How do I amend my federal tax return for a prior year?

If you want to change or correct some info on a prior-year tax return after you've filed, you may need to amend your return. Here are some things to know before you begin:

• You have three years from the date you filed your return or two years after you paid the tax due (whichever is later) to file an amendment.
• Make sure you really need to amend.
• Wait until your return has been accepted (or mailed, if paper-filing).
• Use the same TurboTax account you used to file your original return.
• Once you begin your amendment, you'll see your original return. Be sure to only make changes to the areas of your return that need amending. The refund calculator will start new at $0 and only reflect the changes in the refund or tax due.
• Any changes you make to amend your federal return will automatically be transferred over to your state return.

If you want to track the status of your amended return, use the IRS Where's My Amended Return? tracking tool. Allow at least 16 weeks for the IRS to process your amended return.

Note: If your TurboTax navigation looks different from what’s described here, learn more.

TurboTax Online

1. On the Tax Home screen, scroll down to Your tax returns & documents and select the year you want to amend.
2. Select the Amend (change) return dropdown, then Amend using TurboTax Online. If you're told to amend your return via TurboTax Desktop, follow the steps for TurboTax Desktop instead.
3. Continue through the screens, make the changes you need to make, and carefully answer the remaining questions to finish amending your return.

TurboTax Desktop

1. Open the TurboTax Desktop software for the year you're amending. For example, you must amend your 2023 return in the 2023 version of TurboTax.
2. Under Need to Amend a Filed Return?, select Amend a Filed Return.
3. Select Amend for the return you need to amend. If the return you need doesn’t appear as an option, select Find a Tax File to find and load the return.
4. On the Do you need to change anything else screen, select Update next to the info you need to change.
5. Continue through the screens, make the changes you need to make, and carefully answer the remaining questions to finish amending your return.
6. Don’t forget to select Save As (or Duplicate on Mac) from the File menu when you save a copy of your amended return. This will preserve the tax return you originally filed. Give the file a different name from the original, like [tax year]_amended_tax_return_Smith.