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1040X for client that came back


Pacun

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My client left last year and he is married and filed and single.  Wife filed as HH with two children and got $$$ from EIC.  I can roll over my client but I think it is better to recreate the wife's return and then add him to the 1040X.

If I roll over my client, no EIC credit will be enter and I will have manually enter it.  Keep in mind that if I do on his return, by the time I enter the wife's income the EIC will disappear and I will have to manually enter it on 1040X. If I recreate the wife, I will have to start from 0. I told them to come back next Saturday so I have a whole week to think about this one.

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Roll over his.  It is a lot more trouble trying to recreate her numbers and get them to match the original exactly.

If she has W-2, put etc, just enter the Box 1 & 2 amts and federal and state tax withheld..  No need to input EIN's SS medicare, etc.

And as you said, manually enter the EIC ,  the CTC  and any other CCredits on the Other Tax line , 1040X. 

I don't know if this still works with ATX, but you could roll his over and then switch names and SSNs and make her the primary, but don't know that there is any advantage to this..

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What would happen if you did this bizarre solution?

File an original return as MFJ for the year in question, as if nothing had to be amended.

Then file an amended return for BOTH parties, negating everything on their original return, resulting in zeros in the 3rd column.  This usually results in money showing to be refunded, but as long as the original is filed taking credit for all money, everything should wash out except the net refund/payment for the joint return which would have been the case had the MFJ been timely filed.

Interesting that this client came back to you after totally messing up his return last year and filing with unsupported filing statuses (or is it stati - plural).

 

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Or, if neither is in your system for 2017, then kinda what Edsel said.  Create an accurate MFJ.  Then ask your software for an amended return for this dummy MFJ.  Do NOT tell it to put your original numbers in column A.  You are keeping your original numbers in column C, because they are the FINAL numbers for your amendment.  Then, just type in either his or her numbers in column A, with the remaining person's numbers in column B.  Double check payments made, refunds received, anything else you see is missing to make it accurate.

Don't even try to duplicate one of the "wrong" returns as originally filed, because you may not be able to duplicate their errors anyway.

You will not be typing in everything on one or two original returns.  You will only be typing in the limited number of lines on an amended return, a handful of totals.

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I prefer the husband first on the return because that's how it is on 99% of my returns and I make less mistakes picking T or S in the various forms.

Roll him over and recreate his single return. Then amend him to joint. The IRS will figure out the rest even though the 1040X won't show the correct EIC adjustment.

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I have a better idea. Since I have the old return, I will roll it over. This will bring all SS# date of births bank accounts etc.  I will take out the wife and start as HH. I will enter the wife's W-2 and this will give me all the credits they took. Then I will amend it. On the amended return, I will enter the wife's name and husbands W-2s. After I enter his W-2 all EIC will become 0 and it will calculate everything correctly.  Husband didn't pay what he owed so there is nothing to consider on his side. Remember, I am sending this on paper and attaching all W-2s and the program only cares about the numbers not who took the credits.  The only issue I see on this approach is that the husband will be listed first and I will be changing from HH to MFJ.... but filed as single.

I don't want to recreated him because they itemized deductions for him, the EIC will not be accurate.

The other solution will be to file her on top and put him as the spouse but I will have issues with DC because they will create a new, third profile for them and new profiles have caused me to make many trips to the DC government.

 

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But that won't match the return that the husband filed. Now that I think of it, you need to do a 1040X for both spouses, showing all zeroes on the correct amount column for the wife.

I would put both 1040Xs in small envelopes then put both envelopes in a larger envelope to increase the likelihood that one person will process both returns.

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9 hours ago, Abby Normal said:

I would put both 1040Xs in small envelopes then put both envelopes in a larger envelope to increase the likelihood that one person will process both returns.

If you decide to do this, I would binder-clip the whole kit and caboodle along with an introductory letter in LARGE font.  As in, barely small enough to fit on one page.  Then they might read it first.

