Amendments with Unemployment

[Marsha2020]

I have an unusual problem.  Filed a return but the unemployment compensation wasn't included on original return.  The error didn't change the taxable income and all federal withheld is due back to client. Proceeded to correct with an amendment.  Everything was going perfectly, got the 8879 signed and was ready to efile.  So now, no figures show up on the 1040X and the 8879 shows the original refund plus the additional $516 client is owed.  It took me a few to realize that the last update changed everything.  Intuit is assuming that the only amendments needed are ones that were taxed incorrectly.  This is not the case with my problem.  I know I can do manually and mail in but we all know that it will take forever.  How to get Intuit to fix this problem or should I file the 8879 with the original amount plus the $516.  Other amendments that don't involve unemployment seem to be working correctly.  Thanks for the help.

[BobKamman]

The Myth of the Amended Return keeps popping up here.  E-filing is sort of like sending it by fax (except maybe IRS doesn't need an ink cartridge to print it out) -- it is still reviewed by at least one and maybe two or three examiners.  Mailing a paper return does save you a few days, if you believe IRS when they publish weekly reports that they are up to date on opening mail.  

It's related to the Myth of the E-Filed Original Return, which has been shown to be unreliable when IRS needs to do a clerical review of things like RRC and EIC.  

[BobKamman]

For those who want to follow the path of an amended return through IRS, it’s all in the Internal Revenue Manual and you will learn that there’s not much difference between electronic and paper returns. The key question is whether your claim is a CAT-A.

What’s a CAT-A? It’s one that requires a closer look by a tax examiner. And IRS is not going to tell us, what they are looking for. That’s why that part of the Manual is X’d out. See

https://www.irs.gov/irm/part21/irm_21-005-003r#idm140006922960688

What the Manual does tell us is that the person making the CAT-A call tells the examiner how the return was sent:

“If referring a MeF amended return meeting CAT-A criteria, include in your remarks 'MeF Amended 1040X', to indicate that the amended return documentation can be reviewed via the MeF Return Request Display (MeF/RRD) application.”