Anyone had to amend their taxes before?

[Frankies Girl]

Filed my taxes about two weeks ago, after having received (so I thought) all necessary paperwork. Sister just told me that there is one form that she realized she hadn't sent me yet. I've told her to get it to me ASAP as I'm not sure how it will effect whether I owe, and from what I understand that would mean I could possibly need to pay a penalty in addition on the amount owed if I don't pay by the 15th. I was getting about $100 back, and I e-filed with TurboTax.

It's a beneficiary K 1 form. I looked and from what I can tell, it will just be if there were any dividends or income earned from my dad's estate, which we had no income (estate was only holding a savings account and some IRAs), and at most it would be dividends and market gains for about a 3-6 month time period. Of course I don't really know exactly what all of that would end up being until I get the actual form tho.

I looked at the websites and they all say to file and amend when the form is received, but to overestimate what you might earn so you don't get hit with a penalty, but that ship has sailed. So I'm left waiting on the form and wondering how big a deal it is to amend a return... other than having to mail a physical paper packet since they don't let you e-file amendments. Never had to do this in 25+ years of filing taxes dammit, so a bit frustrated and annoyed.

Should I call the IRS and ask to pay some random amount just to make sure I haven't underpaid?

[Paul der Krake]

I did it earlier this month because Fidelity botched a form, and I ended up sending the Treasury a check for $1. Take a look at form 1040X, it's really no big deal.

[BlueMR2]

My parents have had to amend on top of amendments before due to investment company screw-ups.  Seems to be pretty uneventful.  Sounds like they don't seek penalties unless you severely have underpaid or show some form of bad faith.  Just do your research and get all your forms in order.

[Frankies Girl]

Thanks for the responses. I was figuring it wasn't a big deal, but I tend to be a worrier.

I'll probably call the IRS just to check facts on the possible payment/penalty issue if the sister doesn't get the form to me by April 1st.

[secondcor521]

I've had to amend twice in the past several years.  It is not hard, just look at form 1040X and the instructions, and you'll figure it out.

A couple of thoughts:

1.  If you can call your sister and have her tell you the numbers on the K-1, you can go ahead and start on your amended return now.  I don't believe the K-1 itself has to be filed.
2.  You probably won't owe any penalties or interest to the IRS for this oversight if the amount that you owe with the amended return is less than the refund the IRS is currently working on sending to you, because in that case you had in fact paid all of the taxes owed by the 4/15 deadline.
3.  Don't forget to amend your state income taxes too if applicable.
4.  Since this was an estate-related issue, if you do end up finding that you owe penalties or interest, you can probably attach a statement requesting forgiveness.  I believe the IRS has been compassionate in cases like that.

[Spork]

I've done it a couple of times... Since you happened to do your taxes with Turbotax (and this probably applies to every other similar product) there is a function built in for filing an amended return. 

[Cpa Cat]

You probably don't owe anything, unless you're talking about some massive amount of dividends. Even if you do owe, the interest/penalties for underpayment are very low. The real penalties come from not filing your return at all.

I do not recommend you pay any random amount to the IRS. They have a horrible habit of applying your payment randomly to whatever they feel like. The most likely scenario being that they log it as a 1st quarter estimate payment for 2014 - which they will then refuse to change.

As for calling them - the IRS made the news recently because something like 40% of calls to them go unanswered. I think mostly because people give up. Having called them last week, the drill is as follows: You call. The recording tells you how important your call is. No estimate is given as to how long you will waiting. Just the same "Your call is important..." message over and over again. My wait time was about 1.5 hours - I did speak to a representative - who put me on hold for another 30 minutes so he could look at my "details." I spoke to him for another 30 minutes trying to get an answer to my questions, until finally he gave me a different phone number to call. I didn't call it.

[tomsang]

There should be no interest or penalties as the 1040 is not due until 4/15.  If you were suppose to make ES payments throughout 2013 because of income, then that is a different story.  Doesn't sound like much income so you should be fine. 

[Tempe]

It doesn't seem difficult beyond printing out the form and filling it out. I'm contemplating doing that to dump some money in a ira, since I really didn't think about doing it until after I filed my return.

[frugalnacho]

My mortgage company fucked up and sent me the wrong data on my 1098 one year.  I had already sent my taxes in when they sent me the amended form.  I just amended turbo tax and resubmitted it.  It was a mild pain in the ass, but that's it.