Whats the longest one can go without filing taxes?

Question

I cant make this years deadline because my W2 went to my old address in NYC and the person who has it hasnt sent it to me and I dont think she will anytime soon. Is this gonna be a problem? What can I do? The company I used to work for closed and I now live in Florida.

Answer 1

There are several issues raised here. The first one to address is the extension. Telephoning the IRS and having them document it is not going to work. You must file form 4868 by April 17th. It won't hurt to do it now. Send it certified mail (or whatever the cheapest form of tracking at the post office is). That way, you do not pay penalties for filing late. Your deadline will then become October 15th. In any case, you do not pay penalties if you do not owe but there is no harm in doing the form. You do not even have to give a reason for needing the extension. See the link below. You can fill it in online and then print it out.

What the extension will not do is extend the time to pay. If you expect to owe, you must ensure that all your tax is paid by April 17th.

To be able to use a Substitute W-2, you need to be able to document a good faith effort at obtaining the original. Do you have the address of any professional advisers to the company? I'm just thinking that if it closed because it went bankrupt, you may have received correspondence from a CPA winding up the company's affairs. If you have that, a phone call wouuld be a good idea. If gthey promise to send a duplicate, drop them a short note to confirm andf thank them for their assistance. If it does not arrive in a reasonable time you then have the necessary proof and can file the Substitute W-2 using whatever information you have available. A final paystub with year-to-date figures is a good start but make sure you don't include any tax-free benefits, for instance, if you paid for health insurance out of your paycheck. Remember that you cannot efile unless you can complete the Susbstitute W-2 in full, including your old employer's EIN. If you worked for them more than a year you should have it on previous W-2's.

OK that's my pro bono work for the day. I have to go and dispense more tax advice at work

Answer 2

If you still do not receive your W-2 by February 14th, contact the IRS for assistance at 800-829-1040. When you call, have the following information:

Employer's name, address, city, and state, including zip code.


Your name, address, city and state, including zip code, and Social Security number
If you misplaced your W-2, contact your employer. Your employer can replace the lost form with a “reissued statement.” Be aware that your employer is allowed to charge you a fee for providing you with a new W-2.

You still must file your tax return on time even if you do not receive your Form W-2. If you do not receive the missing information in time to file, you may file you may use Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Attach Form 4852 to the return, estimating income and withholding taxes as accurately as possible. There may be a delay in any refund due while the information is verified.

If you receive a Form W-2 or W-2C (corrected form) after you have filed your return using Form 4852, and the information differs from what you reported on your return, you must amend your return by filing a Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

Answer 3

If you have a refund coming and don't want to lose it, you have up to 3 years from the original deadline. For example, April 15, 2007 would be the deadline to file your 2003 taxes. There would be no penalties if you are due a refund. If you owe taxes, interest and penalties will accrue from the original deadline. And I believe the IRS can ga back up to 7 years if you owe taxes or if they suspect you of tax evasion.

Answer 4

in case you're having adequate withheld which you do no longer owe the IRS something on the tip of the three hundred and sixty 5 days, you may theoretically go perpetually without submitting. they do no longer seem to be going to return chasing when you to show out which you've gotten asked a refund. whether. it particularly is neither legal nor counseled.

Answer 5

Do you have your last paycheck stub for the 2006 from this company? If you do, then you can file a substitute W-2 (Form 4852 - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4852.pdf). This would be the easiest way to complete your 2006 tax return correctly.

The other way to do it would be to go ahead and complete your return without this information, mail it or e-file it before April 17th, and then call the IRS at 800-829-1040 in the fall (usually August or September) when the W-2 information is updated and in the system and available for them to give it to you. At that time you can file an amended tax return (Form 1040X - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040x.pdf) in order to correct your 2006 tax return.

However, if you do an amended return in the fall because you can't find your last paycheck stub for 2006 from this company, you might want to set aside some money to send in with the amend in case you do owe the IRS because you didn't have enough federal withholding taken out of that W-2. If you did have enough federal withholding you will probably end up with a refund that you will get within about 8 weeks of mailing in your amend.

The third option would be to NOT do your return at all until the fall, guesstimate how much you think you might owe the IRS and go ahead file an extension (Form 4868) BEFORE April 17th (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf). Be sure and send the money you THINK you will owe along with the extension (I would highly suggest sending the extension by e-file and directly debit your checking account for payment OR send the extension and payment to the IRS by certified mail, return receipt requested). Then when you get the W-2 info in the fall from the IRS you file your 2006 tax return at that time. If you have sent them enough money then there will be no problems and you might even get a small refund. If you did not send them enough money then you will owe them some interest and penalty, BUT it will be a lot less than if you hadn't sent them anything. Be sure to file an extension if you think you owe. Just remember an extension is an extension of time to FILE, not an extension of time to PAY. So be sure to send them money if you think you owe.

Information about missing W-2s is available at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=106470,00.html

Answer 6

You can file for an extension any time, and you'll not be penalized on anything you OWE as long as you've deposited enough in a bank to cover your tax debt. You can always deposit too much, claim it on your return and have the balance refunded.

As soon as you're in a position to expect to get a refund, you have 3 years to file, then your refund goes away, with no penalty.

You are REQUIRED to file only if your income exceeds the personal exemption + standard deduction. (There are some other obscure reasons some are required to file that apply to very few people.)

Answer 7

This happened to me Call your local IRS center, and have them document it, This Way you will not be charged interest or penalties charges...You'll find out in about a year or so, then you can file..BELIEVE ME...If I had done just what I told you, I could have saved $3000.00 in interest and penalties. I was only advised after the fact when it was to late to do anything.

Answer 8

do you have your last pay stub from this job?

if so, that should have all the information you need to file your taxes, such as gross wages and withholdings.

you don't really need to attach your W-2 to the return in order to file it.

Answer 9

25 to life.

TS