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You filed your tax return before the April 15th deadline and you assume you’re all done for the year. After that point, what do you do if you receive tax documents that should have been included in your tax return?

Corrected or Amended Forms | Sometimes investment companies or pass-through entities will need to send out corrected or amended information. If you included the original information in your tax return, compare the updated form to the original form and see what the change is. If the change is significant, you will need to file an amended 1040 to include this updated information. You may have a tax balance due to pay with the amended return, or you may be asking for a refund, depending what the change was.

If the change is small or immaterial, you may choose to pass on amending your return. When the IRS receives the updated information from your investment company or the pass-through entity, they may send you a notice or a bill looking for payment due or asking about the change, and you would need to address the changes at that time. A tax professional can help you compare the pros and cons of waiting.

Completely New Information from a New Entity | Once in a while, a taxpayer will receive tax forms over the summer or early fall, likely a K-1, that they were not expecting. Maybe they forgot it was invested in their own personal name, or maybe it was a Publicly Traded Partnership they assumed was handled through their investment company, but instead they received a K-1. Whatever the reason, if you receive a new K-1 you will likely need to amend your 1040 to include the income shown on this form. You may also need to contact the entity and see if there should have been K-1s in prior years you are missing.

Whenever you receive tax information outside of the normal tax return preparation process, you should contact your tax advisor and they can walk you through the options.