Will I get in trouble?

Question

I am 18 and I have yet to file any taxes. I started working at 16 at 3 different places and lost my W2's. Can I just pay back that money or will there be fines or punishiment?

Will this hurt me in efforts to get financial aid?

Answer 1

There is a possibility that you weren't making enough to be required to file at all. Also, if your parents were still claiming you as a dependent, there are separate requirements.

Assuming you began working no earlier than 2004, here is a breakdown of the filing requirements for each year for each situation based on the information you've given:

2004
-NOT a dependent on someone else's return-Gross income of $7,950
-Are a dependent-Either $800 of unearned income (dividends, interest), $4,850 of earned income (W-2 income), or your total income was more than the larger of 1)$800 or 2) your earned income (up to $4,600) plus $250.

2005-
-NOT a dependent on someone else's return-Gross income of $8,200
-Are a dependent-Either $800 of unearned income (dividends, interest), $5,000 of earned income (W-2 income), or your total income was more than the larger of 1)$800 or 2) your earned income (up to $4,750) plus $250.

2006-
-NOT a dependent on someone else's return-Gross income of $8,450
-Are a dependent-Either $850 of unearned income (dividends, interest), $5,150 of earned income (W-2 income), or your total income was more than the larger of 1)$800 or 2) your earned income (up to $4,850) plus $300.

The amount listed as the filing requirement if you are not a dependent will be your automatic deductions (personal exemption plus standard deduction) for each year. Anything over that will be taxable income, assuming there are no other tax items you haven't mentioned.

Since you're not too terribly late yet, you probably won't have too much in penalties and interest to worry about, although 2004 might be a little high depending on what you owe. I would go ahead and get the information together and file your returns if you're required to as soon as possible. The longer you wait the more you will have in penalties and interest.

As for your lost W-2's, there are a couple of ways to obtain copies. Obviously the first would be to contact your past employers. If this is not possible, the IRS can supply you with information from your W-2's, but not the actual form. They don't retain copies of W-2's, except for those submitted with the tax return, which you haven't done.

The information transcript is free of charge, and is obtained with Form 4506-T and marking the box on line 8. You can use one form to request up to 4 years. For tax filing purposes, you can receive the information, and then fill out a Substitute W-2 (Form 4852) to submit with your tax return. They accept these all the time with delinquent returns.

The other way would be to contact the Social Security Administration (www.ssa.gov). The only problem with going this route, is they can give you earnings information for each year, meaning you can calculate your FICA taxes, but I don't believe they keep record of your Federal Withholding. So, if you're needing both earnings and income taxes deducted, you will need to go the IRS route, but you might want to check with SSA just to be sure.

To get the forms you will need, go to www.irs.gov, click on Forms & Publications along the left side, and search by Form & Instruction number.

As for it affecting financial aid, I think you should be okay. I know for the FAFSA form they request you use your tax return to enter current income information, but they also give you the option to estimate that instead, so you should be okay there. Also, unless you have children, are in the military, or are married, I believe at 19 they still consider you a dependent for financial aid purposes, so the most important information there will be your parent's income/tax return. For student loans, they've never asked me for a copy of my tax return, so if you use those you should be fine there as well.

Either way, if you're required to file, get them filed as soon as possible. If you are to receive a refund you won't have penalties and interest, but if you owe, see if you can get someone to calculate penalties and interest on them before you send them in. Go ahead and send in the total due plus the penalties and interest. Some people say just wait, and the IRS will send you a letter notifying you of the additional amounts you owe, but why wait and let more P & I accrue, when you can go ahead and get it all out of the way, right?

I know this is a lot to read through, but in taxes there are rarely "simple" answers to simple questions. :-) I hope this helps, though!

Answer 2

You actually have a few years to file a return before it gets to be a really big problem. If you owe money, you should be prepared to pay some penalties, but better to pay now than later, because the penalties are assessed at a fairly high interest rate and the fines could be a lot bigger in the future if you put this off.

