When you have a tax “oops” you fix it by filing an Amended Tax Return, form 1040X.
Mistakes happen. You file your return and later get a W2 in the mail for a job you had forgotten about. Maybe your investment firm sent you an amended 1099 because your interest income they reported was wrong. Or maybe you were talking to a friend and learned about a deduction that you should have been claiming for the past three years and you’d like a refund. What do you do?
It’s easy, you need to file an amended return, the form is called a 1040X and you can find it on the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040x.pdf.
An amended return can’t be filed electronically like a regular return. You must mail it in and it’s going to take about 12 weeks to process. That’s a bummer if you’re expecting a refund, but that’s the way it works. If your regular return had a refund, make sure you wait until you’ve received the first refund before you file the amended return. (If they start processing the amended return before your original refund gets paid, it can mess up you getting the original refund. You don’t want that to happen now do you?)
If you have more than one tax return that needs to be amended, you must file separate returns for each year and mail them in separate envelopes. For example, say you found out that you had missed a $1000 deduction on your Schedule A every year and you’re in the 25% tax bracket. You can’t just put $3000 on this year’s return for a $750 refund. You’ll have to amend 2010, 2009, and 2008 separately and you’ll receive three checks for $250 each. It’s too late now to claim a refund that should have gone on 2007.
When you amend your tax return, you’ll have to send in the schedules of anything that changed. In the example above, the thing that changed was on the schedule A, so that form would also have to be attached. Don’t attach any forms that didn’t change. Warning: for many folks, a change in one part of your tax return can cause a change somewhere else-most notably on your schedule A. Before you actually mail anything in, go over it carefully to see if you have any unexpected changes.
When you file a 1040X, make sure you check the box for the tax year that you’re amending. That’s a pretty common mistake. The IRS can’t process the return if they don’t know what year it’s for.
When not to file an amended return: You don’t need to file an amended return for a basic math mistake. The IRS will automatically fix that for you. You also don’t need to file an amended return if your original was missing a schedule. That’s where you get a letter from the IRS saying that you claimed something on your return but that you’re missing the supporting documents. A common example of that would be a capital gain of $2000 on your return, but there’s no schedule D to back it up. You don’t need to amend the return, just mail them the schedule D. The IRS will ask you for whatever schedule they’re looking for, you won’t have to guess at what’s missing.
I’ve talked a lot about filing an amended return because of a refund. Sometimes when you file an amended return you’re going to owe. If you have a balance due, mail the payment check with your 1040X. The IRS will probably send you a bill for interest and maybe even penalties depending upon how much you owed. Be prepared for that.
Often times, people are thinking about filing amended returns because they received an IRS letter. Sometimes, you don’t need to amend, just pay the tax. Sometimes, you really need to amend because you shouldn’t have to pay the tax but you need to submit more information. Sometimes, you don’t need to amend and you don’t need to pay the tax—the IRS made a mistake and they just need to have it pointed out to them. Before you start writing that check, get a professional opinion–you want to pay your fair share, not more than you owe.
i filed on turbotax and the irs rejected it. it said that the ss# and name was wrong so i checked it and everything is right. i called the ssa to see if it is wrong and they said everything is right but it keeps rejecting it can i go to h&r block online and file there or will it mess my refund up.
I filed taxes normally for 2013. I was later (apparently) mailed a 1099 for a hardship withdrawl from my Roth. I never got the form in the mail, and remembered that I hadn’t amended my taxes for 2014. I requested the 1099 again from my former employer, and started the process of amending my 2013 return. I filed my return for 2014, but I don’t know if I should mail my amended return before or after getting my refund. I never got anything from the IRS saying I owe, but I know I owe them about $250. Will this affect the time it takes to get my 2014 refund? It has already been accepted by the IRS.
So we filed my soon to be husbands taxs like we have the last 6 yrs of his employment well this yr we did it on the 15th accepted on the 16th and we had found out after the company switched payroll company’s and the ein number was changed we’ve never had to wait so long for a approval before but I’m wondering if the ein is why I was told I should be able to amend it after I receive my return but now I’m worried this ein may be why I still haven’t got approved.
I accidently put my last name twice when i efiled once with my first name and the second time where my last name goes. My status says its been accepted, but is it still a possibility it will be rejected?
oh lord i also just noticed that my childs ssn is incorrect what should i do
I made a mistake and entered too much in the social security tax withholding box i made 3514.00 and I mistakenly put 1000.00 in the social security tax witheld box. it did not effect my refund amount but i was wondering if i will get my refund or will i be flagged and rejected and have to start over? Please help I really need my refund.
