AT Tax Gurus, I have a question.
I have a friend who does taxes (is a CPA), he did my taxes last year with no problem, but this year he totally screwed it over.
Situation in brief :
I have a 3-year-old son, I am HOH, I am married but legally separated, and he lives with my 12 months of the year. Punching in my W2 and 1099s, according to the IRS calculator, the H&R Block Calculator, and the Turbotax calculator, my refund should have been roughly $4000.
Well, I gave him my W2, 1099s, and the info above, along with a cancelled check for E-file direct deposit. He calls me a few days later (he's been distracted, flaky, and hard to get ahold of recently), and tells me he's got me filed, and that my refund will be $670 or so. I was like WHAAAAAAAT? Hah. Anyhow, I got the login info he used to file the thing, he used Taxbrain's online service, and view the info he put in. There were numerous errors, most notably incorrect figures for my 1099 income, incorrect name for my son, and although he put that I had a son, the software had a selection that said 'lives elsewhere due to divorce', which TOTALLY screwed my refund (basically eliminated my EITC). Correcting the erroneous fields and selections in the software changed the refund amount from ~$670 to ~$4000 as it is supposed to be.
The status is that it's already been submitted, so now I have to file an amended tax return, which apparently can only be done by printing it and mailing it to them.
My questions :
(1)- As I have an incorrect refund amount already 'accepted' (guess Taxbrain's online submission to IRS has an automated response feature) on the way direct-deposit to my bank account, I should leave that deposit alone and wait for it to be corrected later?
(2)- How long does it typically take for an amended tax return to get processed (several typos in names, streets, and wrong info about child living with me, as well as marital status)?
It's very frustrating. I have done several difficult projects for him, including retrieving all of his programs and windows installation (he didn't have any of his original discs) from a laptop that had coffee spilled on it while it was on, onto a replacement unit. It was a project that took many hours, and I did it pretty much for free, along with helping him build a HTPC for free. Last year there was no problem at all, but this year he completely screwed me.
Thanks, AT!!