What if I didnt file my taxes this year?

Question

What do I do? I dont know too much about taxes, it was my first time filing on my own, I am 19!
I moved to another state and didnt receive my W-2's from my jobs in the state I moved from so I didnt file. What kind of penalties will they give me? Anything you can tell me about taxes will help. I will be checking these answers every few minutes or so....so if you need more info, let me know!

Answer 1

Get a hold of your W-2's and any other information you might need (for instance, do your parents hold any bank or innvestment accounts in your name? Do you pay college tuition out of your own funds or through loans? Do you have any children? Get their Social Security Cards along with your own).

Once you've gathered the information, go to a CPA. A local small practice will do just fine. Do it now before we get insanely busy.

Now comes the good news, hopefully. If you owe nothing, you will not be penalized. If all you have is a job and you filled in your W-4 correctly, that is a likely scenario. So get yourself to an appointment ASAP and sort out 2005 before 2006 hits.

Without knowing your status and personal financial situation, it is hard to give more specific advice. all I can say is that it is better to do it sooner rather than later. If you do owe, penalties and interest have been running for several months. they are charged on a monthly basis so it would be best to sort this out before the start of next month.

Edit: Bruce G is wrong with the timeline. It is three years from the filing date (so you have until April 15th 2007 to file a 2003 return and get a refund. After that it is out of time) However, as you are going to file very soon, I'm sure, the poiunt is academic!

Answer 2

Calling the number is a good way to start (be prepared to stay on hold for awhile). Typically, there are penalties and interest for not filing: on the amount you owed the IRS that was not already withheld from your paycheck. Are you sure you owe money? You might be getting a refund, in which case there are no penalties. If you have a good reason for not filing, the IRS will often work with you and even forgive the penalties. Calling is a very good start. Be sure to have all your W2s ready: if you made over $20,000, you can get an inexpensive accountant to help you file : Ask what the fee will be first! Or you can buy a Quicken program like Turbo Tax and do it yourself. Good luck.

Answer 3

If you have a refund due on the return, you will get it back with interest.

If you owed money for the return, you will have to pay a late filing penalty of 4 1/2% per month, up to a maximum of 25% of the tax owed. You will also be assessed a penalty of 1/2 of 1% per month for late payment of the tax that is owed. In addition, you will be charged interest at an annual rate that is 3% over the short-term Federal rate. The short-term rate is calculated quarterly.

For returns that have a balance due that are filed more than 60 days late, there is a minimum late filing fee that is the smaller of 100% of the tax owed or $100.

Don't get too worried. If you did not have interest or other income not subject to withholding, and you worked one job at a time, then you will probably be due a refund.

Answer 4

You mean you didn't file by the april 15 deadline for the 2005 tax year? Or are you asking what would happen if you don't file next spring? It sounds like you're talking about 2005, but either way, it's a bad idea to ignore this. The IRS wants their pound of flesh, and they can make it worth your while. As in, fairly stiff fines, leins on your property, garnishing your wages, and even jail time. And if you're due a refund, you're only cheating yourself. Either way, you should go file for the 2005 tax year.

Your former employers were supposed to send out W2s by January 30, I think. If you didn't get them, you should contact them NOW and ask for a new copy. You can get the tax forms you'll need off the IRS website - instructions, too. For your first filing, you'll probably need just the 1040-EZ form. This is actually pretty simple to fill out. You don't need the tax software to do it.

Because you're filing late, they may only assess you interest if you owe taxes. If you are getting a refund, you probably won't get any interest on that money. But either way, you need to take care of this. Click below to go to the IRS forms library to download the forms and instructions.

Since this is your first time filing, you probably don't have a lot of tax due or refund coming, so you'll be considered "small fish" to the IRS. But they WILL get around to your case at some point, so it's better for you to be pro-active here.

PS: Don't forget your state tax returns for the state you lived in when you worked that job. If you worked there during any part of 2006, you'll have to do another return for that year, too!

Answer 5

If you have a refund coming back(They owe you), then I think you have up to 5 years to file. If you will owe the IRS, then there is a penalty and then they add to it daily I think, but it is not a severe amount. Good Luck and I don't think you should worry, just contact them and find out exactly what would be best!!!

Answer 6

Call the IRS to get first-hand information. The number is 1-800-829-1040. I had to call them once about having not filed the previous year and, I kid you not, it was one of the most pleasant experiences I've had with a call center. They must train their people to be especially nice so we won't think about the reason we're calling them in the first place.