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I believe the correct way is to file one 1040x.  Show the combined amounts for both original returns in the first column.  The amount of refund or amount due will net out from the differences.  Attach a copy of both original returns and a spread sheet that shows the combined amounts reported in the first column of 1040x.

 

 

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53 minutes ago, RitaB said:

Here we go.   I was too slow at finding Instructions for 1040X from which I could copy and paste:

"You are changing from separate to a joint return.

If you and your spouse are changing from separate returns to a joint return, follow these steps.

  1. Enter in column A the amounts from your return as originally filed or as previously adjusted (either by you or the IRS).

  2. To determine the amounts to enter in column B, combine the amounts from your spouse’s return as originally filed (or as previously adjusted) with any other changes you or your spouse are making. If your spouse didn’t file an original return, include your spouse’s income, deductions, credits, other taxes, etc., in the amounts you enter in column B.

  3. Read the instructions for column C to figure the amounts to enter in that column.

  4. Both of you must sign and date Form 1040X."

Okay, when all else fails follow the instructions.  However the method I posted has worked for me in the past.  It appears both methods yield the same numbers in columns B and C.  In the method I used columns  A and B net out to column C.  Column C is the most important since that is the correct filing for the joint return.  Also important are lines 20 - 22 which shows the adjusted amount due or refund to the client.

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11 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

Well, I was half right. Column A should just be the husband but wife doesn't need to file 1040X. Hopefully the IRS employee will zero out the wife's prior return.

Yes.  That's where I was trying to go and wound up deleting four comments because I couldn't get there.  I can never think of everything at the right time.  I also don't doubt for one minute that combining amounts in Col A has worked out ok for @DANRVAN

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Now that I have read the instructions it makes sense to put original numbers for husband in column A.  Since column C contains the correct joint amounts, column B will net out as plug numbers.  Those number will actually equal the amounts from the wife's original returns plus the difference between both original returns and the correct joint return.  That is true  since you are jumping from original filed by husband to correct joint filing, the difference will fall out in column B.

I would still run the numbers on a spreadsheet to double check and to confirm the correct figures are on lines 16 through 22.

So in Pacun's case, I would prepare a correct joint return and open 1040x.  The correct amount will be in column C lines 1 -15.  Then input the amount from original husband return in column A.  Program will fill in Column B.  The next step is to put in the combined amounts from the both original returns  on line 16 and 18.  The final step is to make sure the amount of refund or payment due nets out from the amounts on the corrected return and two  original return.

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So, what would you select when answering "status originally filed"? Husband Single, wife HH. The more I read, the more I realized that that doesn't matter since the IRS only cares for the end product and the fact that they are filing a joint return.

It is my understanding that 1040X returns are read by a person and that person has access to all other returns filed for that year.

Tomorrow is the day. I already started the return and I will see what happens.

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I prepared the mother's old return and then I amended. That gave me child tax credit for 593 on 1040X.  It gave me the amount for EIC for $3,200ish and the additional child tax credit for $1407. I printed out that 1040X and deleted that 1040X while leaving the mother on top on the 1040 that was not deleted. I added husband on the second line and I added his W-2. Then I clicked "amend return" one more time and I made sure that the correct amount (column C) was $2,000 for child tax credit, and 0 for EIC and 0 for additional child tax credit. While copying Column A from the 1040X printed before. I also added on 1040X on column $18K for standard deduction (he itemized) and that the correct amount was $12600, and the software entered automatically $5,400 on column B: The last thing was to adjust the refund and the payments made.

On page two, on column A, said that only one exception was claimed on filers and I entered 2 on column C. The software automatically entered 1 on column B, which indicated that I was adding 1 more exemption (should I have put 2 on column A?)

I also stated that I was changing HOH status.

If I amended the husbands, I would have to enter the children info on form 1040X and more entries would be required. So for the amended return the wife is on top which might cause me some issues with DC but se la vie.

By the way, he called me at 10AM and his appointment was for 9, so I told him next week... meaning I still have more time to correct anything else.

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