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Amending an already amended return

Using 2020 TT Premier, trying to send a second amended return. Loaded the previous amended return though TT is just changing that return, not using it for basis of a second amended return? What is best way to created a second amended return for 2020, thank you!

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3 Replies
rjs
Level 15
Level 15

Amending an already amended return

You didn't say when you filed the first amended return. Do not file a second amended return until you have received confirmation from the IRS that your first amended return has been completely processed.


There can be only one Form 1040-X in a tax file. You will make a copy of the file that contains the first amended return, and create the second Form 1040-X in the new file.


If you have not already done so, use Save As to save a copy of your first amended return with a different file name, so that you don't accidentally mess up the original file. You could add "Amend 2" to the file name, or something like that.


After doing the Save As you are working in the new copy. The new file name will be at the very top of the window. Make sure you have gone all the way through the amendment process for the first amended return. You have to click the Review tab and continue through the final review until you get to the screen that tells you to print and mail the amended return.


Now you have to tell TurboTax that you want to amend again. Click the Federal Taxes tab, then Other Tax Situations. On the Other Tax Situations screen, scroll down to Other Tax Forms and click the Update button for "Amend a return." It will ask you if you have already filed the first amended return. Select "Yes, it's been filed and accepted." Then select "I need to make additional changes to my 2020 return." The next screen tells you that it will clear your first amendment. Then proceed to make the changes for the second amended return. On the new Form 1040-X, column A will have the amounts from the first amended return.


If you have further questions, please say whether you are using 2020 TurboTax Premier in Windows or on a Mac.

 

Amending an already amended return

Maybe it's changed but,  I had to amend a 2013 return a second time. This is what I found.
To do a second amended return you need to use the Desktop CD/Download program installed on your computer. You start with the first amended return and try to delete the 1040X and state amended forms. I couldn't make that work so I had to start over with a NEW return. You need to make a new return that would look like what the return should have looked like after the first amended. So that will become your new "original" return. You can save the real original return with a new name and update it with the changes from the first amended return so you now have a new "original" return to start with. Be sure to save several times along the way and make copies to work in, in case you need to start over and try again. THEN when you have the new "original" return you can Amend it. You will probably need to enter all the prior refunds and/or tax due payments directly on the 1040X (and on state) using the Forms mode. I had to enter both a tax due I paid on the first original return AND a refund from the 1st amended return.


Basically, to do the second amended return you have to start with a dummy "original" return that incorporates the changes that were made by the first amended return. Then you can simply go through the normal amending process. There are two ways to produce the dummy original return. Both ways are hard to explain and to understand.


One way always works, for both federal and state, but it's for desktop only, and you have to have a copy of the .tax file for the actual original return that you filed, before the first amended return. You make a copy of the .tax file for the original return with a different name. Open the copy and make the changes that you made in the first amended return, but without going through the amending process. That gives you an original return that incorporates the changes from the first amended return. A variation of this method, if you don't have the .tax file for the original return, is to create a new return from scratch, reproducing the original return. But that's a lot of work and very error-prone.


The other way is to open the first amended return and delete the Form 1040X. That will leave you with what appears to be an original return, but incorporates the changes from the first amended return. This will usually work for the federal return only. In theory it should work for the state also, but some states don't let you delete the amended form, or it immediately comes back after you delete it. Sometimes deleting the state amended form makes the federal 1040X reappear. The results vary for different states, and sometime vary even for the same state, depending on the exact sequence of steps that you follow. With some states there seems to be a problem even deleting the federal 1040X.

 

rjs
Level 15
Level 15

Amending an already amended return


@VolvoGirl wrote:

Maybe it's changed but,  I had to amend a 2013 return a second time. This is what I found.


They made major changes to the way it works beginning with 2017 returns.

 

I tested the procedure that I described above in 2020 Premier.

 

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