Please Help! Filing an Amended Form for $250 Credit

[RetiredTeacher]

My tax preparer of over 40 years told me that I did not qualify for the $250 Government Retiree Tax Credit because I do not receive social security. I receive a retired teacher pension. He completed my and my husband's taxes and I sent it in. Then I discovered that I do qualify for the $250 credit and need to file an amended form. (My husband did receive the $250) I phoned my tax preparer but he is not returning my calls. I looked on the net and found that I need to file 1040x but am unsure exactly how to fill it out, and everything I need to send in.

I would so much appreciate any advice and help someone could offer.

Thanks!

[windmill]

The local IRS office would help you resolve this.

[BulldogTom]

Retired Teacher,

This board was created for tax professionals to network together. We generally are very free with our advice to each other, but we get paid by our clients for our tax expertise. Your issue is really with your tax professional. If he has not properly filed your return, he should fix it. Tax professionals generally take a few days off after the tax filing season to recharge.

If you think you want to tackle this on your own, you should get the IRS publications for 1040X. In general, the form is pretty simple to fill out. You put in your return the way it was filed, you put in what it should look like, and you put in the difference and explain why the change. Send it in with any new forms that were not included on the original return and a copy of the original return. Wait 6-8 weeks for the IRS answer.

Or, you could wait a few days for your tax pro to answer your call.

Tom

Lodi, CA

[RetiredTeacher]

I apologize for posting to this forum. I did not realize it was only for tax professionals. I shall not trouble anyone here again.

[Catherine]

We still ALL wish you luck in getting this resolved quickly.

[MAMalody]

If you are actually referring to the Economic Recovery payment through SSA, you probably already received it an it was handled on your Schedule M. You might check that schedule out on your tax return.

[jainen]

>>you probably already received it an it was handled on your Schedule M<<

In my opinion, the question was appropriate for this forum and somewhat better than the answers. I would expect a retired teacher to be eligible for this credit, even if she has wages. I'm not sure what the implications of the taxpayer's husband getting $250 are, though that does suggest the tax preparer considered the issue. I would guess this can all be easily resolved after the preparer takes a few days vacation from the busy time. Anyway, the newly revised Form 1040X is not very difficult to complete.

[jklcpa]

This person is not receiving social security and sounds like she gets a teacher's pension instead of SS. Is she eligible for the gov't retiree credit because of this? In this case, the teacher would have had to be employed by a state or local gov't where the wages weren't covered by SS, Is that right?

[Lion EA]

Yes, it is. And, in states like CT, a retired teacher would get a $250 credit on her tax return. Now, if she had earned income also, she might already have had the $400 credit, so it's a wash. But, if not, then give her preparer a week's vacation and call him again. (It takes the IRS weeks to process amendments anyway, so no rush to do it yourself if you don't want to.)

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Bulldog Tom, you were very gracious in your reply but it got me to looking over the site to see if it indicates anywhere that it is for or intended for tax pros only. I couldn't find that. We don't often have posters who are not in the business and maybe we don't want to bar all who "don't qualify." But it might spare some folks discomfort about not feeling welcome or out of place if they knew what the place was. Just a thought...

[BulldogTom]

Thank you. Personally, I don't want this board clogged up with a bunch of taxpayers trying to get free advice. But, it is not my discussion board, and Eric will have to decide who he wants to allow to join. IMHO, there is a board on MSN for taxpayers, and this board should be for professionals. Do you really want all the discussions about "how do I get a bigger refund?" and "how do you make turbo tax work?".

I hope I did not make it sound like "GO AWAY", but if retired teacher took it that way, good.

Tom

Lodi, CA

[kcjenkins]

I thought Tom was very polite, and even informative, in his response. Yes, he did discourgage the use of this board for someone looking for free advice for a self-prepared return. Which is not what we want this board to be used for. But after informing her of that, he did still give her good advice on both how to 'do it herself' and also that her preparer should and likely would file the 1040X for her, if in fact, she did qualify. For all we know, that preparer had already checked the various websites, and found that she had, in fact, already received the credit.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

I'm not arguing in any way that this should not be a "pro" board or that Tom was in the least out of place. I did use the word 'gracious' to describe his reply. I, too, thought he gave excellent advice. I was merely pointing out that it does not appear on the face to be a board for pros. It just says atxcommunity. I certainly do not make the decisions as to who becomes a member or not. And no, I would not like to have discussions such as those Tom listed. I was not aware that there are multiple other boards for non-pros, never having looked for them.

