Anyone recommend affordable tax specialists for 2023 amendment (1040 to 1040NR)?

You definitely want to get this fixed correctly - non-resident alien tax status is one area where mistakes can be costly. For your amendment from 1040 to 1040NR, here are some affordable options to consider: Check with your university's international student office first - many schools have free or low-cost tax help specifically for international students. They often have volunteers trained on non-resident issues who understand the 1040NR. Another good option is VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) sites, which provide free tax preparation for people who generally make $60,000 or less. Some VITA sites have volunteers certified in international student taxes. You can find local sites through the IRS website. If neither of those work, try contacting small local tax preparers rather than big chains - explain your student situation and ask about reduced rates. Just make sure they have experience with non-resident status and 1040NR forms.

After messing up my taxes as an international student last year, I found this AI tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me tons of money and headache. My situation was similar - filed the wrong form and needed to amend. What's cool is you just upload your tax documents and it analyzes everything to help identify exactly what needs to be fixed. It walked me through the amendment process step by step for my 1040NR situation. The tool handles all the complicated non-resident alien tax rules that regular tax software gets wrong. I was stressed about affording a specialist too, but this ended up being way more budget-friendly and still got everything done correctly. Might be worth checking out for your amendment.

I wanted to follow up about taxr.ai since I was skeptical at first. Decided to try it for my amendment (F-1 student who also filed wrong form) and it was actually really helpful! The system correctly identified that my treaty benefits hadn't been applied properly and showed me exactly what needed to be fixed on the 1040X and 1040NR. What surprised me was how it explained which tax treaty articles applied to my specific situation - that level of detail made me feel confident the amendment was being done right. It even flagged that my FICA taxes had been incorrectly withheld (common problem for international students) and included those refunds in my amendment. For anyone dealing with non-resident tax issues, it's definitely worth checking out. Much more affordable than the quotes I got from tax specialists for amendment help.

If you need to reach the IRS about your amendment status (which can take forever), I highly recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was in a similar situation with a 1040NR amendment last year and needed to ask the IRS some questions, but kept hitting that "high call volume" recording for weeks. Claimyr got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I talked to was actually super helpful and explained exactly which forms I needed to include with my amendment as a non-resident. Saved me from making more mistakes that would have delayed my amendment processing even longer.

I need to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After struggling for almost two weeks trying to reach the IRS about my amended return status, I decided to try it as a last resort. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back in about 20 minutes and was connected directly to an IRS representative - no waiting, no automated system. The agent confirmed my amendment was received and explained the processing timeline (which saved me a lot of anxiety). For anyone needing to reach the IRS about amendment questions, especially with complicated non-resident issues like 1040NR, this service is legitimately worth it. Never thought I'd be recommending something I initially called a scam, but it genuinely solved a major headache for me.

Have you considered checking with accounting students at your university? When I needed help with my amendment (also international student), I found a senior accounting student who was pursuing CPA certification and needed practical experience. She helped me with my 1040X and 1040NR for just $75. The accounting department at my school had a bulletin board where students could advertise their services. The student who helped me was supervised by a professor to make sure everything was done correctly. Might be worth checking if your school has something similar!

Just want to warn you to be REALLY careful with amending from 1040 to 1040NR. I tried using regular tax software for this exact situation and it was a disaster. The software couldn't handle the complexities of non-resident status and actually made things worse. The IRS ended up sending me multiple notices with different amounts owed. Took almost 9 months to sort out and cost me way more than if I'd just paid a specialist from the start.