I read in one post that if the foreign tax refund only affects the carryover amount on my USA return, then it is not necessary to file an amended return. I need some clarification here. I have lived in and paid taxes to a country in Europe since 2015. I did not claim any foreign tax credit for 2015, 2016, and 2017 because I owed no USA tax. I did not realize there was a carryforward provision. In 2018 and 2019, I recorded the foreign tax "paid or accrued" and offset this against a very tiny USA tax liability for each of those two years. Subsequently, I received large partial income tax refunds from the foreign country because they required me to make excessively large advance (estimated) payments. Even so, I have still paid far more foreign tax in 2015, 2016, and 2017 than the two tiny USA tax liabilities already mentioned. I have all the documents to substantiate this. Can I simply make the lump sum adjustment in 2020 so as to make the total 2015-to-date carryforward correct? I owe zero USA tax for 2020, so I will not use any of the carryforward for 2020. I really want to avoid filing amended returns. That is very time-consuming and expensive, especially since there will be zero effect on my USA taxes. Will the TurboTax program accept a negative entry in the foreign income tax paid field? Thanks!