I accidentally only submitted my street name and not the numeric part of my address on my e-filed 1040…. is there a way i can correct this
I’m 16 yrs old. I filed a tax return and got accepted both federal and state. I was not supposed to file a tax return and i feel bad and i don’t why i did. Gets even worse,I accidentally answered “No” to the question ” Can anyone claim you as a dependent?”It supposed to be a “Yes” i just realize it.My dad filed his tax return claiming that I am his dependent.He got rejected.What i did was a mistake.I really need help with this. Do i need to do an amended return?Can my dad still claim me as a dependent?Please help me.
I’m not sure if you’ve already answered this question or not, but I will ask anyway. 🙂
I e-filed my taxes on January 20th, but another W-2 came in a couple of days later that I completely forgot about. Does the IRS already have the W-2 information in the system via the employer? And will this delay my refund?
hello
I have already electronically filed my tax return and it was accepted on 1/21/15. I have been preparing my own taxes since 2008 and have been accurate until now. I just realized I made a mistake when I entered the employer EIN#. I am waiting for the rejection so I can correct it. My question is do I need to wait until it is rejected or can I log back into my account (taxact.com), correct it and resubmit now? I was just recently apart of a company lay off and need my refund as soon as possible and if I can resubmit before the rejection that would be great to not further any unnecessary delays.
Thank you,
Rosalynn (Roz)
I filed for one W-2 on Jan 20th. I had two jobs last year and completely forgot to add the second, and a 1099 from my bank for a 150.00 credit I recieved from them. I tried to file it and got rejected. I am assuming that I need to complete a 1040x but I am not sure when filling it out, do I need to add total income of both jobs or just what I left out? And also, when should I file the 1040x? Never had to do this so I do not know the process. Thanks in advance!
Hi Jan,
I didn’t say that right. I was writing to you at almost 4am in my time in the middle of a nerve-wracking sleep training session with my baby lol.
I realize I didn’t say that right. I didn’t mean leftover financial aid, I meant leftover expenses after financial aid. As in what I had to pay in and what financial aid didn’t cover which calculated to be $780 and that’s why I received the standard education credit. Turbo tax is very thorough and asks for the specific type and amount of grant and loans received along with expenses paid and calculates accordingly, and then double checks for anything that doesn’t add up.
OK, I suppose I have to wait then to see what the fee will be. Turbo-tax offers free federal filing (and this year’s state was free too) so I didn’t have to buy the box. Hopefully the form will be ready sooner than they expect and I can figure out what I’m dealing with.
You addressed new property in your answer to me though that I did not mention. I didn’t move and don’t own property. My question was about claiming the children. I have to amend so that their father can claim them since turbo-tax told him he could claim Earned Income Credit if he claimed them. I was not eligible for any credits concerning the children. They’ve lived with their father and I the whole year, and there is no custody agreement between us.
Therefore, I hope we’ve cleared up everything and I hope I haven’t jumbled anything else 🙂 but I still have 2 questions remaining:
1).Since the IRS takes 8-12 weeks to process an amended return, but I also read the return is amended from the date the form is mailed, does the children’s father have to wait for me to receive confirmation that my return has been amended before he can file his tax return claiming the children?
2) If there was any other forms I needed to fill out other than just the one to amend my return for him to be able to claim children that I already claimed this year?
Thanks again for your time.
Kim.
Hi Chelsea,
I don’t think putting your current address with your W2s when you efile is the problem. (I do that all the time. It flows in the software that way.)
But I am concerned that when you go to the IRS website it says the information is invalid.
Your email is dated today, the 25th. I’d wait 24 hours and try again tomorrow, the 26th. What I’m hoping is that you just went to the Where’s my Refund site too early.
If you’re still getting “invalid” then I’d recheck your filing status and refund amount.
If all that’s okay, you might want to call the IRS. But do wait at least 24 hours first. I’m thinking that’s the problem more than anything.
Hi Lasonja,
If you filed a business return and the EIN mistake was your EIN, then you must fix that. If the EIN mistake was on a W2 that you filed, you don’t need to file an amended return for that, but make a note about it and keep it with your tax return. It’s possible that you could get an IRS letter two years form now when they are doing some document matching.
If you do get an IRS letter, you’ll just send them a note explaining that you typed in the wrong EIN number. But in two years, you will have forgotten about it. So write a note in your tax file, that way you’ll know what to say if they come back at you. (which they might not.)
