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11-03-2009 at 8:43 PM
amor_etern...
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Is it worth amending taxes for the $8k credit?

Hi ladies,

Just wondering your opinion.  We're not in a hurry to receive the money (although it would be nice to start getting some interest) but I'm not sure if it's even worth amending.  I guess I'm just afraid something will go wrong down the line and maybe it's best to have the paperwork ready.  We closed on 7/22.

Also, do you guys think it's worth doing the amendment yourself or taking it to a tax accountant?  I have someone that can do it, but she wants to charge $100 for it, and she didn't even know we could get the money now instead of waiting until next Spring.  Needless to say, my confidence in her is a little low, but I've never done my own taxes and don't want to screw anything up.

 I'm open to any and all opinions since I'm really not sure how we should go about it.  TIA!
 
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11-03-2009 at 8:50 PM
Beth&Derek
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At this point I'd probably just wait until I did my taxes. By the time you got the $8k, it'd probably be January already, so you're not looking at getting it much sooner than your normal refund, I would guess.
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11-03-2009 at 9:20 PM
pixieprinc...
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We will amend our taxes ourselves. I just looked at the form and it is super simple:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5405.pdf

As for waiting, I'd rather have the money sooner rather than later.
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11-03-2009 at 9:25 PM
Beth&Derek
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pixieprincss:

We will amend our taxes ourselves. I just looked at the form and it is super simple:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5405.pdf

As for waiting, I'd rather have the money sooner rather than later.

Keep in mind, it's not just the 5405 form that you need to fill out. You also need to amend your taxes with the 1040x. If you've e-filed before, filling out the 1040x online with the same program (Turbo Tax, Tax Act, etc) is super easy. If you've never  filed yourself, though, you'll need to pull out your 1040 from your 2008 taxes to transfer the information onto the 1040x.
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11-03-2009 at 10:44 PM
snowday!
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Personally, I don't care what my accountant charges.  It's worth it to me to not have to worry about it. I paid $150 for my accountant to amend my taxes.  It seemed a bit steep, but a good accountant is worth their weight in gold.  I can't believe I ever tried to do my taxes by myself.

But I think I'd ask around for some recommendations for a new accountant if you're not feeling very confident about this one.

The IRS does have a number to call with questions about filing the amendment, though.  And the forms aren't hard if you have a copy of your taxes.  It's totally possible to do it yourself.

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11-03-2009 at 11:20 PM
MrsNLasVeg...
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yes.  interest.
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11-04-2009 at 12:56 AM
blue_elle
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Regarding paying someone to do it for you - it's not a hard process at all if you have access to your taxes from last year. You'll have the 5405 that just your name, property address, etc. and then you'll need the 1040X, which is the actual amendment form. Ok, I'll admit the 1040X confused me, but a 5 minute phone call to the IRS and I was done. The woman told me exactly what to put on each line (it's basically just transferring info from the filed taxes to the amendment). Spending that 10 minutes to fill everything out and pop in the mail was worth saving my $100 I think.
 
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11-04-2009 at 4:53 AM
mscapricor...
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We are going to amend our taxes. We close next week and I didnt want to take hte chances of filing it with my taxes because of how long people are saying it took to recieve their check, we didnt want to take the chance that the 8,000 would delay the regular refund.  ( plus we normally file our taxes around March and then we would have wait even longer to get the 8000).. I am going to try and amend ours ourself and if it appears too hard, i would get someone to do it..
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11-04-2009 at 7:42 AM
samanthas8...
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I am an accountant and feel what some of them charge is crazy! It is so simple for them to do it unless you have a business; individual returns are a breeze.

I think it is worthwhile for people to try to get educated and use a site or software to file.

In regards to filing now or later, you are better off waiting as amending your return can take up to 12 weeks or more. You will have what you need to file at the beginning of Feb and can efile and receive the money in 2 weeks!
 
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11-04-2009 at 7:51 AM
pumpkinsee...
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samanthas8882:

In regards to filing now or later, you are better off waiting as amending your return can take up to 12 weeks or more. You will have what you need to file at the beginning of Feb and can efile and receive the money in 2 weeks!

This. We closed 10/16 and sent our paperwork in on 10/19. We've talked to the IRS twice and they said we should not expect our money until ATLEAST March. They said they are backed up 4 weeks for just receiving your paperwork into the system, let alone processing anything. We would have been better off filing with our 09 taxes in February.
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11-04-2009 at 8:12 AM
Mikes_Wife...
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It is extremely simple to amend your taxes yourselves for the first-time homebuyer credit. There is no way I would pay $100 to have it done. It literally only took about 5 minutes to do.

As for whether or not to wait, we closed 7/7/09, the IRS received our amended return 7/13/09, and we've been told not to expect the check until sometime in December at the earliest. Had I known it would take that long, I probably would have just waited until filing our 2009 taxes.







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11-04-2009 at 11:21 AM
DavidsBrid...
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We closed at the end of June and decided that since we did not need the money right now we would just wait until 2010 to file.
 
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11-04-2009 at 12:23 PM
pattymctat...
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It was one sheet of paper to fill out for us. But since it's so close to tax time again, I'd probably wait.
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11-04-2009 at 9:02 PM
marclovesm...
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We just adjusted our withholding so we'll get the credit in our paychecks with the remainder as a refund on our 2009 return.
 
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11-05-2009 at 6:59 PM
ForMeItsYo...
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We just closed yesterday and we are going to wait. We will file in Feb and I cant imagine we would have it by then anyway.
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11-09-2009 at 11:05 AM
amor_etern...
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I'm sorry, I'm just getting back into the post, but it was report card week, so it's been crazy.
 
We went ahead with it.  We figure that we don't really need the money, so if it comes soon great, we can go ahead and start earning some interest; and if it doesn't come until tax time, then that's great too.
 
Thanks for all the opinions/advice! 
 
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