Incorrectly claimed EITC

[rprassetya165]

Hi all,

I mailed my return (married filing jointly) claiming an earned income tax credit. However, I realize I am not entitled to EITC because my wife only has ITIN, not SSN. Should I file an amended return now or should I wait for a letter from IRS saying that my return is incorrect? Thank you.

Best,

Pras

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

Sit tight and wait to see what the IRS does with your return.  You should not try amending a tax return while the IRS is still processing it.   That leads to confusion and delays.   

[rprassetya]

Thanks for your reply; I will wait then.

A brief story of why this happened and might help other filers: my wife doesn’t have ITIN; we plan to apply for one together with this return. When filing the return in TurboTax, I left SSN/ITIN field for my wife empty. Only after submitting the Return (together with ITIN application) did I realize TurboTax assumed my wife has SSN, hence claiming EITC in the return. After I get my wife's ITIN, I redo the Return again in Turbotax, which results in a lower refund due to no EITC.