Amended Return - Claim Teacher Credit, Efile

You should have a copy of the tax return that was efiled. If not, you can get a free transcript, enough to be able to amend, by filing Form 4506-T.

The benefit for educators is a deduction, not a credit. You really should crunch the numbers first from the receipts the taxpayer has to support this deduction. Be sure its worth doing prior to preparing and submitting the amended tax returns.

Depending on the state, you may also be filing an amended tax return for this deduction.

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It's not clear what you are concerned about. You said she already has a copy of her e-filed return, as Art Kamlet said you should. With that in hand, amending an e-filed return is no different from amending a paper-filed return, which you apparently have done before.

The 1040-X cannot be e-filed, even though the original return was e-filed. A 1040-X always has to be filed by mail.

If she used tax software to file her original return, she may be able to use the same software to prepare the amended return. That would save a lot of reentering of data and reduce the chance of error. It would also make it easy to "crunch the numbers first," as Benjamin Yazersky suggested, to see how much benefit she gets from the deduction.

Bob Sandler

I don't know about a teacher's tax credit, perhaps you are referring to the educator expense deduction, which is a subtraction from taxable income of up to $250 of unreimbursed classroom expenses for a K-12 school teacher. (California used to have a teacher retention credit, but it was eliminated a few years back...)

Because this is an adjustment (deduction), the actual tax savings to her will be on the order of $25-$70, depending on her tax bracket. Your state may or may not have a similar benefit.

Any amended return must be paper filed, it makes no difference how the original was filed, so if that is your only concern, carry on. However, if you have never filed any amended returns before, you will need to spend some time reading the instructions.

Since the original return was e-filed, that means it was probably created using software. The software itself should provide a feature for creating an amendment, and that would be the easiest and most accurate way to go.

If that doesn't work for you, however, get a blank form 1040 for 2007, start copying numbers from the original return, put in the adjustment (line 23), and then recalculate the tax on page 2. Use this information to generate the numbers for columns B and C of the amended return.

As you mention "in-law", presumably this is a joint return and her husband will have to sign the amendment also. It will probably take a minimum of several months for the IRS to process.

-Mark Bole

I have a question about this.

If line 9, form 4506-T is "12/31/06", will that result in receiving data for 2006 returns, including any amended 2006 returns?

I'm in a situation of having most of the data for a past 2006 1040X I filed; the only thing I'm missing is the date I filed it (I signed/mailed it without re-photocopying it, and without making a note of the date.)

Or could perhaps I learn the date of filing simply by calling the IRS? (That sounds too simple...)

Steve

Do you need to know that? If you need only the transcript for tax year 2006, since almost everyone files for the tax year ending 12/31/06, that's enough information.

So your answer to my question above is in the affirmative -- if I enter the date 12/31/06, and select form 1040 as the transcript to be retrieved, the amended return will be included in the data retrieved?

Thanks,

Steve

And choose line 6b, which included amended information.

Art -- thanks.

Steve

Fist -- Thanks to all whom have taken the time to provide me with tax guidance !!

As has been noted, I incorrectly identified the "missed deduction", ergo I should have stated "Income Adjustment Item of

$250 Tax credit. In both cases, I now know of my mistaken assumptions).

Further, I can understand the concern possible audits raise, as noted each 1040 X is reviewed by an agent. In my (now) daughter in law's case, she was single in 2007. She had net earnings under $25k, in the state of Maine. For sure there were no items likely to raise ANY concern.

Thanks for ALL of the Assistance !!

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