Married in 2024
Husband never has enough taxes withhold so I filed in March as MFS and got my refund.
Husband filed extension and mailed payment he thought was due
Husband just realized he has another 1099-B showing massive capital gain.
If he files MFS - Owes another $30K
If he files MFJ - owes $19K
He has not filed his return yet. What is best way to handle this? Do I just file an amend and change status to MFJ and include all his income? Will they be able to account for his payment made with Extension?
Thanks in advance.
In this case, the most straightforward approach is to amend your previously filed MFS return as you indicated. Via amendment, you can change filing status from MFS to MFJ. On the amendment, you would add all of his income items, leading to a complete return that has income from both spouses fully reported on one return.
Estimated/extension payments are associated with social security numbers. When preparing the amendment, you want to make sure to indicate that the extension payment was made. The IRS will reconcile this against the primary and spouse social security numbers on the return. In some instances, the IRS may not recognize the payment if it wasn't associated with the primary taxpayer on the return. In this case, they will send a notice, and you will need to respond to the IRS accordingly with proof of the payment.
Note, on an amendment, you cannot amend from MFJ to MFS, so if you proceed in this manner, it is not reversible.