Where's My Amended Return: 1040-X Processing Time and Status

How long does a 1040-X take?

The IRS says to allow 8 to 12 weeks for a Form 1040-X, and some take up to 16 weeks (IRS). The tracker shows nothing for the first 3 weeks; the IRS says to call only after 16 weeks or if the tool tells you to.

Processing is still done by hand (Topic 308). E-filing may speed it up by one or two weeks, because it removes mailing time (FAQ). For paper amendments, the IRS processing status page shows the month of mail it is working on now. Those months leave out returns needing error correction or special handling.

A wait is simple when one 1040-X is in the tracker and moving. It needs professional judgment when:

• you amended several years, or the amendment answers an IRS notice or exam;
• you have a foreign address or file foreign forms;
• the original return is still frozen for review;
• the IRS has no record of your amendment and the refund deadline is close (3 years after filing the original return or 2 years after paying the tax, whichever is later).

Gather: a copy of the 1040-X and everything attached, proof of the date you filed (the e-file acceptance, or a registered or certified mail receipt or designated private delivery service record), your account transcript for that year, and every IRS letter.

When will my amended return show in Where's My Amended Return?

The Where's My Amended Return tool shows a 1040-X 3 weeks after you file it, e-filed or mailed. You need your taxpayer identification number (for most people, a Social Security number), date of birth and ZIP or postal code (instructions). The same status is on the phone line, 866-464-2050, and in your IRS online account.

The tool covers this tax year and three prior years only. Before the first status appears, the Taxpayer Advocate Service says there is no need to call unless the tool tells you to, and not to file a second amended return.

Amended return received, adjusted, completed: what does each status mean?

The tracker has three steps. Each tells you what to wait for next.

The meanings come from the IRS FAQ. The "what to expect" timing is from the tracker page and the IRS's phone procedures, IRM 21.4.1.

Why isn't my amended return showing in the tracker?

It may be too soon, or it may be a kind Where's My Amended Return can't show at all, so "no record" there does not mean the IRS lost yours. The IRS lists these:

Under the IRS's procedures, the tracker reads an entry that its processing center adds when the 1040-X arrives. An amendment accepted directly by an exam or compliance unit skips that step and won't show. The Form 843 row is from the same procedures (IRM 21.4.1).

What does my account transcript show for an amended return?

Your account transcript can show the amendment as dated codes. Get the transcript from your IRS online account or by mail. These are the codes most often tied to a 1040-X:

The meanings come from IRS Document 6209, an older public edition of the IRS's internal code list; the 971 entry the tracker reads is in IRM 21.4.1. The hold on refunds when the amended return posts is in IRM 21.5.6. A 977 posts the amendment; it does not by itself change your tax. Only the 290 or 291 adjustment does. A change to credits can post under other codes. For those, and for a refund taken for a debt, see late refunds and transcript codes.

Will my amended refund come by direct deposit or check?

Direct deposit is possible only on an e-filed Form 1040-X for tax year 2021 or later; a paper 1040-X refund comes by check. The instructions say a refund on a paper-filed amended return can't be deposited to your bank account. On an e-filed 1040-X, enter the account in Part III; it must be in your name. E-filing is open only for the current and two prior tax years, and not if the original for that year was filed on paper during the current processing year (FAQ).

• If a bank problem stops the deposit, the IRS mails a check to your most recent address.
• The amended refund is sent separately from any refund on the original return.
• Any part of it can go to past-due federal or state debts, and the IRS sends a notice when that happens.
• Paper refund checks are being phased out where the law allows, so how a paper amendment's refund arrives may change (TAS).

Does an amended refund earn interest?

Usually, yes. The IRS figures interest and adds it to the refund (instructions). By law it runs from the date of the overpayment, and never for days before a late original return was filed. In most cases, if the IRS refunds your claim within 45 days after you file it, no interest is paid from the filing date to the refund date (26 U.S.C. 6611).

Interest on a tax refund is taxable income in the year you receive it. It may be reported to you on Form 1099-INT (Topic 403).

It's been more than 16 weeks, or the tracker says to call: what now?

The IRS says to call 800-829-1040 only when one of those is true. It lists the two triggers: more than 16 weeks since you mailed the amendment, or the tool directing you to call (IRS). Under its phone procedures, the assistor then checks your account:

The IRS lists what slows an amended return:

• errors, missing information or a missing signature;
• an attached Form 8379, or suspected identity theft or fraud;
• routing to a specialized area, or clearance from the IRS bankruptcy unit;
• review by a revenue officer, or a pending appeal or reconsideration.

