For businesses that have already filed their 2019 taxes and failed to take advantage of important tax benefits like the fuel tax credit, there’s still hope. The IRS allows taxpayers to amend or correct their previously filed taxes for up to three years from the time the original return was filed.
It may sound daunting or complicated to file an amendment, but it’s actually fairly straightforward. If you previously filed using forms 1040, 1040-SR, 1040A, 1040EZ, 1040EZ-T, 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ, then you can amend your return using Form 1040X along with any forms or schedules that you’re changing. Below we’ll walk you through an example of how to amend your 2019 taxes to claim your federal fuel tax credit. As always, information in this blog post should not be construed as tax advice- please consult with your CPA or tax advisor about your own specific circumstances.
What you’ll need:
· IRS Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
· IRS Form 4136, Credit For Federal Tax Paid On Fuels
· A copy of the return you are amending, including supporting forms, schedules, and any worksheets you completed
1) Fill out the informational portion at the top of form 1040X. Check the box for the tax year you’re amending. In this example, we are amending our 2019 taxes, so we would check the 2019 box. The rest of the information (name, current address, and social security number) will be the same as your previously filed 2019 taxes.
2) In this example, we are only amending our return to claim the federal fuel tax credit, so we only need to fill out lines 11–23 on form 1040X. Leave lines 1-10 blank.
3) Now that we know what lines we are going to fill out, this is where you will need a copy of your 2019 tax form (what we’re amending).
For lines 11, 12, 13, 14 and 16 on form 1040X we are just going to transfer the amounts from our previously filed 2019 taxes into column A of form 1040X. There are no changes to these amounts, so put a zero in column B. Column C should be the same as column A (no net change). The chart below will help you find the amounts from your 2019 1040 and where to put them on your 1040X.
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2019 Form 1040X (amended return) |
2019 Form 1040 (previously filed return) |
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Line 11 – Total Tax |
Line 16 – Total Tax |
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Line 12 – Federal income tax withheld |
Line 17 -Federal income tax withheld |
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Line 13 – Estimated tax payments |
Schedule 3, Part II, line 8 – 2019 estimated tax payments |
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Line 14 – Earned income credit |
Line 18A – Earned income credit |
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Line 16 – Amount paid with extension |
Schedule 3, Part II, line 10 – Amount paid with extension |
4) Once you have all that information filled out, go to line 15 and check the box “form 4136” and put a zero in column A on your form 1040X. This is assuming you did not claim any federal fuel tax credit previously.
5) After downloading your 2019 form 4136 from FuelCred. Go to line 17 on form 4136. This is your federal fuel tax credit and the money the government owes you. Take this amount and put it on line 15 column B “Net change” on your 1040X. Column C “Correct Amount” should be the total of columns A and B.
6) On Line 17 of your 1040X, add lines 12 through 15, column C, and line 16 and put that amount in column C
From here follow the instructions to fill out the rest of the form (lines 18-23). It’s mostly just simple calculations at this point. Generally speaking, the amount on line 15 column C will be the amount the government owes you (they’ll send you a check)! For most FuelCred users this is between $600-$1000. And now, as of August 17, 2020, the IRS will allow you to e-file your amended return.
Good luck getting the money back that you deserve!
