Amended Tax Return, Missing Forms

When mistakes are made and corrected W2's have to be issued, it depends on the magnitude of the error as to whether or not an amended return need be filed. So don't be too hasty to condemn payroll department (not HR!)

And IRS does NOT scrutinize amendments very closely. I've never had a 1040x questioned in many many years of preparing them. Granted, one that reflects abnormally higher deductions might catch their eye, though.

ChEAr$, Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

Not to worry. They look at an amended return the same as a regular filed return. They only negative is it is sent in by paper and IRS has a horrible data entry error rate (22% by their own admission). I've seen some very bad data entry error results.

Hi Kramer,

If you look at 1040X, essentially what you do is submit new version of whatever forms you've had to modify, and fill in a few lines for key numbers and how they have changed. Then you explain at the end why you are making the amendment. So I don't think you need any of the old W-2s or 1099s, and all you should need is the new documents that your wife's company gave the IRS.

Anyway, take a look at 1040X and the instructions and it should be (relatively) clear what you need to do. I'm sure the IRS does look closely at amendments because it's complicated, plus they have to read why you are making the changes and decide if that's valid or not. But I'm not sure if they go too far beyond that. I expect they just look at what has changed, and if that is OK, they move on to the next one.

Not that I know. I'm not an accountant, but I have had the misfortune to file a bunch of 1040X forms over the past few years, and it's always been fine. That said, one thing I've learned is to save copies of absolutely everything! You never know when, years down the line, you may need to know.

Oh, also, you can get a copy of your previous 1040 from the IRS. The full copy, with attachments, costs $39, but there is a simpler version that is free, I think. Check out

Good luck!