jug@whuxle.UUCP (Joseph U. Grauman) (05/08/84)
Warning: Don't file an amended Federal income tax return before you've
received your refund (if you had one coming) from the original
tax return.
I filed my 1983 Federal income tax return early this year (2/15/84)
hoping to get the refund in time to meet some financial obligations.
When I realized that I made some minor errors that resulted in having
to pay back some $40.00, I filed an amended return before the April 16
deadline (on 3/31/84) and enclosed a check for the appropriate amount.
I rushed to correct the return for two reasons: 1) I wanted to avoid
having to pay interest on the balance due, and 2) the instructions in
IRS Publication 17 point out that the amended return will not affect
any refund due from the original return, i.e., if the amended return
shows a payment due to the IRS, that amount must accompany it since
any refund from the original return will be processed independently.
Well, after waiting for my refund for nearly 11 weeks, I called the
local IRS office to see what was going on. The clerk informed me that,
indeed, my account shows that I was due my refund, but, since I filed
an amended return before receiving the refund, payment to me is being
held up pending the examination of the amended return - which could
take several months (by-the-way, the IRS didn't wait in cashing my
check that I enclosed with the amended return). When I quoted the
instructions from IRS Pub. 17, the clerk politely told me that,
regardless of what it said in Pub. 17, I should have waited for my
refund check before amending the return. I have now asked my
Congressman to help me; let's see how that works.
Our tax dollars actually pay for this bureaucratic nightmare called
IRS!
J. U. Grauman
AT&T-BL
whuxg!jug