in 2019 I amended my 2017 tax return to report the sale of stock, and ended up owing tax for both federal and state for 2017. I paid the tax owed in december 2019. In the 2018 tax return I had reported federal and state tax refunds received for 2017, but it now turns out to be net tax owed for 2017 after filing the amdendment.
Do I report the extra tax payment when I file the 2019 tax return, or do I need to amend the 2018 tax return to show that I paid extra federal and states taxes for 2017, instead of receiving refunds? (as the refunds had increased my income for 2018).
The extra tax payment you paid in December 2019 would be reported on your 2019 tax return. You always report the taxes paid in the year you paid them.
You may also want to amend your 2018 return since the 2017 refund increased your 2018 income. By amending your 2018 return, you may be entitled to a refund if you paid additional taxes as a result of reporting the 2017 taxable refund on your 2018 return.
Please see this TurboTax Article for more information on amending your 2018 tax return.
Thanks for the reply. My only concern is, wouldn't I be double reporting the payment if I amend the 2018 tax return to report that I paid extra taxes (and amended the tax return) for the year 2017, and then I report the payment in the 2019 return (the year I paid the taxes?). I thought in 2019 I only had to report the payment of the penalty for having overdue taxes from 2017. I will try to go through the 2018 tax return amendment tonight (have been procrastinating the amendment and the tax return for 2019 as well), but not sure which section to use to amend based on a previous year's amendment.