I'm filing an amended 2003 return tomorrow, to claim a refund check before the 3 year statute expires. I read somewhere that the IRS will withhold this check, since i havent filed 2004 and 2005 yet (i'm probably owed refunds on those as well). Is that true? If so, would anything get messed up because 2004 and 2005 wouldn't be filed until after Apr 15, 2007 (i.e. the 3 year statute for 2003 refunds). I assume any "block" on my 2003 refund is just "administrative" and not "part of" the claim of a 2003 refund within the 3 year statute? Thanks
You've got some overlapping issues but the uppermost one needs to be getting your complete, processible, and signed amended return filed before the three-year refund statute lapses. If you were to file your amended 2003 return after the Refund Statute Expiration Date (RSED), by law, IRS has no legal authority to issue a refund. IRS may or not hold your 2003 refund because you haven't filed for 2004 and 2005. If you motivate yourself to file
2004 and 2005 promptly, the IRS possibly holding the 2003 refund will be a moot issue. Normal time for IRS to process an amended return is 90 days, while the normal processing time for an originally filed paper return is 45 days (delinquent prior year returns cannot be e-filed). Thus if you go ahead and file for 2004 and 2005 immediately after you submit your amended 2003, those returns should be done processing by the time IRS gets to your amended return. Never enclose more than one return in a single envelope, rather seal each in its own envelope. It might behoove you to reform your ways and file each year's tax return on or before its due date. Frederick Lorca
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