Please help, my freind is 19 and has worked since 2005 or for sure 2006, but never did his taxes? help!?

Question

His father left the country and left him a long time ago, his mother (dumb *****) abandoned him/kicked him out of the house and married some other guy and had a baby with him. He sleeps at his job in the park and friend's houses everyday. A long story on how I got to know him and he has become a friend. I let him stay at my place, I feel so bad for him. I'm a college student myself, but he looks up to me/respects me like I'm his dad. I recently convinced him to go to college, He hasn't filed his taxes for a couple years. He wants to fill out FAFSA for student loan, but can he get financial aid or not? What should I tell him to do? How do fill the application correctly if he didn't file his taxes?
Also, what other "assistance" can he get as far as housing/food ect... that you know of? He has got absolutely No-one, execpt me really helping him. He will do his taxes from now on as I have advised him to do. He is working as in a grocery store now. He wants to go school Spring 08

Answer 1

Geez, sounds like this kid really needs help - good thing he's got you to guide him.

As to his taxes, depending on what his job was and what was withheld, he might not owe anything and might have refunds coming for those years. If he had W-2's, he should either dig them up or request copies either from the employer(s) or from the IRS. Then he can file his returns, and if he has refunds coming, will still get them. He'll need an address though - maybe he could use yours.

To apply for FAFSA student aid he'll need to show tax return info, so he needs to get the tax returns filed first.

Probably not a lot of other official aid he can get, assuming he is able-bodied. But since he has a job now, he should be able to get back on his feet.

Answer 2

You can download 2005 and 2006 tax forms and instructions at irs.gov. A bigger problem may be to identify his actual income if he did not keep records. Tell him to give it his best shot. It is better to file a return which might not be totally complete, than to not file a return at all.

Answer 3

Do the taxes and apply for student aid. Here are some links about how to get student aid, deal with back taxes, and help the homeless.
http://www.irs.gov/faqs/index.html
http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/index.jsp
http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/funding.jsp?tab=funding
http://taxes.about.com/od/taxtrouble/a/back_taxes.htm
http://taxes.about.com/b/a/257423.htm
http://www.hud.gov/homeless/index.cfm