I Forgot to Claim My IRA Income

If you forgot to claim your individual retirement account income on your tax return, you'll have to file an amended return and pay the extra taxes you owe on the distribution. If you remember before your tax filing deadline, you won't have to pay extra in penalties and interest because you're still filing a correct return by the deadline. However, if the deadline has passed, hurry and file your amended return. The sooner you do, the less interest you'll owe.

Correct your adjusted gross income to reflect the additional IRA money on line 1 of Form 1040X, the amended tax return. Enter your IRA income in column B of line 1 to increase your taxable income for the year. For example, if you received a $30,000 taxable IRA distribution and your prior adjusted gross income was $100,000, enter "100,000" on line 1, column A; "30,000" on line 1, column B; and "130,000" on line 1, column C.

Complete the remainder of Form 1040X. Since you are only changing your income, you only have to complete lines 1 through 22 of Part I and Part III of the Form 1040X. The only other thing that will change is your tax liability, which you must recalculate after including your IRA income. To refigure your income, you can use the income tax tables in IRS Publication 17.

Explain that you did not claim your IRA income in Part III as the reason for filing the amended return.

File your amended return with the IRS. The mailing address depends on where you live and can be found in the instructions for Form 1040X.

Pay the bill for any interest and penalties due that the IRS will send you upon processing of your return. When you file Form 1040X, you do not figure any interest or penalties, just the change in tax liability. The IRS will figure the interest and penalties, if any, and mail you a bill.