I filed my taxes online already and recieved emails saying both my state and federal tax returns were accepted. However when I go to the IRS website to check my tax return status it says the information is invalid. I realized I put my current address on two of my W2 forms instead of putting my previous address that was listed on the forms. Will that be a problem?
Hi Ming,
My first question is: did you do the form 8962? If you did, the number should have flowed through to line 29. Did you have your 1095A form with you when you filed? I’m assuming you did because you know about the year amounts and the month amounts, I’m just checking. You need that to file for the tax credit and repayment.
So, your question is about amending. You will need to amend with the correct figures. Here’s the blog post from 1040.com about amended returns: https://www.1040.com/blog/2011/11/14/10-facts-about-amending-your-tax-return/
I don’t believe that 1040.com has the 1040X form that you’ll need. (Although if they do that would be the easiest way.)
The good thing is that you caught the error. If you are going to owe the IRS more money, you’ll want to make sure that you amend your return and pay the balance by April 15th.
One thing in your favor, the IRS knows that there are going to be lots of mistakes on the healthcare issues on tax returns. You’re definitely not alone. I would just amend it and don’t lose any sleep over it. It was a “whoopsie”.
Hi Kim F,
I recommend that you call Turbo Tax support. They can talk you through all of this. If the 1040X isn’t available until February 21st, then it isn’t. The software companies have been busting their behinds getting forms ready for filing season. Usually, no one is filing 1040X until later in the season anyway. They’re not being unreasonable there.
If your amended return won’t require you paying money back, then you can spend your refund. Although you’ll want to save money for your amended return fee. In Turbo Tax, I don’t know what it is, but it can’t be more than what they charge for the box.
So–here’s where I think you have an issue–you had financial aid that didn’t go to school expenses–you mean that you had taxable scholarship income? If you had that, then how did you get the American Opportunity Credit? If you didn’t have that, then how did you have the income? Something is funky here.
You need to get your Turbo Tax Advisor on the phone and make sure that you fix not just your kids on the tax return–but whatever is wrong with your American Opportunity Credit because what you’re saying doesn’t sound quite right. You filled with Turbo Tax, they should guide you through it correctly, and maybe I’m reading your post wrong, but something sounds out of what if you had scholarship “income” that gets reported on line 7, if you had tuition payments, that’s the american opportunity credit.
Call Turbo Tax and have one of their specialists talk you through this so that you only have to amend once. Until you do–don’t spend that refund just yet.
Hi Penny,
Wow! That’s not a mistake that usually happens. I’m guessing that your preparer switched software companies or something. (Which would explain how the wrong child got input into the system.) Every time I think I’ve heard it all, along comes a new one!
Okay, but it’s not your fault, but that doesn’t help you much. Your return was filed, and accepted with the wrong child? It’s going to take more than 3 days to fix though.
Since your return got accepted, the only way to correct it is to paper file an amended return. That will take weeks for that to clear–and that other person will have to wait for weeks for her return to clear as well.
Do you happen to know the person whose child you claimed? If you do, you could at least talk to her and perhaps work something out with the refund you will get until this all straightens out. If not–there’s nothing you can do.
Now, it’s important that you amend your tax return before April 15th–because by amending it before the 15th, you won’t have claiming the wrong child on your IRS record (because they can do nasty things like prevent you from ever claiming EIC and stuff like that.) So definitely fix this before April 15.
This is a really good example of why people need to proof read their tax returns. I know a lot of tax clients will say, “Oh, I trust you” and not even look at their returns. But we tax preparers do make mistakes and putting on the wrong kid is a doosey but I can see how it could happen. When you sign the paperwork, you’re saying that you’ve read the return and you agree with it. (Even if you didn’t look.)
This is why it’s so important for you to fix this. Even though your preparer made the mistake, she’ll have paperwork that you signed saying that’s your tax return and you approved it. She’s covered her behind, so you really need to fix this so it doesn’t blow up on you.
I’m sounding like Chicken Little (“the sky is falling!”) I don’t mean to be like that. Everything will turn out okay, it will just take time. But I just want to make sure that you follow through and see that everything does get fixed. If it gets fixed before April 15th it won’t go on your IRS tax record, and that’s you goal here (Besides making everything right with the person whose child you claimed but you don’t have a whole lot of control over that.)
Hi Edwin,
Unemployment seems to be causing everybody tax headaches this year. (Okay, it seems to every year.) As soon as you’ve received your refund, go ahead an amend your return and pay back whatever tax you still owe.
