Today's Tuesday tax tip of the week focuses on amended income tax returns this time of year I meet with many clients that are getting ready to file their income tax returns and whenever I meet with a new client I ask them to bring their prior few years tax returns and the reason for this is I scan the returns to see whether the either there was an item that was reported incorrectly or maybe an item was reported correctly but there may be a better way to report it or some things that we can do in order to get the taxpayer some additional money back and the way you do this is you file an amended tax return now an amended tax return can be used to make a change in income deductions tax credits filing status or even dependents they must be filed within three years of the date that you filed the original return or two years from the date which you paid the tax whichever is later often I'm asked well if I file an amended return will that be a red flag to the IRS there's a couple of issues with this one I've never seen a study that says that it does increase your chance of being audited however I would never go back and file an amended return unless I have the appropriate backup so let's say for instance I was scanned I was looking at your 2013 income tax return this year and noticed that you reported your home mortgage interest but for some reason you left off your home equity interest we don't want to sell your information for this year what I would do is I would get the mortgage into that the home equity interest from 2013 I'd file the amended return but again I would make sure that if I were ever on a date if you were ever audited that you had the backup to support the deduction so amended returns are a great way if you've made a mistake to go back and correct it as long as you do within the correct timeframe hope this tip helps you out and I'll see you next Tuesday