Chances are, however, that in reality you may have a refund coming your way, because you probably didn't earn all that much money as a kid and you have a fairly hefty exemption as a low wage earner. You might as well run the numbers and see what you are going to end up with.

As for the lost W2's, try getting ahold of the personnel department at your last employers and see if they can help you out with another copy. You need this information to fill out your 1040 properly.

Unless you had a very complicated income stream or a lot of weird and unusual expenditures, you can probably file a 1040EZ, which will take you about an hour or less to fill out for each tax year.

Also, as to you question regarding financial aid. You will need to be able to at least provide a copy of your 1040's to show how little you actually earned. A lot of te FA you can apply for is "needs-based," meaning that you essentially have to prove that you are not able to pay any other way. The financial aid officer is probably not going to process your application without it. They may want to see the returns of your parents as well, depending on what kind of loans and grants you are going for.

Answer 3

You might not have made enough to be required to pay taxes, or you might have had a refund coming. If either of those is the case, then you're not in any trouble. If you had a refund coming, you can still file now and get it, with no penalty.

If you made enough to owe taxes for any of those years, and the amount withheld wasn't enough to cover it, you need to find the W-2's or get replacements, and file a return - if that's the case, you'll have to pay what you owe, plus interest and penalties, but that probably won't be much.

In 2006, the limit was $5150 - if you made under that, you weren't required to file, although if anything was withheld you can get it refunded if you file. I'm assuming you are a dependent of your parents - if you are not a dependent, then the limits are higher. For earlier years, the limits are a little lower.

Answer 4

Whether or not you need to file or will have problems to deal with depends upon your income and whether or not you have a tax liability.

Get copies of the W-2s from the employers. File the missing returns if your income for the years in question exceeds the filing requirement amount for the year. Assuming that you can be claimed as a dependent on your parents' returns, the filing requirement amount for 2006 was $5,150. For 2005 it was $5,000 and for 2004 it was $4,850. If you earned less than those amounts, no return is required unless you had more than $850 in unearned income in 2006 or $800 in 2005 or 2004. Unearned income would be such things as interest on savings accounts or dividends on stocks that are in your name.

If your income was below the filing requirement amount you should file if any income tax was withheld and you want that refunded to you.

If you are due a refund there is no penalty for late filing. If you owe, however, there will be penalties for late filing and interest and penalties for late payment of the taxes.

You can get the forms you need at the IRS website. http://www.irs.gov Get copies of Form 1040-EZ and the instructions for the years in question. You can fill them out and mail them in. For 2006, you can click on the Free E-File link and file your 2006 return on line.

If your state has an income tax you'll need to hit their website and download the forms, fill them out, and mail them in. Most states don't charge a penalty if you are due a refund but at least one does. OH levies a $500 fine for late filing even if you are due a refund. Hopefully you don't live in OH!

When you file for financial aid you'll need to provide copies of any tax returns filed to prove your income. That's a good reason to file even if you earned very little and didn't owe any tax. If you weren't required to file, you can call the IRS and ask for a non-filing letter to be sent to you. That can take a couple of weeks so do NOT wait until the last minute to request it!

Answer 5

As long as you filed single and 0 dependents at the jobs and assuming they where minimum wage, you should be alright. When in the conditions above most of the time you get money back anyway so by you not filing you probably just let the government have you refund but you may want to check it out anyway to make sure. Also if you do owe money to the government they will catch you sooner or later so it is better to get it out of the way.

Answer 6

No, because at that age you didn't even have to file if it's under a certain amount. Actually, they probably owe you and you are only charged a penalty if you owe them (they have been earning interest, as YOUR refund has sat in their account). Visit H&R Block and they will help you get what you need to set you on your way. It will be alright, just don't put it off... and the upside is you will probably get a return! Good luck!

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Well.... If you got w-2's most likely taxs were taken out. But you still need to file for all 3 yrs like NOW !

Answer 9

Dont worry engage a pro to do yr taxes