Hi Chris,
As soon as you’ve received your refund, amend the return and pay back the $1500. This is a mistake that the IRS will catch eventually, but it could take over a year for them to find. The problem is, when they do find it they’ll tack on a late payment penalty (which could go up to 25%) and interest. So, you’re better off amending it yourself.
Hi Kim,
If you e-filed the return, the necessary forms should all go along with it–unless you never prepared the form in the first place. So–I’m guessing that the IRS won’t know that you have a new rental property.
My guess is that the processing of your original return won’t be delayed but you’re missing important information on your return that you’ll want to amend.
I’m guessing that you listed the new rental property on the Schedule E, but don’t have the depreciation on there? I’m still thinking it will still process now and you wouldn’t get a notice about that for months.
I’d wait for you refund (if you’re getting one) and then amend. If you’re not getting a refund, I’d wait for at least two weeks and then amend.
When i filed my taxes i put the wrong ein but it was accepted by irs do i have to amend my return
I e-filed my 2014 taxes on 1040.com, now I realized that theres a mistake on line 29, excess advance premium tax credit repayment (obama care) . While putting information on their site instead of year amount, I accidentally put month amount. I am really worried, how do I fix this?
Hi Jan,
I am a student and received a 1098-T in which I claimed my 2 children but could not qualify for any tax credits for them. Unfortunately, I did not do the wise thing and go back to unclaim them as dependents, but instead, e-filed. This was unwise because their father (who the kids and myself share a home with) wanted to claim them with his W-2s and now he can’t because his return got rejected because they’ve already been claimed.
I have 4 questions that I hope you can answer:
1) Turbotax says the IRS won’t have the form 1040X available for almost 3 weeks (Feb 12), but my refund from my Education Credit is expected to go into my account Feb 4. Why does it take so long? I feel bad he can’t file for that long.
2) My return said that I could not qualify for any credits regarding the children and the refund I am getting came from the American Opportunity Tax Credit (from school). Since I didn’t get anything for the kids, am I safe to I go ahead and spend the money that comes into my account without waiting for them to process my amended return since the part about the kids is all that I am changing?
3) I read there might be a fee for amending returns. Can you tell me, or at least give an estimation, of how much this fee usually is? My refund is only for $1000 (from the education credit) if that helps with the estimate.
4) Is there anything else I have to do for their father (who, again, lives with us and I am together with but not married to until March) to claim them besides amending the return and mailing it back to the IRS? (He had the only “real” income but I had the highest from leftover financial aid that didn’t go to school expenses).
Thank you. I really appreciate your time. 🙂
I took my W2 to the tax preparer I used for the last 10 years. I filed my taxes on yesterday. Today I reviewed my paperwork and noticed that she entered the wrong dependent information on my papers. The child she entered is not my child and I don’t want to get in trouble for claiming someone else child by mistake. I have my own dependents to claim. I called the tax preparer and informed her that this needed to be corrected. She said the IRS has already accepted but she will get if fixed and have the child removed and add my children. She informed me that this would take 3 days to complete and that child’s parent cannot file within the next 3 days. I am just concerned that the parent of the child would file and noticed that someone claimed their child by mistake. What should I do in this situation? Help!
I already e-filed my 2014 taxes but forgot to add my 1099-g unemployment form. what should i do?
So I accidentally filed my 1099-G (South Carolina Unemployment Income) as a W-2. I filed and its processing. WHat do I need to do to correct this, will the irs fix it for me? By my math its like a 1500 difference in my return, which I am going to owe them back.
I e-filed my tax return and forgot to include my schedule 4562. I did add a new rental property on it this year. Will this delay my return.
Hi Erika,
I don’t think you’ll have a big problem. It’s possible the the return could reject. If so, just fix the numbers and resend. I’m thinking it might not even reject though. If your returns doesn’t reject, and the refund or balance due won’t change, I wouldn’t bother amending.
Hi Christin,
Usually, if you spell your name wrong, it will reject and you’ll be able to correct it then. (Instead of having to amend.)
Demetria,
Call your preparer!
I just filed my 2014 taxes yesterday and i noticed two mistakes under my children’s childcare provider. I forgot to put the EIN number. I also said my kids both went to the same provider but they actually went individually to two different providers in the summer. Is this going to be a big problem?
I filed my taxes through taxact I just realized that I forgot an I in my name will is get rejected or do I have to amend it once they start proccessing?
