Status of Filing and Extension for Amended Returns

[rbbartlettconsul]

Currently when you create an amended return, the original return filing status and extension status are associated with the Amended Return.  These statuses should stay with the original return because otherwise you lose the audit trail affect of knowing original returns/extensions were accepted once the Amended return is filed.

When the amended return is created, the filing and extension statuses should be associated with the Original return.  The amended return filing and extension statuses will be blank until the amended return is eFiled. Once the amended return is eFiled, the filing status for the amended return should be reflected under return filing status for that amended return.  This way you have a record and audit trail of both the original return and the amended return separately.

[George4Tacks]

Notice that in the instructions for 1040X https://proconnect.intuit.com/support/en-us/help-article/federal-taxes/amend-individual-return-1040x... In Before you start the last bullet point says:

• We recommend creating a copy of the original return to save your entries as filed. 

[IntuitGabi]

Thanks for the idea for e-filed return statuses to reflect the original return and the amended return filing and extension statuses stay blank until the amended return is eFiled. We are changing the status to "Open for voting". 

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[PatP3005]

I have spent most of this morning trying to find that needed paper trail the OP mentions. It is very confusing when the originally filed return changes its status and whether or not it displays in EF Center. 

I currently have an amendment that is displaying in EF Center as 1) Federal Extension - Completed/Accepted/E-file Complete and 2) Federal Amendment - Completed/Rejected/Resolve Reject. I see nothing at all about the originally filed return. It was also efiled and it should show up in the EF Center.

If there is a problem with an amendment being rejected, this display of statuses becomes even more confusing. It would be helpful if there was a more consistent treatment of the files. 

It can also be very confusing if the file names aren't exactly right. In my real-life example below, I didn't follow the naming syntax suggested in the instructions (it doesn't make sense to me to name a file COPY when it is the original and has been accepted, inserting ORIGINAL makes more sense to me). But even with that, they are backward. Because I named the originally filed file with ORIGINAL and named the other/old file AMEND, I did the amendment in the wrong file, the one named AMEND. That's my fault but it really created a huge mess that shouldn't have been allowed to happen. There should be a better, more foolproof way, IMO.

Here is a recreation of my HomeBase View for All Tax Returns:

File Name	Type	Client Status	Notes
arde1005amend.22i	1040	EF Accepted	This file contains a 1040X. In the EF Center, this file has two lines - one is Federal Extensions/Accepted. The other is Federal Amended/Rejected. This is confusing because the All Returns view shows this file as Accepted.
arde1005original.22i	1040	Ready to EFile	This is the file as originally filed and accepted by the IRS. This file contains no 1040X. The status in All Returns view shows Ready to EFile. The original was Accepted.