Has the delay caused hardship, or have IRS deadlines passed with no action? See when the Taxpayer Advocate can help.

The IRS says it never received my 1040-X: should I send it again?

Not before 16 weeks: until then the IRS's procedures only point you to the processing time and the tracker. They call for a second copy when more than 16 weeks have passed and the IRS finds no record of the 1040-X. The IRS then asks you to file again electronically if the year still allows it; on paper, with an original signature and every document that went with the first copy (IRM 21.4.1).

• Send the same amendment. If you also need a new change, file it separately (see the last section).
• On paper, sign by hand; typed or digital signatures are not valid on a paper 1040-X. Put a completed, updated Form 1040 behind it, as the instructions now require.
• Mail it to the service center in the instructions' "Where To File" table for where you live. If you are answering a notice, use the notice's address.
• On an e-filed copy, keep the provider's message that the IRS accepted it.

The refund deadline is about filing the claim, not processing it. That is why proof of your first filing date matters if it was close to 3 years after filing the original return or 2 years after paying the tax, whichever is later (IRS). For a mailed copy the IRS never received, only a registered or certified mail receipt or a designated private delivery service record proves that date; an ordinary mailing receipt does not (26 CFR 301.7502-1). If the IRS also shows no original return, see a return missing from IRS records.

My original return is still under review: does that hold up the amendment?

The refund often waits, but the amendment itself is worked first. When an amended return posts, the IRS freezes refunds on that year until the freeze is released, and its review team can't act until the amended return is resolved (IRM 21.5.6). If the original return is under an income and withholding review, such as a CP05, CP05A or Letter 4464C, the IRS processes the 1040-X normally only if it can verify the income and withholding. Otherwise it adjusts your account to the amended figures, keeps the refund frozen and sends Letter 86C saying the 1040-X has gone to the review team, with a 60-day timeframe.

If the original return has not posted at all, refunds on that year stay frozen until it does (IRM 21.5.6). For the review itself, and whether to amend while it is open, see refunds held for review.

Can I file a second 1040-X while the first one is still pending?

Only for a new change, never to chase the first one. The instructions allow more than one Form 1040-X for a year, as long as each is filed on time. The Taxpayer Advocate Service says not to file a second amended return just because the first is still processing (TAS).

Column A of a 1040-X shows your figures as originally filed or as previously adjusted by you or the IRS. So a second amendment starts from the first one's figures, or from the IRS's figures once the first is adjusted.

Example

Illustrative figures in US dollars.

E-filed amendment with direct deposit

Raj e-files a 1040-X claiming a $1,500 refund and enters his bank account in Part III. Three weeks later the tracker shows received. Some weeks after that it shows adjusted, his transcript shows a 291 and then an 846, and the refund arrives by direct deposit.

Paper amendment with no record after 16 weeks

Jo mails a 1040-X for a year too old to e-file. At 18 weeks the tracker still shows nothing, so she calls, and the IRS finds no record. She mails the same amendment again, signed by hand, with every attachment from the first copy. She does not change it into a different second amendment.

Original return still under review

Sam's original return is held for a CP05 income and withholding review when he files a 1040-X adding a $900 credit. The IRS works the amendment first. It can't verify his income and withholding, so it posts the $900 credit to his account, keeps the refund frozen and writes that the amendment has gone to the review team. His refund follows only once that review releases the hold.

Different for you?

• You are still deciding whether to amend, or income was left off a return: see amending for income left off past returns.
• You are amending several years, or the refund deadline is close: get individual tax help before you file or refile.
• The amendment answers a CP2000 or other IRS notice: see CP2000 responses and individual tax help.
• A preparer's error caused the amendment: see when a preparer filed a wrong return.
• The original return's refund is held for review, or you need the Taxpayer Advocate: see refunds held for review.
• Your transcript shows other codes, or the refund was taken for a debt: see late refunds and transcript codes.
• You live abroad or file foreign forms: the tracker can't follow a foreign-address amendment; see filing while living abroad and get individual tax help.
• The CRA changed your Canadian return: see amending after the other country changes your return.
• The IRS has no record of your original return either: see a return missing from IRS records.