if you do your taxes and they're wrong, will the IRS send it back to you telling you to redo it?

Question

....or will they just send you back whatever you put? since they're really busy?

Answer 1

If they catch the mistake, they will send them back to you. If you catch the mistake, you should refile using a 1040X tax form. If you don't correct the mistake and they find it later, it could cost you more in penalties and fines.

Answer 2

It totally depends on what kind of mistake you made or why your return was filed "wrong". It may go completely through and be processed and you issued a refund before they even are aware there is a problem. Then they will contact you several months down the road and let you know your error and then you will have no choice but to pay what you owe because of your mistake---if that is the case. One year we did not include a W2 because my husband worked for the same company the entire year and we only got one W2 (which actually matched the last paycheck my husband received in Dec). Then after we had filed and already received our refund, the end of Feb/beginning of March....we received another W2 from the same company because they moved their corporate location to another state or something and had some accounting issues in the middle of the year, and did not put our full amount on the W2 they sent us..... So we ended up owing based on the additional income on the W2 but paying it off within a few months--which is a choice you have if they do find a mistake.

To avoid penalties though, since you already know your return was wrong, you should go ahead and file an amended return now and send it in. You may still get your original refund from your first filed return because they may not see your errors, but believe me, they will catch it one day and it will have to be corrected. They are never so busy that they won't catch errors---even if it takes them awhile.

Answer 3

There are certain things that will throw up red flags to notify the IRS that there is a problem with the return. They will contact you in order to fix it. If it is a reasonable amount you could be audited. Or you can beat them to the punch and file an ammended return with the correct information.

Answer 4

Usually they just let you know what line(s) are being changed and and adjust accordingly.
Refunds are no big deal.

But if you owe...
The clock is ticking you are incurring penalties and interest on the difference from April 17 (this year) until you resolve the issue.

If your taxes are really messed up you may just get audited

Answer 5

if it a calculation error, in most cases they just make the change and send you a notice telling you what they changed, and they adjust you refund or tell you that you owe them more money. they only send back for stuff like forgetting to sign the return

Answer 6

They'll send it back telling you why it was rejected. Then you correct any errors and resubmit it.