I'm certainly not seeing this happen for me, now even in October!   Because the Union Dues is not even a standard entry field in the online TurboTax, rather it is an add-on "Other Job Expenses" that you type in, there's no way for the NY return to know this is eligible expense for the NY addition adjustment to the itemized deductions.  There are only 4 obscure categories allowed, union dues undoubtedly being the most common! ... View more

Yes, but it's not that I have to e-file the federal return.  It's that I don't want to and choose not to, even though it has been prepared by tax software and could be e-filed.  Is that alone sufficient grounds to opt out of the NY e-file mandate? ... View more

Amended returns take up to 16 weeks to process, normally.  In some cases, they can take longer.  You can use the IRS "Where's My Amended Return" tool to track its status.  IRS will also pay you interest on the refund when they finally process it! ... View more

Critter - I think you mis-understand.  Tax return transcripts always only reflect the information provided on the originally filed return.  Amended returns are simply processed as adjustments to the originally processed return on the account transcript, they don't actually change the return in any way.  This is true even when amending from a sepate return to a joint return, which I wasn't sure about.  I did not file a separate return before amending to a joint return because I would have owed interest, penalty, and late filing penalty as opposed to just amending the spouse's separate return to be a joint return and get a refund, and that did work! (but they surely did begrudge me for it!)   What I was reporting is that when amending a return from separate to joint, and the other spouse never filed, IRS associates the one separate return being amended as the originally filed return with the non-filing spouse.  I guess that is necessary and sufficient to mark them as filed on IRS systems, but it still isn't their separate return and doesn't show their name, income, or taxes at all!  Kind of weird seeing spouse's MFS return as my MFS return also, and certainly could cause great confusion if I needed to give a tax return transcript for income verification, but that's the way they do it in this case.   ... View more

One other thing to add, if both spouses did not both file a married filing separately return before submitting the amended return to change the filing status to married filing jointly, then after the adjustment is made, that one original return with its original numbers becomes associated with both spouses on the tax return transcripts afterwards.  That could be a problem if return transcripts are needed for income verification.    So, while the original advice here that a second MFS return is not needed before amending to MFJ is correct and true, it may be in your best interest to do so any way, if you want your tax record complete.  Also, I suspect the IRS examiner would have preferred this in my case and might not have delayed the return, as original return processing is automated while amended return processing is manual.  Doing so probably saves them a lot of work! ... View more

Just an update on my earlier post two above.. "Now over 16 weeks later, return still has not been processed by IRS..."   I requested my member of Congress to inquire as to the status of the unprocessed return.  They submitted the inquiry to the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) to handle.  Nearly 4 weeks later, still nothing.  I called the Congressman's office again for them to follow-up.  Pretty much immediately after that, the return was processed!    My account record indicates that the return was adjusted on July 3 and refund issued (check received July 5), and the adjustment notice is scheduled to be sent on July 15 (exactly 6 months from when they acknowledge receiving the amended return).  The return itself was never lost and did not need to be resubmitted (which surely would have messed things up!), IRS simply was ignoring it.  IRS customer service operators really were wrong by advising that I simply re-file the return - don't do it until there confirmation it is lost and unrecoverable (highly unlikely).  There also was a hefty interest payment that IRS had to include with the tax refund; literally, every day they delayed processing the amended return was actually costing them at the high interest rates which they normally charge delinquent taxpayers!   As far as the refund itself, it is off by $1 from what was requested on the Form 1040-X.  Reviewing the account transcript, I know exactly where the discrepancy comes from, and it is not in the tax calculation like you would think, but rather a rounding error (or mis-key) on one of the refundable tax credit forms!  I might indulge myself to dispute the refund amount on the adjustment notice when I get it (just for thrills), as the error is a simple $0.50 that is supposed to round up and not down! ... View more

I did just that, just filed the amended return to change filing status from married filing separately to married filing jointly, acknowledged as received on Jan. 15 by IRS. Now over 16 weeks later, return still has not been processed by IRS. Amazingly, IRS representatives have no way to check up on the amended return further, and they are advising that it might be lost and to send it in again to normal filing address and wait another 16 weeks for a perhaps different result. That's not very definitive, and having the same amend return processed twice might be bad, so I've instead asked for a Congressional inquiry as to the return's disposition before sending the amended return in again. It's a bit strange in my case, as filing separately would result in a balance due and late filing penalty plus penalty and interest on the amount due, but filing jointly results in a very large refund! So, by skipping the separate filing step, I am also dodging penalties, and I can see how they might not like that! In fact, even if money were owed on the joint return, it's not clear to me if the late filing penalty would apply on the added spouse somehow if the original separate return was filing timely, as amended returns are handled by IRS as a request for an adjustment to a previously filed return and not as a new return. ... View more

What if only one of the spouses has filed their separate return so far?  Does the second spouse still have to a separate return (even though it will be later disregarded) before filing the amended return on one of them to change the filing status to married filing jointly?  Or, can the one return that was filed be amended immediately to convert to married filing jointly, and in so doing satisfy the other spouse's filing requirement? ... View more