Imagine this: Your paws are frantically sifting through previous years of tax returns, and your ears perk up as those puppy dog eyes stumble across an error on your return from your last filing. Before you panic and make plans to hide your tail from being hauled into the pound, remember that you can file an amended tax return to correct simple, but important issues that you mistakenly reported. First of all, go get yourself a bone as a treat for realizing the error on your filed return, and then settle those paws in for some quick and pretty painless work.

Amending a tax return is no more daunting than going to the vet’s office:  while it may seem like an excruciating process, in the end, you’ll feel better once it’s over, and maybe you’ll even come out with a treat or two for acknowledging that your records weren’t quite up to par originally. Every year, with every single tax return that’s received, the IRS reviews the forms before cutting refund checks, or in some cases, sending out letters carried by the very nice postal worker who gives you head scritches.  Those letters might let you know that you owe the government some extra bones that year.

The IRS goes through an extensive process to cross-check your information upon receiving your filed return and will forgive mathematical mistakes and correct them for you. But what about the other errors that you fear could send you straight to the pound, or at the very least, get those bones you love so much taken away from you for awhile? The answer will put your fears to rest.

You can file an amended return for errors on a tax return for things as unreported income that you forgot to report. Form 1040X is the form you’ll be using. Put those paws to work, and make the corrections.  Make sure you explain why you need to make the adjustment.  Then run off to the post office and send the return directly to the IRS.

Take a break, and allow yourself another treat. Filing an amended tax return is fairly common, and the IRS will praise you versus haul you off to the jail house, away from your puppy condo and extra soft pillows to lounge on, should you elect to admit to error.

If you find yourself with your paws tied, unsure of what to do and terrified, contact the Law Offices of Christy Lee, P.C. right away. Christy and our staff will be more than happy to walk you through the steps, explain where and how to correct your errors, and if you’re lucky, we can even play a round of fetch in the office once the work is done!