Again, it might be worth considering adding something to the banner such as The Unofficial ATX Community for tax professionals. We have not been, fortunately, inundated by nonpros. I just thought it might spare someone, like the retired teacher, from even putting themselves in a potentially awkward position.

But I don't make the rules. I was just making an observation and offering a suggestion.

[Booger]

I'm going to add my 2 cents. If a non-client has a simple tax question, I don't mind answering it even though

I'm not making any money doing so. It's called "professionalism" in my book. I guess some people on this board

would like to charge $$$ if someone asks them for directions to the store down the block.

Booger

[Gail in Virginia]

I think Margaret has a good point. I don't want to have a lot of non-professionals asking questions about their individual returns, although I have no problem with new professionals asking what might appear to be relatively obvious questions (sometimes I probably ask really obvious questions.) I think Tom did an excellent job in his reply to Retired Teacher but it might be helpful to "nip it in the bud" as Barney FIfe would say. :dunno:

[jainen]

>>non-professionals asking questions about their individual returns<<

Well ain't we ridin' the high horse! I daresay our clients would be shocked to learn that in the last week we have had such professional-level discussions as what forms can be e-filed, what are the exceptions to early withdrawal penalty, male genitals, sartorial splendor, and even what might be the due date for filing a return!

Some of the professional answers in this thread are not consistent with the tax code, and the original post's issue of a client's access to accurate information from her own preparer and the professional community is right on.

[Tax Prep by Deb]

I rarely have opinions regarding many things, however I do have one on this. While I agree with Tom's statement and I do believe it should be posted to perhaps discourage this type of use, (in fact if my mind hasn't completely left me, I do believe early in the season KC responded to a similar situation) what would have been nice to do and perhaps not leave the retired teacher embarassed, ect.... was to send her a personal message and if it had been me that responded originally I would have done whatever I could to have helped.

It needed to be done, however I believe it could be done without making anyone feel bad. I got the feeling that this person felt bad and perhaps we have soured her on paid preparers which I don't think any of us want to do.

Just my two cents worth.

Deb!

[jklcpa]

Deb, I did exactly that and emailed the teacher directly shortly after her first posting.

I provided links to an IRS search for her to easily print out the 1040x, Schedule M and their instructions. I gave her the criteria needed for her to qualify for the gov't retiree credit. And I explained that all the numbers for the 1040X are coming directly from the 1040 with the exception of the $250 credit itself, if she truly qualifies.

I also explained that the board was set up for the use of tax professionals, mostly using ATX software, and that she probably wouldn't receive a response.

And lastly, I explained that her preparer was most likely taking a few days off.

Perhaps a change in the forum's banner would discourage the infrequent posting such as the retired teacher made. It only seems to happen once or twice a season and doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I would like to think that we could spare a brief moment of our precious time to help someone in need. That was what I chose to do.

[mcb39]

Deb, I did exactly that and emailed the teacher directly shortly after her first posting.

I provided links to an IRS search for her to easily print out the 1040x, Schedule M and their instructions. I gave her the criteria needed for her to qualify for the gov't retiree credit. And I explained that all the numbers for the 1040X are coming directly from the 1040 with the exception of the $250 credit itself, if she truly qualifies.

I also explained that the board was set up for the use of tax professionals, mostly using ATX software, and that she probably wouldn't receive a response.

And lastly, I explained that her preparer was most likely taking a few days off.

Perhaps a change in the forum's banner would discourage the infrequent posting such as the retired teacher made. It only seems to happen once or twice a season and doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I would like to think that we could spare a brief moment of our precious time to help someone in need. That was what I chose to do.

Good For You! I have also been feeling embarrassed and ashamed as to the way this question was handled.