Amended tax returns
If a return was wrong, amending it is usually cheaper than the alternative — whether the error cost you money or the IRS.
You are in the right place if…
You found a mistake
A missed deduction, a form that arrived late, an error in your favour or theirs.
Someone else filed it wrong
Including consumer software that filed you as the wrong residency status.
Circumstances changed retroactively
A corrected W-2, a revised K-1, or a reclassified transaction.
Everything in the fee
- Amended federal returns1040-X
- Amended state returnsState
- Corrected cost basis reporting8949
- Filing status corrections1040-X
- Residency status corrections1040 / 1040-NR
- Missed credit and deduction claimsSch. 3
- Refund claim trackingSupport
When it is worth amending
The usual triggers: a form arrived after you filed; a cost basis was reported as zero and you paid tax twice on the same income; you filed separately when jointly would have been better; you missed a credit you qualified for; or you were filed as a resident when you were a non-resident.
An amendment can also be necessary rather than merely worthwhile — if the correction increases what you owe, filing it voluntarily is materially better than the IRS finding it.
There is a deadline on refunds
Claims for a refund on an amended return must generally be made within a limited window measured from the original filing date or the date the tax was paid, whichever is later. After that the correction can still be made, but the money cannot be recovered.
State returns usually follow
Most state returns build on federal figures, so a federal amendment normally requires a matching state amendment. Filing one without the other creates a mismatch that generates its own notice a few months later.