Can I still Amend my 2020 Tax return for forgotten business expenses?

Hey tax people of Reddit! I'm kicking myself right now because I just realized I completely forgot to include about $7,800 worth of legitimate business expenses on my 2020 tax return. I run a small photography business (just me, no employees) and was organizing some old receipts when I found a folder of equipment purchases and travel expenses that somehow never made it onto my Schedule C. I'm guessing this would have lowered my taxable income by a decent amount, which is super frustrating since I remember feeling the tax hit that year. Is it too late to amend my 2020 return at this point? I know I'd have to mail in a paper form rather than e-file, but I'm wondering if there's a cutoff date I've already missed. Or if it's even worth the hassle if the IRS is still backed up from the pandemic years. Any advice would be really appreciated! Has anyone successfully amended a return from that far back?

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18 comments

PrinceJoe

•8M

You're still within the window to amend your 2020 return! The IRS generally allows you to amend returns within 3 years from the original filing deadline or 2 years from when you paid the tax, whichever is later. For 2020 returns, the original deadline was May 17, 2021 (extended from April 15 due to COVID), which means you have until May 17, 2024 to submit your amendment. For a sole proprietor, you'll need to complete Form 1040-X along with a new Schedule C showing the corrected business expenses. Since you'd be reducing your business income, this would likely lower both your income tax and self-employment tax liability, potentially resulting in a refund. And yes, you'll need to mail it in - the IRS doesn't accept e-filed amendments for 2020 returns at this point. Make sure to include all supporting documentation for those business expenses too!

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PrinceJoe

•8M

You don't need to include all the actual receipts with your amendment, but you should summarize the expenses clearly on your revised Schedule C. Keep all original receipts and documentation in your records in case of an audit. The IRS recommends keeping tax records for at least 3 years after filing. Currently, amended returns are taking about 16-20 weeks to process, sometimes longer. The IRS is still working through some backlog, so be prepared to wait. If you're due a refund, you'll eventually receive it with interest (which is taxable income in the year you receive it). You can check the status of your amended return using the "Where's My Amended Return" tool on the IRS website about 3 weeks after mailing it.

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Brooklyn Knight

•8M

Just wanted to share my experience - I was in almost the exact same situation with my 2019 taxes (freelance designer who forgot about $5,000 in deductible expenses). I spent weeks trying to figure out how to amend my return properly, but kept getting confused about which forms to fill out. I finally tried https://taxr.ai and was super impressed! Their system analyzed my original return alongside my new business expenses and generated a perfectly prepared 1040-X and updated Schedule C. It showed exactly how much refund I was due and explained everything in plain English.

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Brooklyn Knight

•8M

It actually breaks down each expense category and explains what qualifies, so it helped me figure out that my mixed business/personal travel needed to be allocated based on days spent on business activities versus personal time. It even gave me specific IRS references for the rules. For documentation, you don't need to upload all your receipts to the system. I just entered the expense amounts and categories, then kept my physical receipts organized in case of an audit. The system does let you upload supporting documents if you want, but it's not required to generate the amended forms. It really simplified what I thought would be a complicated process!

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Owen Devar

•8M

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai that was mentioned above. It was actually super helpful for my situation! I had a bunch of mixed business/personal expenses from 2020 that I wasn't sure how to handle, and their system walked me through exactly what percentage was deductible for each item. It even calculated the correct meals deduction (which was 50% back then, unlike the temporary 100% deduction in 2021-2022). Ended up discovering I had about $4,300 in legitimate business deductions I'd missed. Generated my 1040-X and updated Schedule C in about 30 minutes, and now I'm just waiting for my refund. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a similar situation - way less stressful than trying to figure it out myself!

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Sophie Footman

•8M

If you're struggling to get through to the IRS about your amended return status (and trust me, you probably will), I highly recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual person. I spent WEEKS trying to call the IRS about my amended 2020 return that seemed to have disappeared into the void. Their phone system would just disconnect me after being on hold for an hour. Someone on another tax forum suggested Claimyr, and they were able to navigate the IRS phone system and get me connected to a real human in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I talked to was actually super helpful once I got through and was able to tell me exactly where my amended return was in their process and when I could expect my refund.

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Sophie Footman

•8M

They use a system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you, then calls you when they've reached a human representative. It's not that they have some special "cut the line" access - they're just handling the frustrating hold time process for you. Their system understands the optimal times to call and which options to select in the phone tree to minimize wait times. Once they've navigated through all that and reached a human, they connect you directly to that person. I was skeptical too, but after wasting hours repeatedly getting disconnected by the IRS system, it was honestly worth it to me.

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Molly Hansen

•8M

Alright, I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After seeing it mentioned here, I was super skeptical (as you can see from my earlier comment). But after my amended return sat for 5 months with no updates and the IRS website showing no information, I got desperate enough to try it. I'm shocked to say it actually worked exactly as advertised. Their system navigated all the IRS prompts, waited on hold for about 35 minutes (which I didn't have to listen to), then called me when they had a real IRS agent on the line. The agent was able to tell me my amended return had been assigned to a processing center but was stuck in backlog. She escalated it and now it's finally moving forward. Definitely beats the 7+ attempts I made on my own where I either got disconnected or had to hang up after being on hold for over an hour. Just wanted to update in case anyone else is stuck in amended return limbo.

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Brady Clean

•8M

Just a reminder that if you're going to amend your 2020 return, make sure the business expenses you're adding are legitimately deductible. The IRS has been increasing scrutiny on Schedule C deductions lately, especially for tax years 2019-2021 because of all the COVID relief programs. Things like home office deductions, vehicle expenses, and meals/entertainment are particular audit triggers if they seem disproportionate to your business income. Not saying don't claim what you're entitled to - just make sure you have good documentation to back it up!

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Brady Clean

•8M

Those expenses sound reasonable given your business type and income level. Photography equipment is clearly a necessary business expense, and as long as your travel was primarily for business purposes and you have documentation (like client contracts showing shoots on those dates), you should be fine. The $7,800 compared to $36,000 in income is a perfectly reasonable ratio for a photography business, which typically has higher equipment costs. Just make sure to categorize everything correctly on your Schedule C - put the equipment under "Equipment" not "Supplies" if it's over $2,500 per item and will last more than a year (might need to be depreciated rather than fully expensed, depending on whether you took Section 179 or bonus depreciation).

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