Hi Shanti,
Thanks for your kind words.
There’s nothing special you need to do about a stay at home wife. Just make sure you include the social security number on your return with the married filing jointly filing status (and of course her name!)
Don’t worry about the address. The IRS will use the one on your tax return for mailing your check.
I gave my tax preparer the wrong card info and my taxes is pending can I change it
First off I want to say that you’ve done an amazing job answering all of the questions here!
I efiled my taxes through taxact and the federal and state returns were all accepted (work in ky, live in ohio). Surprised at how quickly they were all accepted! I filed single because I did not think they would allow my wife and I to file jointly (she cannot work – we are in the process of getting her a green card).
Now I realize that I just needed her social security number and that I should’ve filed jointly! Whoops! I went back into taxact, readjusted and it’s a $2000 difference. However, the taxact program hasnt uploaded the 1040X document yet.
My question is, is there anything special I need to do regarding my wife not being able to work when i send in the 1040x? Should i wait until after I get the refunds before amending?
On my w2 it has my street listed as Catalwa Ave instead of Catalina Ave. Should I be concerned that the paper check refund will be sent to the wrong address even though when submitting my return via taxact my address was typed correctly?
Thank you for looking!
@Paul,
If you used one of the main companies, like Turbo Tax or HR Block, try calling their national office and see if they can intercept. They should have a server that holds the returns ready before they are actually transmitted to the IRS. Now it might be that once it hits the server, it’s just too late, but since they can’t go to the IRS yet, I’m thinking they may be hanging in limbo somewhere. Good luck.
maybe i can stop it i electronically always do my taxes as soon as my w2 come in whice
my job is good at giving it to me super fast…should of checked it….
Hi Paul,
The IRS isn’t even accepting returns until January 20th. What were you trying to do? Now, you’ll have to amend you mistake and send that extra money back. But you can’t do anything until your return is actually accepted and processed. Unless you can stop it. But it’s you’ve sent it, I can’t help you stop it.
Please–anybody reading this. Don’t send you tax returns in before January 20th! And make sure your numbers are right before you send the. Trying to fix it is too much of a hassle.
hi i made a mistake on my wages when i sent my tax in..i made.around am round the number easier….about 5600….and my return was gong to be 1900 back as i have a child i claimed…but by mistake…the wages got put in as ..6600…so it says my refund was 3500…what to do?will it go thru and i get 3500 refund and i have o give some back by filling forms or will it not go and i have to do something please help thanks
Hi Sam,
I’m not sure how bad your mistake was. Since you short cited your earnings, my guess is that you owe more tax. So you’ll need to pay that. There is also the late payment penalty of 1/2 of 1% per month. There will also be some interest on the amount that hasn’t been paid yet also.
Now, since you found the mistake and I’m guessing that you’re fixing it, that should be it. But if you don’t fix it and the IRS finds it–if we’re talking a large amount of tax that is due, then there could be an “under-reporter penalty” and that runs at 20% of the balance due. Usually they IRS doesn’t hit you with that unless the balance due is over $5,000 though.
last year I accidentally filed 2013 minus 2012 amount and ended up short citing my 2013 earnings. Will this induce a penalty?
Hi Lee,
Your employer corrected your social security number and he’s sending a corrected W2 to social security so you’re all set. The only mistake was your social security number and it’s been fixed. You filed your tax return correctly so you’ll be okay.
So last year I did not get my W-2 from one of my jobs right away, so I asked them to send it to me via email which they did. When I received it I just took it and filed it right away using an online tool (which i owed money). Now I have been working with this same company for over a year. I have just found out that they have been using the wrong SSN on my payroll account (they mixed the last two numbers). I took a look at the W-2 that i filed last year and it was also wrong on that W-2. I filed all of the correct information number wise but the SSN on the W-2 that was filed was wrong. I have not received anything from the IRS about this and it was mind boggling to be that they did not catch this sooner.
My concern is that the taxes that I paid last year for the job were under a different social so I feel that I over paid this year. Also my employer tells me that this year will be okay and wont be impacted now that I caught it before my next W-2 came out, however i am not to confident of that. Am i going to get penalized for a mistake that my admitted to making? (which I have in writing) will the government give me the money they owe me? (If any) will this years taxes be impacted in any way? My employer tells me that they are going to re-file my W-2 and report it to the IRS, I just want to do the right thing and no one I know has ever experienced an event such as this. please advise on the best steps forward and what are the possible outcomes of this mishap (which was not my fault, even though a casual observer could say I should have caught it when they sent it to me but I say out of the millions of people who filed last year is that really the first thing you look at. We all get complacent and assume that our employers are robots and do make errors but we all do.) Thanks!
