When you send in your tax forms each year, you hope against
hope that they are perfect and correct. Unfortunately, though, as humans, we
all make mistakes from time to time, and sometimes, you may find that you’ve
forgotten to include some extra income you’ve earned or made some other kind of
mistake. If this happens to you, don’t beat yourself up! After all, taxes are
complex, making it easy to make mistakes. Furthermore, when you do make a
mistake, it’s not that hard to correct it. You simply need to, in most cases,
file an amended return.
Amended returns, which basically allow you to change things
about the original return that you filed, are fairly simple and
straightforward. While you can file them in a variety of situations, some of
the most common reasons for filing them include:
l You’ve
forgotten to include extra income
l You’ve
missed deductions or credits
l You
entered an incorrect filing status
l You
inaccurately reported your dependents
l You
made a mistake when reporting your total income
Keep in mind, of course, that amended tax returns are only
necessary if your return is accepted by the IRS. When that happens, it’s up to
you to bring the error to the attention of the IRS. If the return gets
rejected, though, you can fix the return by simply re-filing it. Also,
understand that, when it comes to matters of simple mathematical errors, the
IRS will often catch and fix these for you without rejecting your return and
without you having to file an amended return.
If you do ultimately need to file an amended return, either
do it yourself via form 1040X, or, even better yet, visit with an accountant
who can help you to file the amended return and, hopefully, to not make further
filing mistakes in the future!