> Just giving this a shot.
>> I have a client who wants to look back as many years as
>> possible for potentially amending. I know that if one owes,
>> that will always be due. But this client owes to the IRS
>> about $850 for the Year 2003. Based on the language from the
>> 1040x Instructions,"3 years after the date you filed the
>> original return or within 2 years after the date you paid
>> the tax, whichever is later" it seems legally that this
>> client still has the right to file for a credit for the Year
>> 2003. (Yet intuitively I feel that I am reading this
>> incorrectly.
>>
>> Can someone clarify this for me?
> I'm not sure where your confusion is coming from. There are
> two possible dates of interest and the deadline for filing
> an amended return is the later of those two dates.
>
> (1) 3 years after filing. The deadline for filing the 2003
> return was April 15, 2004. If he filed his return by then,
> the last date for amending is April 15, 2007. If he filed
> for an extension or just plain filed late, then the last
> date for amending is three years from the date he filed. So
> it really depends on when he filed his original return in
> determining this date.
>
> (2) 2 years after paying the tax. If he filed on time, and
> the IRS sent him a notice in 2005 that he owed more tax and
> he paid that tax on February 5, 2006, then the last date he
> could amend his return is two years past the date he paid
> the tax, Feb. 5, 2008. In this example, this would be later
> than 3 years past the filing deadline.
Your #2 was closest to what I was getting at, Dennis. But I think where my situation is different is that the client filed timely as I recall, but did not pay for 2003. Still has not. I guess that would be a somewhat "artificial" application of the rule, and would void even thinking about it. Right? Thanks, all.
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