In News Release 2020-107, issued Thursday, May 28, 2020, the IRS announced that taxpayers will soon be able to electronically file Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. This is welcome news for taxpayers and tax practitioners!
Background
According to the IRS, more than 90 percent of individual taxpayers electronically file their U.S. Federal Income Tax Returns (Form 1040) each year. Likewise, approximately three million amended U.S. Federal Income Tax Returns (Form 1040-X) are filed each year.
Currently, a large number of tax forms may be filed electronically, including U.S. Federal Income Tax Forms 1040, 1065, 1120 and 1120S. Additionally, taxpayers may electronically amend U.S. Federal Income Tax Forms 1065, 1120 and 1120S. They may not, however, amend U.S. Federal Income Tax Form 1040 (Form 1040-X) electronically.
Despite repeated pleas by tax practitioners for the ability to file Form 1040-X electronically, the IRS has not been able to accommodate practitioners. That is about to change!
News Release 2020-107
As noted above, the IRS announced last week that taxpayers will soon be able to file Form 1040-X electronically. While the IRS has not yet announced a specific release date, it expects the electronic filing option for Form 1040-X will be available sometime this summer.
Practice Alert: The option to file Form 1040-X electronically will only apply to U.S. Federal Form 1040 and U.S. Federal Form 1040-SR for tax years 2019 forward. The option will not be available (at least initially) for amending any of the other forms in the U.S. Federal Form 1040 series, including 1040-A, 1040EZ, 1040-NR and 1040-NR EZ.
Consequently:
-
- Taxpayers will continue filing paper forms to amend U.S. Federal Forms 1040 and 1040-SR for tax years prior to 2019; and
- Taxpayers will continue filing paper forms to amend all U.S. Federal 1040 Forms other than Form 1040 and 1040-SR.
Practice Alert: Taxpayers may continue filing paper versions of U.S. Federal Form 1040-X.
Practice Alert: According to the IRS, the electronic filing option will be viable for “available tax software products.” What this means in practice is yet to be determined.
Conclusion
Taxpayers will finally be able to electronically file U.S. Form 1040-X. This is welcome news!
PrincipalLarry is Chair of the Foster Garvey Tax & Benefits practice group. He is licensed to practice in Oregon and Washington. Larry's practice focuses on assisting public and private companies, partnerships, and high-net-worth ...
AssociatePeter’s practice focuses on tax and business transactions. His tax practice includes tax planning and tax controversy. His business practice includes entity formation, corporate compliance and governance, contract drafting ...
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Larry J. Brant
Editor
Larry J. Brant is a Shareholder and the Chair of the Tax & Benefits practice group at Foster Garvey, a law firm based out of the Pacific Northwest, with offices in Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Washington, D.C.; New York, New York, Spokane, Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Beijing, China. Mr. Brant is licensed to practice in Oregon and Washington. His practice focuses on tax, tax controversy and transactions. Mr. Brant is a past Chair of the Oregon State Bar Taxation Section. He was the long-term Chair of the Oregon Tax Institute, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Portland Tax Forum. Mr. Brant has served as an adjunct professor, teaching corporate taxation, at Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College. He is an Expert Contributor to Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Catalyst. Mr. Brant is a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel. He publishes articles on numerous income tax issues, including Taxation of S Corporations, Reasonable Compensation, Circular 230, Worker Classification, IRC § 1031 Exchanges, Choice of Entity, Entity Tax Classification, and State and Local Taxation. Mr. Brant is a frequent lecturer at local, regional and national tax and business conferences for CPAs and attorneys. He was the 2015 Recipient of the Oregon State Bar Tax Section Award of Merit.
