Got a refund, but amended return says I owe money. Now what?

[food4thesoultrain]

I already received a state refund for this year's taxes (it came electronically 3 days after I filed!) but my amended return - which I filed because I received a 1099-B from my investments after I'd already filed - shows that I now owe money. What should I do?

[Vanessa A]

You will need to pay it.  You can do this when you send in your amended return or by mail or on the state website afterwards.  If you cannot afford to pay it, you may be able to request a payment plan with the state.  Which state is it?

Basically this happens because you added income which increased your taxable income in turn causing your tax liability to increase.  If your refund was say $2,500 without the 1099-B, but it is telling you, you owe $300, it just means your refund should have been $2,200 if you would have had the 1099-B included on the original return. You are simply having to pay back the excess amount that you received as a refund. 

[xmasbaby0]

If you added income when you amended it is quite possible for you to owe tax due on that additional income.   Pay the tax due by April 15, 2026.

[food4thesoultrain]

This is really great information, and I appreciate your thoroughness! I certainly understand why the 1099-B would result in owed taxes. In my excitement to file my taxes early, I neglected to give the investment firm time to send this form out. The state refund I received is from Maine. When I look at the actual amended return, it the form shows that taxes are owed, but doesn't actually say they are due (which is strange), although there are calculations for tax already paid (I assume, via the W-2s) as well as a negative amount in line 26 where it says "If this is an amended return, enter overpayment, if any, on original return or as previously adjusted." Not sure what this means. I did actually file two amended returns because of a Schedule K-1 that I also received late. 

[Vanessa A · Accepted solution]

Maine uses the same form for the amended return as it does the original return.  It just has you check a box saying this is an amended return. When it is asking you for the overpayment on your original return it is asking for the number on line 28 of form 1040ME.  

Line 25f is the total of all of your payments and refundable credits, so line 26 is deducting what you already received as a refund to come up with what you either owe or don't owe. 

 So that is where you would have seen the numbers I was explaining earlier.  If line 25f was $2,200 and line 26 was $2,500 because that was the number on line 28, then you would see line 27 -$300.

So when you are looking at your forms, look at line 24.  This is your NEW total tax.  

Then line 25 is all the withholdings and payments you made.  

Line 26 is what you already had refunded to you. (Since you have amended before, be sure this amount includes refunds from all returns and amendments- if you ONLY got a refund on your original return, then it would just be that amount)

Line 27 is the end result of what you owe or will get back.

Line 28 or 29 will be what you over paid (refund) or underpaid (owe)