Efile or not?

[taxea]

Well, since you've got to wait several weeks either way for the 1040X to get processed, I think I'd just give the efile a shot afterwards anyway. The worst that can happen is you hit "send" and it gets rejected again; if not you've saved the paperwork and dealing with the client again.

This is not to say that taxea's source about the IRS protocol on this is wrong -- she sounds like she's more efilingly knowledgeable than I, but I've had numerous IRS reps tell me I can't do something and then talk to another who has no problem at all with it (you just have to call and talk to them about these things). As to the anticipated letter I don't see any need to respond -- if the amended return goes through then the letter's moot.

reread my post....it is going to reject no matter how long you wait to efile it.

[joanmcq]

Bart's wrong (and an efile newbie). Just paper file and be done with it. Processing the amendment has nothing to do with efile. The paper return will go through fine.

[JohnH]

I think it's always a good idea to call IRS and get another opinion when I don't like what the first person told me. After all, clients do it with us all the time - why can't we do the same thing with the IRS?

[Black Bart]

My client's ex spouse claimed their son. Then they decided my client should claim him so the spouse filed an amended return. When I efiled his return in late April (on extension) it was rejected because the amended return had not yet been processed. Should I wait a few weeks before trying to efile it again or is this hopeless and I should just paper file and deal with the letter that will come telling my client not to claim the child when someone else has already done so?

Well, since you've got to wait several weeks either way for the 1040X to get processed, I think I'd just give the efile a shot afterwards anyway. The worst that can happen is you hit "send" and it gets rejected again; if not you've saved the paperwork and dealing with the client again.

This is not to say that taxea's source about the IRS protocol on this is wrong -- she sounds like she's more efilingly knowledgeable than I, but I've had numerous IRS reps tell me I can't do something and then talk to another who has no problem at all with it (you just have to call and talk to them about these things). As to the anticipated letter I don't see any need to respond -- if the amended return goes through then the letter's moot.

[JG EA]

Also, I would add that even if the amended return were not done, your client should file the return the correct way and mail it in. I've had cases where my client should definitely claim their child, the ex did also, but my client would win if the IRS challenged. Thre was no problem for my client.

[taxea]

it must be manually filed because the IRS doesn't have any way to back out the SSN for the child in the computer. His SSN will remain as used and the corrections are made through other means with manual filing.

PS this question was answered recently

[Kram BergGold]

My client's ex spouse claimed their son. Then they decided my client should claim him so the spouse filed an amended return. When I efiled his return in late April (on extension) it was rejected because the amended return had not yet been processed. Should I wait a few weeks before trying to efile it again or is this hopeless and I should just paper file and deal with the letter that will come telling my client not to claim the child when someone else has already done so?