I did not file 2002 or 2003 taxes but all since then. Do the old years expire ever?

Question

I was not able to pay my taxes during the 2001/2002 tax years and I never did file. I have received refunds for all years file afterwards. I received a letter early 2006 stating my refund would be held until I filed, but I later received my refund in the mail. Will my refund be held this year? Do the old years tax filing requirements expire?

Answer 1

I think you may have gotten away with it. No news is good news. If taxes were withheld, they probably passed some test of breaking even.

Answer 2

There is no statue of limitation on your taxes if you do not file. That is because the statute of limitations begins the day you file!

If you are a regular employee, chances are you should have gotten money back for the years you did not file, so file. If you did not pay taxes in 2001 and 2002, because your an idnependant contract or self-employed and did not file. They will hunt you down.. and iterest is accruing at 9%.

Answer 3

ther is a 10 year statue of limitation for the IRS to collect on back taxes
but since you failed to file
you WILL incure a failure to file penalty
and THAT is a very costly one
often the penalties and interest are more than the tax burden owed
and they will compound
it is in your best intrest ot file ASAP for the past years
as evetually you will get more notices to contact them
if you fail to contact them they will take the next step and begin the lein / levy process
they will levy bank account and wages and lien any assest you own
and you do not want that
it is their security for what they feel what they are due
and if you fail to file still they will estimate what you owe them
and you NEVER want that
as once they do that it becomes their record
and then you need to amend a return to prove you owe less
as for the 10 years
thy can also extend that
as if you make contact
it renews the 10 year limit from the date of contact
so if you make contact in 2007 for 2002, thy now have until 2017 and not 2012 to collect.. and so on..
so unless you think you can dodge them for 10 years ( and you can't ), it only gets worse ( financially with interest and penalties compoudning daily )

Answer 4

Peaches isa correcta, failure to file penalty is 5% er month up to max of 25%, failure to pay penalty is 6% per year, and yes interest is on top of these. No statute of limitations for not filing. If you have refunds due on UNFILED returns thay are LOST after 3 yrs.

Answer 5

You must file the older returns. Perhaps, the IRS owes you money, perhaps you owe them. However, you don't ever want to be audited; it could cause unnecessary problems for you to be audited, not to mention lack of sleep, stress etc.