Dealing with an incorrectly filed tax return

Question

Situation

I had one company (in another state that I have used for years) file my taxes but when they had finished and sent us the results in the mail we noticed they had filed Married, filed jointly instead of Married, filed separately even though we had requested they do the latter. They refused to submit an addendum, stating that we told them the wrong way. Since today is tax day, we went to H&R Block (locally) yesterday for them to fix the mistake and upon submitting correctly we got kick back stating that it has already been submitted.

Note that filing correctly as Married, filed separately is crucial as my wife has loans that are in an income based repayment program so my income can't appear combined with hers or the payments skyrocket which is why getting this corrected is of the utmost importance.

Questions

First of all, H&R Block is making the addendum today and we will mail it out. I was told that for them to do an addendum since they were not the original source that they would basically have to fill everything out again like how the original one was done first. So I have a couple very important questions..

1. My original filer sent me the forms to sign in the mail. Since they were filed incorrectly, should I not sign these? They showed up in the system as filed so how can this happen without my signature?
2. When I get my refund from the original, should I cash them or not? Likewise, for one state I owed money so should I submit that amount or wait until I get the new one in?

Answer 1

1. My original filer sent me the forms to sign in the mail. Since they were filed incorrectly, should I not sign these? They showed up in the system as filed so how can this happen without my signature?

If it shows up as filed then it was most likely e-filed and the signed copy is just for their records. Signing the copy of your return has nothing to do with your return getting filed.

2. When I get my refund from the original, should I cash them or not? Likewise, for one state I owed money so should I submit that amount or wait until I get the new one in?

When you file an amended return it has a section that adjusts for payments/refunds already made with your original return and uses that to calculate the additional payment/refund that is due as a result of your amendment. Most likely you'll owe more under MFS, so you'll be paying the extra plus the original refund.

The important piece is getting the tax money you owed paid by the filing deadline to avoid any penalties, you have years to sort out and get refunded any over-payment.

Married, filed separately is crucial as my wife has loans that are in an income based repayment program

I assume you've already done the math and are confident that the IBR savings will outweigh the extra tax from going MFS, but I suggest double-checking that. If she's under the RePAYE program MFS will not help, they will consider the income as if you filed MFJ.

Also worth noting that if you do move forward with this the amended return must be post-marked today, as you cannot amend from MFJ to MFS after the tax deadline