Should your tax preparer charge more for filing an amended tax return?

Tax preparer here! This is actually pretty normal practice. Amended returns require us to essentially prepare your return again from scratch, recalculating everything with the new information. We have to complete Form 1040-X plus revise any attached schedules (like Schedule C if your consulting was self-employment), and potentially state amendments too. Even though your preparer has your basic info, they need to review everything again to ensure the amendment is correct and nothing else was missed. The liability risk for us is actually higher on amended returns since the IRS scrutinizes them more carefully. Some preparers even charge a premium for amendments because they're more complex and have higher audit risk.

I went through something similar last year and found this service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me a ton of headache with my amended return. My original tax guy wanted to charge me full price again, but with taxr.ai I was able to upload my tax documents and their AI helped identify exactly what needed to be changed for the amendment. They have tax pros who review everything too, not just computers. The best part was they could tell me upfront exactly how the amendment would impact my refund before I proceeded. In my case, I had forgotten some investment income, and they were able to show me the tax impact and help me prepare the 1040-X properly.

I just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai since I ended up giving them a try after seeing the recommendation here. Honestly, it was so much better than I expected! I uploaded my original return and the 1099 I forgot to include, and within 2 days they had everything ready for me. The amended return was actually pretty straightforward once they explained what changed. The surprising part was they found a deduction my original tax preparer missed that partially offset the additional tax I owed from the missed income! The whole process was really transparent and they explained every change clearly. Definitely a better experience than paying my tax guy full price again for what felt like a simple fix.

Anyone else have trouble actually reaching the IRS to ask questions about amended returns? I tried calling them about 8 times before giving up. Then a coworker told me about this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to a real IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of the 2+ hour wait times I was getting before. They have a demo video of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was able to ask the IRS agent directly about amended return processing times (currently 20+ weeks!) and got confirmation that I calculated everything correctly. Saved me from wondering if I'd done it right for the next 5 months while waiting for processing.

I need to eat my words and follow up on my Claimyr skepticism. After continuing to fail getting through to the IRS myself (spent another 3 hours on hold yesterday before getting disconnected), I decided to try it out of desperation. Not only did I get through to the IRS, but I was connected with an agent in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed that my amended return from last year was still processing and gave me details about what to expect. I would have never known this otherwise since the "Where's My Amended Return" tool wasn't showing any updates. Still seems like magic to me how they got me through so quickly when I couldn't manage it after multiple attempts, but I'm not complaining. Solved a problem that was causing me serious stress for weeks.

One thing to consider about amended returns - if you're going from owing nothing/getting a refund to owing money, you might have to pay interest on what you owe dating back to the original due date. So the longer you wait, the more interest accumulates. I learned this the hard way last year when I had to amend due to a late 1099.

Does anyone know if using a different tax preparer for the amendment would be cheaper? My regular guy is charging full price and i'm wondering if i should shop around.

Based on my experience as a tax professional, shopping around for amendments can be tricky. While some preparers might charge less upfront, they often spend more time (and charge more) getting familiar with your original return if they didn't prepare it initially. However, there are some alternatives worth considering. Some H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt locations offer flat-rate amendment services that might be cheaper than your current preparer's full rate. Also, if your amendment is relatively straightforward (like adding a single 1099 or W-2), you might be able to handle it yourself using tax software - TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA both have amendment features that walk you through the process step by step. Just remember that with consulting income, you'll likely need to file Schedule C and potentially pay self-employment tax, so make sure whoever you choose (or if you do it yourself) understands the full implications of that additional income.

I'm facing a similar situation right now! My tax preparer is also wanting to charge me almost the full fee again for an amended return. Reading through these responses has been really helpful - I didn't realize that amended returns require essentially preparing everything from scratch again. One question I have is about the self-employment tax aspect that was mentioned. If I forgot to include some freelance income (around $3,000), will I definitely owe self-employment tax on that, or does it depend on how much total self-employment income I had for the year? I'm trying to figure out the full financial impact before I decide whether to pay my current preparer or try one of the alternative services mentioned here. Also, has anyone had experience with amended returns that involve both adding income AND claiming additional deductions that were missed? I think I might have some business expenses related to that freelance work that I could deduct.

I'm dealing with this exact situation right now too! My tax preparer wants to charge me $350 for an amended return when my original filing was $400. At first I thought it was excessive, but after reading these responses I understand better why the cost is so high. What's really helping me decide is getting a clear estimate of what I'll actually owe before committing to the amendment fee. I used the IRS withholding calculator to get a rough idea, but I'm wondering if anyone has tips for calculating the self-employment tax portion more precisely? I have about $2,800 in unreported freelance income and I want to make sure the amendment fee is worth it compared to just waiting to see if the IRS catches the discrepancy. Also, for those who mentioned the AI tax services - do they handle state amendments too, or just federal? My state requires a separate amendment filing and my preparer wants to charge extra for that as well.