With 131 Million Returns Filed, Millions of Amended Returns Expected

As of April 18, almost 46 million returns were e-filed from home computers, more than the total from home computers for all of 2013.

The IRS has received more than 131 million returns, of which 88 percent were e-filed.

The IRS also projects that almost 5 million taxpayers will amend their returns by filing Form 1040X during 2014.

Taxpayers who need to amend their returns should file this form only after filing the original return.

Generally, for a credit or refund, taxpayers must file Form 1040X within 3 years, including extensions, after the date they filed their original return or within 2 years after the date they paid the tax, whichever is later.

For most people, this means that returns for tax-year 2011 or later can still be amended.

This year, many same-sex couples may want to consider filing amended returns.

A same sex couple, legally married in a state or foreign country that recognizes their marriage, is now considered married for tax purposes.

This is true regardless of whether or not the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage.

For returns originally filed before Sept. 16, 2013, legally married same sex couples have the option of filing amended return to change their filing status to married filing separately or married filing jointly.

But they are not required to change their filing status on a prior return, even if they amend that return for another reason.

In either case, their amended return must be consistent with the filing status they have chosen.

As all amended returns must be filed on paper, allow up to 12 weeks for Form 1040X to be processed. Starting 3 weeks after filing their amended returns, taxpayers can use the “Where’s My Amended Tax Return?” tool on IRS.gov to check the status.