Hi Princess,
My best guess is that if you really missed reporting a document and you don’t have any type of deductions against it to just pay the tax and not bother with filing an amended return.
That said, you might just want to have a second set of eyes on that paper. Even if you just go into an H&R Block office. (I can’t believe I’m plugging the competition, but this is a case where they come in really handy.)
Just ask them to take a look. Taking a look is free (or at least it used to be back when I worked there.) Although my gut says you’re going to owe the $1262, you deserve to have a human being look at the papers because there may be something there that I don’t know about.
If they can save you some money, then have them amend the return. If not, then just pay the bill. Since it’s the “off-season” you’ll need to go to one of their district offices, because the other offices are closed.
Hi Sam,
Yep, that’s a pretty big oops. I would contact the IRS and just explain that the $60,000 was a really big typo. $6000 is a pretty normal moving expense, but $60,000–not so much.
And, did you even move?
But I wouldn’t ignore the letter. I’d call the IRS and explain that the $60,000 number was a mistake and that you want to get that bill paid.
I’d also amend this year’s taxes and get that taken care of too. Since they’re already looking at the old return, if the audit progresses, they’ll audit this year too. So fix it now.
If you need to set up a payment agreement, do that. Usually you can figure what the debt is and divide by 72 to determine what the IRS would assume to be acceptable. So if you owe $10,000 you can probably set up payments for 140 a month without having to go through a lot of hassle.
To do the amendment for the return that isn’t under examination, you’ll need a form 1040X. For the return that’s already under examination, it depends upon where you are in the system. They might just amend it for you because you’ll say, you owe the money. There’s different stages of the letters–that’s why it’s best if you just call and say, “Gosh, I looked this over and I see the mistake. What do I do to fix it?”
And one final thing–find someone else to do your taxes next year. (We take clients over the internet if you need us.)
I had the help of someone (a friend who is no longer a friend) who claimed to be a really good at preparing taxes (stupid me to believe that) and instead of owing $1500 in taxes (what I was supposed to pay) he inflated up my moving expenses to the point where I got back $3000 in tax return on 2012 returns. Now I got tax examination letter asking me about those crazy moving expenses ($60,000 expenses in $45,000 income!). What do I do ?? Do ignore that letter and just wait for another letter requesting payment and pay that money?
Also my “dump tax expert” did my taxes again this year for 2013 and did the same BS . What kind of an amendment do I have to file to tell the IRS about the mistake (moving expenses) and how do I pay what I owe before I get another examination for 2013??
Thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate any help Jan.
Hi i just have some questions regarding my tax last 2012. I recieved a letter from IRS saying that we owe the 1262 including the interest since i forgot to claim that my husband recieved a 1099 from his college plan, but it says on the letter that the interest started October 2011 So im confuse why they would start interest from 2011 since the tax filed was 2012?. I’m trying to get the form from the company so i can file a amended but it says on the letter that i dont have to file amended so do you think what are they saying is right and that should i just pay them and dont file amended tax anymore?
thank you.
Hi Sheila,
Just changing the name on your Turbo Tax return won’t fix the problem. But–first, we’ve got some detective work to do to figure out what exactly to fix.
1. Did your daughter change her name with social security yet? If the IRS accepted the return under her maiden name, then I’m guessing that she didn’t change her name with social security. Otherwise, the return you e-filed would have rejected. In that case, just changing the name and resubmitting would work. But if the return was already accepted, then I’m thinking the name change wasn’t done (or at least not yet.)
2. If she hasn’t changed her name with SS, then she should fill out the FAFSA using her maiden name. Then try populating the FAFSA form.
3. If she changed her name since filing the return–you may need to manually type in the numbers for the FAFSA. And she may also have to mail some returns to various schools. I had a client whose return wouldn’t populate for some reason and she wound up mailing some stuff. (Not to FAFSA but to the school.)
But bottom line, if the IRS accepted the return, then that’s the name she legally had at the time it was filed. At least as far as Social Security and the IRS are concerned.
I e-filed my daughter’s 2013 federal income tax return and used her maiden name in error. When she tried to fill out the FAFSA for her son, because of the error, her federal tax return will not populate., How do I fix it? I went back into her Federal return that was filed on the TurboTax website and changed the name. Will that work or is there something else I should do?