Thank you for this - I hadn't even thought about the tax credits! I claimed the Earned Income Credit that year since I was in a lower bracket, but with the additional $8,500 I probably wouldn't qualify. Should I include a separate letter explaining the situation or just let the 1040-X speak for itself?

Including a brief, clear letter explaining the exact mistake is always a good idea. Keep it simple and factual - just state that you accidentally used your 2021 W-2 instead of your 2022 W-2, realized the error, and are proactively correcting it with the enclosed 1040-X. The EITC adjustment is exactly the kind of thing many people miss when amending, so you're on the right track. Be sure to recalculate it based on your correct income. The IRS appreciates taxpayers who thoroughly correct their returns rather than making partial fixes that require further correspondence.

I used TurboTax for an amendment last year and it was pretty straightforward. The biggest downside is that even though they help you prepare the amendment, you still have to print and mail it - no e-filing for amendments (at least when I did it). But it helped with all the calculations and made sure everything was consistent.

Do you know if this applies to people who were living abroad in 2019-2020? I was an expat during that time and I know we sometimes get different deadlines, but I'm not sure how the COVID extensions affected that.

For expatriates, the standard rule is that you automatically get an additional 2 months (until June 15) to file. However, during 2020, the COVID extension superseded this since July 15 was later than the expat June 15 date. The three-year statute of limitations would still be calculated from the COVID-extended date (July 15, 2020), making your deadline July 15, 2023 - the same as domestic filers for the 2019 tax year. The only exception might be if you requested an additional extension beyond July 15, 2020, which would have pushed your original filing deadline to October 15, 2020. In that case, your statute of limitations would run three years from when you actually filed.

If you're owed a refund, unfortunately after July 15, 2023, you've missed the window to claim it for 2019. The three-year statute of limitations has expired. However, if you OWE taxes, the IRS still wants their money! You should file as soon as possible to minimize the penalties and interest that have been accumulating. The IRS can technically collect unpaid taxes for up to 10 years, so you're nowhere near that deadline. Filing now will stop additional failure-to-file penalties from growing.

14 Did you end up having to pay those tickets? That sounds like a nightmare situation.

7 I contested the tickets by providing proof of the donation date and a copy of the signed title transfer, but it was a huge hassle that took nearly two months to resolve. The charity eventually took responsibility, but only after multiple angry phone calls. The DMV confirmed that filing the release of liability form would have protected me regardless of what the charity did or didn't do with the title. Lesson learned the hard way!

23 I researched them before donating. They are a legitimate 501(c)(3), but only about 40% of the proceeds actually go to their programs. The rest goes to advertising (those annoying jingles!) and administrative costs. I ended up donating to my local homeless shelter instead - they had a vehicle donation program where 85% of proceeds went directly to services.

What constitutes a "formal agenda"? Like do I need to print something out, or is an email to the team sufficient? And do we need to do some kind of actual business discussion during the event?

An email to the team outlining the agenda and business purpose would be sufficient documentation, just make sure to save it. You don't need anything fancy - just something that shows this wasn't purely recreational. Yes, you should definitely include some business discussion or activities that relate to your company goals during the event. For example, if you're doing an escape room, you might frame it as team problem-solving training and have a brief session before or after discussing how those skills apply to workplace challenges. The key is creating a paper trail showing it was primarily for business purposes, not just fun.

That's a great point! I've been lumping all refreshments together in my accounting. So just to clarify - the coffee/snacks in our employee break room are 100% deductible, but the identical items put out for customers in our waiting area would be 50% deductible?

Does this vary by state though? I've heard some states actually require the tax to be refunded no matter what, while others leave it up to the store policy?

Yes, it absolutely varies by state. Some states like California have specific regulations requiring retailers to refund sales tax on returned items even with gift receipts, as long as the return meets the store's normal return policy timeframe. Other states leave it up to the retailer's discretion. The complexity increases with online purchases being returned to physical stores, or items purchased in one state being returned in another. The tax jurisdiction issues get very complicated, which is why many corporate retailers default to the simplest accounting approach. Local managers often have some flexibility with store credit though, even if they can't technically "refund" the tax portion through their standard return process.

Totally agree! I work retail and we're WAY more likely to make exceptions for nice customers than demanding ones. We actually have a button in our system for "customer satisfaction adjustment" that managers can use for situations exactly like this.