Finally - the IRS announced that it will officially begin accepting amending income tax returns for individuals (Form 1040-X) electronically this summer. This is a major relief for tax professionals who previously could only amend returns by paper filing. Welcome to 2020 to the IRS! To be clear, 2019 returns being filed in 2020 will be eligible for electronic filing.
Processing
As of today, the IRS website says it can take up to three weeks from the date amendments are mailed before being reflected in their system. Then, ideally it takes six to 8 weeks to process and can take as long as sixteen weeks. Considering the current state of the economy, I'd say it's more likely the latter. Taxpayers can soon celebrate the idea of their refunds being directly deposited to their bank accounts for amended returns that are e-filed compared to waiting weeks and sometimes months to receive their checks by mail.
Some things to keep in mind
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Electronically filing an amended return does not extend the the time to pay what you owe.
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The IRS is only allowing e-filed amended returns for 2019. If you need to amend a return for a prior year return or a business return, those will still have to be paper filed unfortunately.
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Individuals still have until 7/15 (the new tax deadline this year) to file their 2019 individual tax return.
The IRS says the goal is to soon authorize electronic filing amended returns for businesses and years before tax year 2019.
Check out our website or send us an email if you need help amending your tax return.
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