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is it too late to amend a 2017 tax return?

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H

HelpinWA1

New member
Washington state

Hello! I'm new here, so I hope this question is ok to ask here!I don't really know where else to get advice about this, so I'm hoping so! I have questions regarding my taxes for 2017(which were filed on 2018)..I know there's a 3 year deadline to amend, is that 3 years from the filing date? 2017 taxes were straightforward for us at first - until my father informed me that over the summer, he cashed out a life insurance policy he had in my name, from which he received a 1099 form, showing an additional 33k in income that taxes would need to be paid on. he emailed me this; "Here's the form you need to enter into Turbo Tax. It shows a gross distribution of 44,983.37 with insurance premiums at 11,418.66 for a taxable amount of 33,020.43 but also note a deduction of 3,302.04 withheld for federal income taxes. Enter this into your tax return and let me know what Turbotax says is due on this." we entered in the information and our tax return amount swiftly fell from 6000$ to under 3k! I had no idea about the insurance policys existence, nor it being cashed out- I had no dealings with any part of that & know very little about that subject in general honestly- and as such, he offered to reimburse us for what we would be deducted. we relayed all the info, but he wanted his tax lady to review it. we are not sure how she got the figure that she came to, but she told my father that he would be reimbursing us 1356$... which is EXACTLY HALF of what it should have been/what was deducted from us. I've tried to explain this to him but he always tells me I need to take it up with his tax lady,"she's the expert".. unlike him, we are not paying clients of hers, & have been unable to reach her any of the times we've tried over the past 2 years or so.. so we are stuck!I don't know if it's my dad that owes us,or the IRS (because he notes how he had already had 3k of taxes withheld before) & how I can even go about figuring that out, how to prove it to him, or if there's even still time to amend! I'm sorry this is a lengthy & complicated post, but I'm not sure who else to ask so figured I'd TRY here! any advice or input is greatly appreciated, thanks for reading!!
 


T

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
HelpinWA1 said:
Washington state

Hello! I'm new here, so I hope this question is ok to ask here!I don't really know where else to get advice about this, so I'm hoping so! I have questions regarding my taxes for 2017(which were filed on 2018)..I know there's a 3 year deadline to amend, is that 3 years from the filing date?
Click to expand...

The rule for filing an amended return to get a refund of tax paid is that the claim must be filed by the later of (1) three years from the date the return was filed or (2) two years from the date the tax was paid. If you file the return before the deadline to file the return (i.e. before April 15) it will be considered filed on the return deadline. So if you filed your 2017 return on or before April 15, 2018 then you must file your claim for refund no later than April 15, 2021. If you filed a valid extension and filed the return on or before October 15, 2018 you get until October 15, 2021 to file the refund claim.

But there is a second rule that you need to know, too. You only get back tax paid in the three years immediately preceding the date the return was filed when using the return filing rule. Your withholding and estimated payments are considered paid on the return due date (including any valid extension for filing) for the purpose of this rule. The reason this matters is suppose you filed the return on September 20, 2018 but did not have any valid extension to file the return. The return is therefore late. Your refund claim would be timely as long as you filed it by September 20, 2021. But because you had no extension, the only tax you can get back is whatever tax you paid in the three years preceding the date you file the refund claim. So if you filed the refund claim on September 20, 2021 the only tax you can get back is tax you paid on that return between September 20, 2018 and September 20, 2021. If all the tax you had to claim were withholding and estimated tax payments credited as of April 15, 2018, you'd be out of luck because those credits are outside that three year window.

The bottom line is that you'd be good filing the amended return to claim a refund of tax as long as you file it by April 15, 2021 (or October 15, 2021 if you had a valid extension for filing that 2017 return and filed that return by the extended due date). File it later than that and you might not get a refund.

As for whether your return was done correctly and what you need to do to fix any errors, I suggest you see your own tax professional, not the one your father had working on this.
 
LdiJ

LdiJ

Senior Member
HelpinWA1 said:
Washington state

Hello! I'm new here, so I hope this question is ok to ask here!I don't really know where else to get advice about this, so I'm hoping so! I have questions regarding my taxes for 2017(which were filed on 2018)..I know there's a 3 year deadline to amend, is that 3 years from the filing date? 2017 taxes were straightforward for us at first - until my father informed me that over the summer, he cashed out a life insurance policy he had in my name, from which he received a 1099 form, showing an additional 33k in income that taxes would need to be paid on. he emailed me this; "Here's the form you need to enter into Turbo Tax. It shows a gross distribution of 44,983.37 with insurance premiums at 11,418.66 for a taxable amount of 33,020.43 but also note a deduction of 3,302.04 withheld for federal income taxes. Enter this into your tax return and let me know what Turbotax says is due on this." we entered in the information and our tax return amount swiftly fell from 6000$ to under 3k! I had no idea about the insurance policys existence, nor it being cashed out- I had no dealings with any part of that & know very little about that subject in general honestly- and as such, he offered to reimburse us for what we would be deducted. we relayed all the info, but he wanted his tax lady to review it. we are not sure how she got the figure that she came to, but she told my father that he would be reimbursing us 1356$... which is EXACTLY HALF of what it should have been/what was deducted from us. I've tried to explain this to him but he always tells me I need to take it up with his tax lady,"she's the expert".. unlike him, we are not paying clients of hers, & have been unable to reach her any of the times we've tried over the past 2 years or so.. so we are stuck!I don't know if it's my dad that owes us,or the IRS (because he notes how he had already had 3k of taxes withheld before) & how I can even go about figuring that out, how to prove it to him, or if there's even still time to amend! I'm sorry this is a lengthy & complicated post, but I'm not sure who else to ask so figured I'd TRY here! any advice or input is greatly appreciated, thanks for reading!!
Click to expand...

You are using the term "return" when you mean "refund". The return is the document you send to the IRS (the 1040). Be careful with that language as it can cause confusion.

If you properly entered the 1099-R into TurboTax the amended return itself would tell you if you have a balance due or an additional refund. I would suspect that you would have a balance due as the withholding amount described is unlikely to be enough to cover the additional income.

Your father's tax lady did not do your tax return so she would have absolutely no idea what additional tax you would have to pay. She should not have even expressed an opinion.

If you do not know how to do an amended return in TurboTax then I recommend that you have a tax professional handle your amended return. They will need a full copy of your original TurboTax return in order to do so.
 
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