In the US as an F-1 student, filed the wrong form last year

Question

This is my second financial year in the US (I started in Fall 2013). When filing out my taxes I realized that I screwed up 2013's return and filed a 1040 EZ instead of a 1040 NR-EZ.

1. Am I correct in assuming that I need to fill out and send in a 2013 1040 X and a 2013 1040 NR-EZ to fix this?
2. In my 2014 1040 NR-EZ, field 'I' (Did you file a U.S. income tax return for any prior year, If “Yes,” give the latest year and form number you filed) do I fill in "2013 Form 1040 NR-EZ" or the actual incorrect "2013 Form 1040 EZ" that I filed, if I plan to send in both this years taxes as well as the previous years correction at around the same time?

Answer 1

1. 1040X doesn't go by year; you would just use the newest edition and check year 2013. But yes, according to the 1040X instructions, to switch from resident to nonresident or vice versa, you would just fill out the biographical information and explanation on the 1040X, and skip all the other parts, and attach the correct 2013 1040NR-EZ with "Amended" written on the top.

2. not sure

Answer 2

As user102008 (you really got to get a nickname already...) rightfully mentioned, 1040X doesn't have a year. You take the most current form and either right down, or select from the available options, the year you want to amend. The amendment process was also covered by user102008 quite nicely.

I'll answer the second part of your question:

In my 2014 1040 NR-EZ, field 'I' (Did you file a U.S. income tax return for any prior year, If “Yes,” give the latest year and form number you filed) do I fill in "2013 Form 1040 NR-EZ" or the actual incorrect "2013 Form 1040 EZ" that I filed, if I plan to send in both this years taxes as well as the previous years correction at around the same time?

So for starters - do not send multiple forms in the same envelope. Ever.

Now that we established that you're going to send two separate envelopes, one for 1040X, and one for the 2014 1040NR - why not send the 1040X now? There's no reason whatsoever to wait. Mail it, and then write that you filed 1040NR for last year. If you want to be completely sure - you can attach a statement that you filed 1040 by mistake because you didn't know what to do, but corrected it to 1040NR afterwards by filing an amended return on date XX/YY/ZZZZ (although I'm not sure if it is really necessary).