.
I need to no how to get 1040X form so I can fill it out and turn back in… I dont have a printer….
post office has them
I didn’t file (at all) ( long story) in 2010, I’m sending the form in now, do I still need to do a 1040X, thanks
we filed our taxes too early and got an unemployment form for $103 and no taxes were taking out. I completely forgot about it, we filed with HR block so I have no idea how to fill out all these 1040X forms. I need some help.
I went step by step but dont know if this 103 dollars changes our EIC> I dont know how to figure that out.
I dont know how much we will owe for the $103 that we earned with out taxes being held out.
I would take back to HR block but their fees are too high so if I can do on my own that would be best for us.
also we got an additional child tax credit so not sure if it will affect it or not.
I am hoping someone can help me with the tax credits for children to make sure those amounts dont need to change. as of right now I think we owe $15 for the $103 that was not claimed but I am not sure.
could this post be any more ambiguous? i came trying to find which documents need to be mailed when filing an amended return. you say to “take notes”. Do I need to mail those notes? What about mailing the originally filed return documents with the amended return? Essentially a bare-bones, useless article.
If my wife filed married separately and I haven’t file yet, can we just refile using the 1040x form or should I file myself separately then file 1040x after April 18?
2001,2002,2003,2004 AND 2005. I told my ex he could claim our son but he never did[he was afraid he'd get in trouble]. He never told me this until recently. Can I file an amended return now or is it way too late?
Laura,
The IRS only keeps the previous 4 tax seasons open… meaning you can go back and amend 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 tax years. Unfortunately, the IRS won’t allow you to go back and claim your son for the years you mention.
hello, I am a litle confuse about my wife status in her pay check. On her pay check, she is single , and we will need to fill the tax retur as married. Is it we will be in trouble? on my pay check I am married, I will like to change it for single status because i don’t want to pay back the government..My wife said that she puts single on her paye check because she want some money back.
Thanks
Hi, my husband and filed 3 years of taxes under a Tin number because he did not own a social security number at that time do to that we would only received a small portion of our return so instead of getting 5000 we would get only 2000 The point is now he has fixed his legal status and has a new social. Do I need to fill out an amend form and if so what changes will I have to make if the only change is the social not any numbers besides us getting the credit for the money owed to us
Hi,
Just a quick question… We filed our 2007 return and applied for an ITIN but H&R Block did it wrong and we didn’t get the ITIN and our return was smaller because of it. We now have the ITIN and want to know if and how we could amend our 2007 taxes and get back what they didn’t send us. The only problem is we don’t have the letter saying how much they lowered our return and our bank doesn’t keep records that old. Would we just file the info again but with the ITIN in it now? Thanks!!
You should talk to a tax professional, especially if you don’t have the details with you anymore but as I understand the rules, you can only amend a tax return if you are within 3 years of filing your tax return this is most likely too late.
So I filed married jointly and I’ve been with my boyfriend for 2 years and engaged now. They are asking for marriage certificate, which we don’t have. What do i do??
Ok, so basically I have to file a 1o40x. My husband and I were married filing separately last year however we made a mistake in that I put our daughter as both a dependent on his and my return. I didn’t realize that only one of us could claim our daughter. I looked at the 1040x form but the instructions are so confusing I don’t know how to amend it. Basically I just want to amend my husbands and take her off of his 2010 return. How should i go about doing this? Thanks.
Hello,
I filed my return and left out a w-2. Is some1 able to walk me thru the 1040x? im confused on alot of it and cant afford to mess it up.
I was not aware that I would get credit for my 1098t so I have not put them on previous year returns. Can I fill out a 1040x to receive the credit for 2009 and 2010?
HI,
I have filed/sent my tax without realizing that i will be getting a 1098T. Is filling a 1040x my only option? or can i just add it to my return next year? I looked at the 1040x already and didn’t see a spot for the 1098t…..
please please help…thank you
I need help filling out the 1040x. I’m 22 and new to taxes. I filed one of my w-2s, and after filing received two other w-2s from my seasonal jobs. I called the IRS and they told me I would’t go to jail or anything serious like that, but that I need to fill out the 1040x asap and send it to Department of Treasury. Can anyone please help me out with filling out this form? I am lost and I really need to file the 2 other w-2s so I can refrain from anything serious ever happening in the future. For me, its not about getting a refund, its about staying on the good side with the IRS.
it’s already 2012 but i just notice now that 2008 we had gone to H&R…to do tax…and we thought she had put my two sons in as his dependent and i realize now she had him as single and no dependents i’m so mad…is there anyway we can get what they mess up back…
I was wondering if I filled my taxes with h&r but didn’t mail out dat paper wit my w2 forms attached to it can I have it redone by the IRS please help dis is my first time doin taxes thank you
How do I go about downloading one (1) blank copy of 1040? I can’t get it thru IRS. Thanks.
I just recently filed both my taxes for 2010 & 2011. I am a part-time worker & For 2010 I only made about $2,500 in wages etc.,(because I only worked for about 3 months) and I’m receiving $1,200 back after filing taxes. For 2011 I made $9,500 in wages etc., and is receiving almost the same after filing 2011. Is this even possilbe if i made triple the amount this year than last year working at the same job? Could the tax prepares messed up on my 2011 taxes?
