What's the best way to catch up on 3 years of tax returns?
June 23, 2013 2:01 PM   Subscribe

There's nothing nefarious about this, I got too caught up in work. What's the best way to catch up on a few years of tax returns?

One of the years I spent working for a company in Canada, the other two years I was just working for a college in the US. is the best thing to do to get the TurboTax suites for these years and just crank the crap out?
posted by Snell's Constant to Work & Money (12 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Assuming you're US-ian and talking about US taxes?

I'm not an accountant and have no specialized experience other than paying my taxes. Honestly with three years of back taxes to slog through, I'd start by getting someone to help you through the paperwork (unless you made <>E-file with the IRS for free). Start as soon as possible (Monday, ideally) because according to the IRS, if you end up being due a refund, that eligibility is forfeited if you don't file after three years.
posted by arnicae at 2:36 PM on June 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


I did this last year. I was really stressed about it, but I got the correct TurboTax versions for each year (TaxACT also works well) and just banged out three years of 1040s in one day. I wasn't able to E-file, so I printed everything and FedEx'd the whole package to the IRS. My returns were processed in about six weeks.
posted by bradf at 2:46 PM on June 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


If you owe money, they'll tack on interest and penalties for not having filed on time. If you're owed money, they'll send you a refund if the tax year is within three years. Either way, it behooves you to get this over with.

Keep ALL paperwork and send your returns certified mail. They lose stuff sometimes.
posted by desjardins at 3:58 PM on June 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


I can't find it right now, but I know there's an older AskMe about this. Everyone says the IRS has surprisingly good customer service - I think this is one of those things that with 300,000,000 people in the US, I mean... they've heard it before. But they're not out to get you - they will put you on a payment plan if you owe. The penalties are not really all that bad, I know from experience.

On the IRS website there is a link for "Prior Year Products" which has the tax table / forms for every year I think back to the 80s. Super easy to fill out and print. So stressful, but again - I think the IRS only goes for the jugular when people owe millions or commit crimes to avoid paying taxes. YMMV.
posted by polly_dactyl at 5:22 PM on June 23, 2013


I did that a few years ago. On top of that, I'd closed a business. In the end, it was actually quite painless. (Unlike my experience with the Oregon Department of Revenue Services, but that could be an entire blog post. Oregon DRS is one of the three reasons I'll never, ever live in that state again.)

I ended up owing some money, but once I got the returns in, nothing really happened to me as long as I paid the money off. It was really pretty simple. You don't owe penalties if you don't owe money, though.

Just take care of it before they ask you. Also, they won't answer questions about fees or payment plans or whatever for a particular year's taxes until you've filed a return. They will answer questions to help you complete the form, though.

My fiancée did the same thing the year she got divorced, and it was painless for her too. She actually got a lot of help from the IRS on the phone.
posted by SpecialK at 6:43 PM on June 23, 2013


Best way? Find an accountant, dump it on them. At a guess it'll cost you $100-250 per year, but you'll have it handled by someone who knows what they're doing and won't let things slide because they're ... busy. And if you owe, they'll likely save you money (in a good way that won't get you audited and/or fined up the wazoo.) The accountant won't laugh at you, it will take the least amount of your time and bother, and you'll get it done right.

Also, now you'll have a person handy to take care of your taxes next year, when you're too busy.
posted by Ookseer at 9:12 PM on June 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


Like others have said, I did this a couple years ago for several years of unfiled returns. I just filled out my state and federal returns and sent them in all at once, along with checks for any years that I had calculated I owed taxes for. A few weeks later, I got some bills from the IRS for penalties & interest. I paid those bills, and that was that.
posted by univac at 12:14 AM on June 24, 2013


I don't know what country you are in - but remember that there is always a possibility of negotiating a deal with the tax people. They are much more interested in making sure they get some money than that they get nothing at all. They also don't want to bleed you dry. You are far better off approaching them and suggesting a deal than waiting for them to come after you. Ideally you would do this in conjunction with an accountant who could offer you specific advice.
posted by rongorongo at 4:11 AM on June 24, 2013


Yes, the single best thing to do is get a *good* referral from a friend to an accountant and have them do it. (They're not exorbitant.)

Second best is probably TurboTaxing.

Third best is calling the IRS and letting them know you're doing this. They're very nice! That'll keep you out of trouble.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 6:13 AM on June 24, 2013


Turbo Tax, and Just Do It. This will not trigger an automatic audit or anything. I say this from experience.
posted by theora55 at 8:58 AM on June 24, 2013


I'd start with Turbo Tax and set aside a few hours this weekend to power through it.

It's not going to be all that big a deal, especially if you don't itemize.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:02 AM on June 24, 2013


I (stupidly) waited for the IRS to contact me about the years I hadn't filed. And, then, after they contacted me, I sat on those notices for a while. In fact, I waited until they were threatening to garnish my wages before I finally worked past my anxiety issues and started working on the problem.

I ended up sitting down with a very nice preparer from H&R Block. She was what the IRS refers to as an 'Enrolled Agent'. Given the documentation I had, she was able to very quickly run up the forms I was missing and submitted them, after which I was able to talk to the IRS about a payment plan (which was quite reasonable and easy to deal with).

You may, if you have *any* concerns about owing or possible penalties, want to go ahead and fork over a little $$ to get a professional tax preparer to knock those out.
posted by hanov3r at 10:48 AM on June 24, 2013


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