Oh Boy, Oh Brother! Holy Cow! How else can I nicely say this is not good? I am always trusting my technology. I have a technology guru that I rely on. He is my go-to guy. Right now my computer is sick. That is the nicest way to say I think I have a virus. The good news is that it can be fixed. I have Patrick and Tara to help me. What happens when your tax return has a virus? We don’t usually think of tax troubles this way. But this is just one way to understand something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Our friends at the Internal Revenue Service work all year long. Their hours are not 24/7 but it can seem like it to us. They have private parties every day. Have you gotten your personal invitation? I hope not. That personal invitation is a welcome letter to a tax audit. I have talked about tax audits before and I’ll talk about them again. I want to help you avoid that audit. Today I’m talking about AMENDED TAX RETURNS. If you find you have made an error on your original return, you can head that invite off at the pass. You can stop it in its tracks before it ever gets started. If you find you have omitted income, you certainly want to “fess up” and correct your tax return. You will owe more tax, but you can minimize interest and penalties. The IRS is required by law to assess interest. They have some discretion on whether or not they assess some penalties. If you have omitted income and wait for the IRS to notice your forgetfulness, you will pay more. More time will have elapsed from the date of your original filing and the date the IRS gets around to your perhaps negligent return. How much money did you leave off? How much “too much” deduction did you take? Either way you did not pay in enough tax and IRS wants all of their share. Did you forget to claim a deduction that was allowable? Did you not realize your expense was deductible? if this is your situation, be sure to include copies of the receipt showing what you bought, when you bought it, and how much you paid. Yes there is a time frame for submitting your amended return. A safe rule of thumb is within 3 years of the original due date or the date you filed your return, whichever is later. For example, if your return was filed March 1st, the due date is April 15th. File your amendment before 3 more April 15ths go by. If your return was filed May 1st, the due date was April 15th, but you filed late. So you must submit your amended return before 3 more May 1sts go by. The IRS must have your amended tax return in their office before the amended due date (statute expiration date) arrives. Mail your returns so they are received BEFORE the statute expiration date. Don’t forget your state return, if you live in a state that has an income tax. Most state’s tax returns begin with the information from your federal return. If you make changes to the Federal return, you will want to make changes to your state return, too. Contact me if you need help.