May 08, 2017
Associate Partner Kim Sheehan, CPA/PFS offered advice on how to properly amend a tax return in the NerdWallet article “Goofed on Your Tax Return? Here’s What to Do.” The article was also distributed on various national news channels.
“Amending a complex return might require help from a pro, but people with simple tax situations and small changes might be able to amend their own, says Kim Sheehan, a CPA and associate partner at Alloy Silverstein in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Many major tax software providers include modules for amending returns, too.
“If a preparer prepared your return in the first place, they could just probably easily prepare the amended return for you,” she adds.
Remember, though: Changing your federal tax return could mean having to change your state tax return.
Generally, the IRS audits only returns from the previous three tax years — though there are major exceptions. It might be tempting to wait and see if the IRS will catch you in an error, but Sheehan says it might be cheaper to fess up sooner rather than later.
That’s because the IRS charges interest and penalties on outstanding tax liabilities going all the way back to the original due date of the tax payment. So the longer you wait to fix a mistake, the more expensive that mistake can get, Sheehan warns.
“I would never say just sit there and hold off to see if you can make it through these three years,” she says.
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