I tell him all the time, "Haste makes waste"...

February 2, 2008 7:06 AM

In his haste to mail our tax return as early as is humanly possible, Misterwayne forgot to get my signature on it before sending it in. How screwed are we?

He realized it as he drove out of the post office parking lot. :) He's tried to get through to the IRS on the phone and could not (shocking!). He's going to try the local office on Monday, but has this happened to you? Will they shred our return? Do we have to re-file? Will we now get our refund sometime in, say, November?

posted by missuswayne to law & government (12 comments total)

I've done this before. They'll mail it back to you and ask that you sign it. Since you're way ahead of the filing deadline, you've got nothing to worry about.
posted by knave at 7:15 AM on February 2

Last year I mailed mine without signing it, and they sent me another piece of paper to sign.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:19 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]

Knave & TPS - How long did it take for them to send it back to you? Do you think it significantly delayed anything (ie, receipt of your refund, if you had one)?
posted by missuswayne at 7:22 AM on February 2

This was my NY state return, and I owed money, so I can't help you on the refund side of things.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:30 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]

It was a few years ago, unfortunately, so I don't remember the time frame. It wasn't unreasonably long between [forms sent] -> [came back/sent again] -> [check received]. I would, however, expect that the turnaround time here will delay your refund by at least a few weeks.

I tried to search their website (which is surprisingly helpful, in general), but couldn't come up with a time frame.
posted by knave at 7:49 AM on February 2

if you make a mistake, they just send it back. it's okay. i once muffed my math terribly and they sent back a corrected return with an explanation of what they did. all i had to do was sign it and send it back. no worries.
posted by thinkingwoman at 7:51 AM on February 2

Ah, thanks all. Misterwayne will be greatly relieved, and the relentless stream of f-bombs will cease.
posted by missuswayne at 7:53 AM on February 2

Yeah, my friend just made this same mistake, they sent her a form to sign, the form arrived in about two or three weeks.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 8:52 AM on February 2

Did this same thing with my state tax return last year (forgot to get Mrs. Arumba to sign it); called them, they said don't worry about it, sometimes they send them back, sometimes they just let it slide. Got my refund a couple weeks later, they never sent it back.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 9:35 AM on February 2

Same thing happened to me, I had an error on my return (forgot what it was). They sent a notice saying what they changed and that I should file a corrected return if their change was incorrect.

Everyone I've known who has had dealings with the IRS has always said they were very helpful and friendly.
posted by gjc at 9:56 AM on February 2

From an IRS friend - you're so early this year, plus its a year which for various reasons is seeing an even slower-than-normal number of early filings - that you'll get it back within ten to twenty days, and all you have to do is sign it (sometimes a form they send instead) and mail it back in. If it takes longer than that, it means that your form is sitting there with nothing happening, because it's so early in the season, much of the seasonal staff isn't working. But you're in no way screwed. They never let an unsigned signature "slide," but sometimes they don't catch them.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 2:05 PM on February 2

Yep, I did this last year too. They just sent it back to me (after April 15, incidentally) asking me to sign it. It did delay my refund a bit.
posted by rhapsodie at 3:19 PM on February 2