Hi,

Since it is already past April 15, does it make a difference if I post the 1040X today or after two weeks?

I realized that I filled my 1040 instead of 1040NR form. After reading the topics on this site,I know that I need to send the amended form 1040X with the 1040NR. But since its already past April 15, I would like to know that the penalty would be.

Thank you!

Huh!

The 1040x is an "amended return". By definition it's sent AFTER you filed your taxes.

Any additional taxes due is going to be subject to whatever penalties the IRS comes up with. You will not, however, be subject to what I believe is an additional penalty for not filing taxes.

Generally the penalty is assessed by a percentage of the payment not due by a given quarter. Usually with annual income, it's your tax burden/4 weighted by the number of months of interest penalty,

Simple example (calc's may not be right)

Say you owe $1000; qtr payments of = 250

Penalty might be calculated as 5% * 90/365 + 5% * 180/365 + 5% of 270/365. This might correspond to 1st amount 90 days late, 2nd 10 d late, and 3rd 270 days late.

The last one keeps increasing.

If you paid quarterly, you can use actual amounts paid by quarter.

Go to IRS.gov and search for penalty.

This was only an example. It does not illustrate the actual penalty calcs.

It basically shows that the penalty will increase by how much later, your payments were do.

I forget the rules: You have no penalty if you pay 100% of your burden the previous or some percentage of what you owe (I think it's somewhere between 80 and 90 %)

This explains it a bit better:

Tax Topics - Topic 653 IRS Notices and Bills, Penalties and Interest Charges (http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc653.html)

Usually you can let the IRS calculate the penalty.

Thank you for your reply. However, what I wanted to know is : is there a difference in penalty if I submit my 1040X today, in two weeks, in a month or a year later? Will the penalty increase the longer I take to file my 1040X?
And, what if I do not owe any taxes but instead am expected to get tax refund?

If you do not owe any tax, you will not pay any interest or penalty. File 2008 amended return on or before April 15, 2012 else you will not get the refund.

Thank You!

If taxes are owed, the penalty increases substantially the first five months after 15 Apr 09, then levels off.

If you OWE additional taxes, try to amend by 15 May 09. Otherwise, there is no big hurry.