Should I amend my tax returns from 2022? What's the deadline?

It's definitely not too late to amend your 2022 return. You generally have 3 years from the original filing deadline to submit an amendment, which means for 2022 taxes (filed in 2023), you have until April 15, 2026 to fix this. Since you underreported income, it's smart to address this proactively. The IRS receives copies of all 1099s issued to you, so they might eventually notice the discrepancy through their matching program. By amending voluntarily before they contact you, you'll likely face smaller penalties. For the amendment, you'll need to file Form 1040-X. You'll also need to include a corrected Schedule C for your self-employment income and recalculate your Schedule SE for self-employment taxes. The difference between what you paid and what you should have paid will be subject to interest from the original due date, but coming forward voluntarily often helps reduce potential penalties.

Just went through almost the exact same situation! I underreported some freelance income in 2021 and was stressed about it. I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which helped me figure out exactly what I needed to do. It analyzes your tax documents and highlights discrepancies - turns out I had missed about $5200 in 1099 income. Their system showed me how to properly amend my return and estimated what I'd owe including potential penalties. The peace of mind was worth it since I was constantly worried about getting that dreaded IRS letter. They even helped me create a payment plan calculation since I couldn't pay it all at once.

Ok I was skeptical about that taxr.ai thing mentioned above, but I actually tried it last month for a similar issue (missed some crypto sales on my 2022 return). It actually was really helpful. The document analyzer caught exactly which transactions I had missed reporting. The interface walked me through the amendment process step by step and showed me how to calculate what I actually owed including the penalties. Saved me from paying an accountant $350+ just to tell me I messed up. Just filed my amendment last week and waiting to hear back, but at least I'm not stressing about it anymore.

If you're going to amend, you might also want to get ahead of any potential issues by being able to actually talk to someone at the IRS directly. I spent WEEKS trying to get through their phone system last year about my amended return. Finally used this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual human at the IRS in about 20 minutes instead of the endless hold times. There's a demo video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent was actually super helpful once I got through and confirmed exactly what I needed to submit with my amendment. They even noted in my file that I was proactively fixing the issue which apparently helps if there are questions later.

I take back what I said above. I was super skeptical about that Claimyr thing but I actually tried it yesterday because my amended return has been processing for 8 months with no updates. I expected it to be a scam but holy crap it actually worked. Their system called the IRS, navigated through all the prompts, waited on hold for about 40 minutes, and then called me when they got a real person. The IRS agent was able to tell me exactly what was happening with my amendment (apparently it was missing a form and sitting in limbo). Saved myself weeks of stress and uncertainty. Sometimes technology actually does solve problems!

Don't forget to consider state taxes as well. When I amended my federal return, I had to also amend my state return to match. Each state has different amendment forms and deadlines.

Anyone know if using an amended return increases your chances of getting audited? That's what's stopping me from fixing a mistake on my 2022 taxes.

Just to add another perspective - I was in almost the identical situation last year with underreported gig work income from 2021. I was terrified about amending but finally did it in late 2023. The process was actually much smoother than I expected. Filed Form 1040-X with the corrected Schedule C and SE, and it took about 6 months to process. Ended up owing about $800 in additional taxes plus $150 in penalties and interest. The IRS even sent a letter acknowledging that I had voluntarily corrected the error, which felt good. The worst part was honestly just the anxiety and procrastination. Once I actually sat down and did the paperwork, it wasn't nearly as complicated as I thought. And now I sleep better knowing everything is squared away. Don't let fear keep you from doing the right thing - you've got plenty of time before the deadline and the IRS is generally reasonable when you're being proactive about fixing mistakes.