We had grown disenchanted with a previous preparer and were pleased with the work of a new preparer of our 2015 IRS tax forms. The new person suggested that they review the previous years and found some substantial $$$ refunds in our 2012 and 2013 returns. Now we have the forms completed for these years by a certified tax preparer at an established private firm.
Should the tas form packages be sent in one envelope to the IRS? Separately? The 2012 a week before the 2013? If the IRS disallows a revision is that the end of the story?
I’m kinda excited about the refund (which we had always wondered about) and don’t want to screw it up.
I’d definitely recommend sending them in separate envelopes. You don’t want any pages from one to get mixed together with pages from the other.
If the changes to the later return depend heavily on the changes to the earlier return it’d be ideal to wait until you get the approval back on the first before sending the second. If there’s no meaningful connection between the two, e.g. no big carry-overs from the first to the second which are being changed, then fire them off at the same time.
My amendments were essentially independent of each other. So I sent them both on the same day in two envelopes. 2 months later they sent me a check for the later of the two. Then 6 weeks later a letter telling me they approved my amendment and were going to send a check. The same check they’d sent 6 weeks earlier which had long since been deposited. Go USA!!! We’re number one in administrative efficiency and precision paperwork. Not.
It’s now a couple weeks after that last letter and I’ve heard nothing about the earlier return. That amendment and hence refund was for a much larger amount, so I’m betting (hoping?) that’s why it’s taking a bit longer.
YMMV. Good luck. This isn’t a big deal; they process millions of amendments every year.
Well all the pages have the year in the corner, so mixups are unlikely, but I still would send them separately, and IRS says so. At least it will prevent delays. It shouldn’t matter which order you send them in if it doesn’t involve carry over.
You may also need to amend state taxes, if applicable.
But really, as you had these prepared, they are perfectly valid questions to ask the preparer.
Thank you for the specific reference. I thought so and the tax person had given them to us two separate envelopes.
Yes, however, after doing the 2015s in a straightforward manner the tax person exhibited some VERY flakey behavior in not responding to our inquiries. It was explained as health and aging parent issues but we may not use them again. Hence looking for the Straight Dope here…
Please hold onto the money for a while. The IRS told my parents several years back that they’d audited their return and my parents had been wrong about the amount they were due back, so they sent them a check. And a few months later they decided my parents had been right in the first place and asked for the money back…
The link shows it’s for 2013, and says e-filing of amended returns is not allowed, they must be on paper. Is that still true in 2016 (and if so, I’m amazed at that).
AFAIK, there isn’t an online 1040X. It’s really a very skeletal form - you pretty much need to figure out the changes on your own with the various other forms, tables, schedules, etc, then plug the net changes into the 1040X once you figure out where to enter them on the form.
After the Windsor decision, I was able to file amended returns for 2010-2012 with our new married, filing jointly status. At the time, there was no request to mail them separately, so I sent all three off in one envelope. Also don’t recall any attachments, since the IRS already has the raw data from the original returns - just the one page form for each tax year, so really nothing to get lost or shuffled.
They had no problem processing the amended returns - I had been making monthly payments to pay off a shortage caused by not receiving a 1099, so they deducted that balance before issuing the new refund, and they also were good enough to correct some goof I’d made - think I plugged a single person’s standard deduction into the forms instead of the married-joint one.
Not too surprising, the number of amended returns is much, much smaller than the number of current year returns. I suppose there’s nothing stopping them from doing efile, except that there’s no huge reason to.
You may need to change some individual forms, but the 1040X assumes that they already have the 1040 and your numbers are identical except for the parts that you adjust.
Unless the changes from one year affect the other year, my experience is that it doesn’t matter when you send them in. The IRS does recommend sending them separately, one at a time, but I’ve had success sending them all in one envelope. You just have to remember that the IRS will process them in a random order. If the order matters, and you’re not up against the statute of limitations: send one, wait for approval, then send the other.
Speaking of statutes of limitations: To claim a refund, you have three years from the date of filing or two years from the date of payment. For some 2012 returns, it is already too late for you to claim a refund and more are getting disqualified every day. Only you know when that return was actually filed and/or paid, and you do need to be aware of the timing.