I recently did my daughter taxes e file through turbo tax. I put form 1098T info in and it drop my daughter refund down. because it increased her taxable income. She submitted. Now im finding out through online websites that i didnt have to file form 1098T. if i didnt file this her refund would been more. can she do a amended form(1040x) to take this off and get the difference of her refund back?
My husband and I separated in March of 2010. I rented an apartment and began living by myself with my two daughter. My son continued to live with my husband. I allowed my husband to take our tax info to the same guy we have been for years and he filed married/jointly. He explained that this was the best way…even though we owed money and I would have had college expenses and earned income credit?!?! Ugh. Basically, now that I have done my own research and realized that we could have both filed Head of Household because we lived apart and each had dependents, etc. I wondered if I could file an amendment and file HOH? And if so, do we both have to file an amendment?
I filed my taxes through Turbotax tonight and felt like something was “off” after I e-filed. I went back to review the return and saw that I filled out a question wrong. Like an idiot I freaked and resubmitted the return. Will the IRS send me two refund checks?? Or will they see I am getting two returns and cancel one of them??
I e-filed my federal/state taxes and they were accepted by the IRS, I filed as single and it should have been head of household. I know I need to now wait to receive my refund and then will need to file a 1040x, when I mail this form in, can someone tell me if I have to return my refund with the 1040x form?
can i file taxes if i havent worked this year someone claimed my children on there taxes and i would at lest like to get the money they collected i called the IRS an they told me to file
I filed with hr block and was rejected because they say I was claimed wat can I do now
Hi I filed my taxes the other day and I filed as married joint But since my husband is not legal and has an itin so I did not get the Earned Income Credit Can I cancel my refund and redo my taxes as single to get the EIC? Or am i pretty much screwed. By the way i am the only one that worked.
i filed 1040 with 30,000 as ira deduction(my mistake) so irs adjusted AGI to +18,000 with corresponding increase in tax due. I want to change the ira deduction to 0 and move the 30,000 to a different tax shelter i have. When i send in the 1040x do i use THEIR adjusted AGI instead of MY original AGI as the original numbers since they already went ahead and adjusted it ? aloha
Hi there,
I recently received a notice from the IRS concerning my filed taxes for the 2010 year. It turns out that my son was informed by a tax preparer to file as independent due to the fact that he makes over a certain amount a year, and is over 23. Not knowing, I included him as a deduction and now one of us has to file the 1040x form. I guess my question is, who should file this form (considering penalties, etc. will need to be paid) so we can take the smallest financial hit?
I filed my w-2′s and realized that I am eligible for EIC, but I forgot to file for it before submitting my returns. Will Form 1040X help me? If not, what form will? I also head H&R Block is doing “Second Looks” to recover anything that was missed. Do you think they will help me?
Thank you so much.
Can someone please walk me through the steps to filling out a 1040x? I have 2 1099 that I need to include and don’t know where to begin.
Hi, I just filed and sent out year 2011, 1040/540 form 2 weeks ago. My wife want me to lower AGI by putting more money to qualified IRA account. Can I do it by putting more money on IRA for year 2011 and file year 2011, 1040X/540X now? Or I need to wait until IRS and CA state finishing process my original 1040/540.
I just noticed I made an error on my 1040 in 2007, for my HSA I entered my contribution amount (MAX) and the same amount contribution by my employer.. This caused a ripple effect, where in 2008,2009,2010 and now 2011, it lists excess contributions. and I keep paying TAX on the over contribution to my 2007 HSA that I never over contribution to. It was an error on my part in 2007. How do I go about correcting this and getting a refund for tax years 2008,2009,2010 ?
I received a 2 1/2 year payment from Social Security Disability in Dec. 2010. They direct deposited it into my checking but I was told to wait until I heard from my LTD insurance so that they (LTD) could tell me how much money I needed to send them which was of course all of it. It was never our money but because LTD did not deposit our check until Jan. 2011, it became our tax problem.
We were told to fill out something from chapter 19 and we would not have to pay the taxes on it since it was not really ever our money. This was Jackson Hewitt that told us that. Unfortunately, we got a letter from IRS last month stating that we do indeed have to pay the $2600 to IRS. We went to IRS and the woman put some numbers and information in the computer and said that it looks like we don’t have to pay but that we would hear back in 45 days. We got a letter from IRS last week saying that we not only owe the money but now owe penalties on it so we sent them a check. We were told to then do a 1040X but don’t know where to start. We went to IRS but after waiting 5 hours, we were told that it is not their job to help us.
We don’t even know where to start.
When we filed our 2009 taxes, we were told that we owed 5K, and so we paid it. We got an amendment for that year and looks like IRS actually owed us. So now we got the 2K that they owe us. When my husband called to check if they are giving us back the 5K that we paid them, he was told that we are now even… we are not owed anything.
I am now confused as to why we would be even when we paid the 5K. Please help!!!