If you've been lucky so far that your unfiled delinquent tax returns have avoided the IRS's attention, your luck is about to run out. The IRS's increased enforcement means that every unfiled return will soon be coming back to your door with as much as 25% penalties, interest plus the prospect of prison on federal felony back tax evasion charges. So if you've got a delinquent return, act now on the eight easy steps in this checklist and you'll be able check the IRS off your worry list forever.
Step 1) Don't panic, but head with all deliberate speed to your nearest tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist for a tax relief consultation. When you have an unfiled tax return, it weighs on you like a disease. Every late return eats at you, year after year, compounding fear until you feel like you're going to explode. You need to tell your tax attorney how many years your unfiled returns have been ticking like a time bomb and what (if anything) the IRS has written to you.
If your late tax returns go back for a number of years, you could be easily looking at many thousands of dollars in back taxes and up to 25% in penalties and interest. A call to a tax professional is a financially shrewd move because the return on investment can be huge, often slashing or even eliminating your debt for some or all of your unfiled returns.
Step 2) Start with the last year you filed taxes. Go back to the last year the IRS got your taxes. You'll need figures from that return to fill out those unfiled tax returns.
Step 3) Make sure you have all the documents the IRS does. Go to your local Social Security office to get copies of all the W-2s, 1099s and other documents for the years you have unfiled tax returns. The IRS may have gotten a document that you didn't and this could be the source of some of your problem. For example, you may have worked with an out of state client and that may have meant you needed to file a tax return in that state. A good tax attorney or Certified Tax Rescan help you recreate your late tax return paper trail.
4) Figure out what your original tax liability would have been. Most tax attorneys and Certified Tax Resolution Specialists work with CPAs, Enrolled Agents and other professionals who can help you prepare your unfiled taxes. Since you know for a fact that the IRS will be examining these with a fine toothcomb, now is not the time for amateur hour.
These late returns will get the IRS's harshest scrutiny so you shouldn't submit anything that isn't 100% bulletproof. To survive this battle, you need the professional help of a good tax preparer, tax attorney or a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist. If you want to take a preliminary stab at creating the unfiled tax returns so your tax attorne, the IRS has downloadable forms and instructions going back to 1980 on their Website.
If you can't get the forms for your unfiled delinquent tax returns online, you may have luck going to the library (call the reference desk first) to see if they have the IRS forms you need from the previous years. If they don't have the late tax return forms for the years you need, contact a tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist because they are virtually certain to have the unfiled delinquent tax return forms for the years you need.
Step 5) Verify that the IRS and you agree on the unfiled tax returns. Once you have prepared the late returns yourself (or had a preparer do it), have a tax professional check your version against the IRS's estimation of your back tax debt. Sometimes the IRS makes simple mistakes on their Substitute For Returns. The IRS may not know if you've had kids in the interim, or that your tax situation has changed substantially.
6) Send your unfiled tax returns to the IRS the right way. Any late tax return is too important to send electronically. Go to your local IRS office and hand deliver each return and get a reciept. If that doesn't work for you, then send each return separately via certified mail and separated by a few days.
Also note if you are told that your return is in the collections or SFR (Substitute For Return) office. Be sure to get the proper address and sent each separately to that address.
Step 7) Send in each unfiled tax return with a check for $5. Your interest and penalties for each late tax return compound with every day of non-payment (as much as 25%). Stop that clock as soon as you can by filing those delinquent returns immediately.
Step 8) Have your tax attorney devise an IRS payment game plan. Can you pay your unfiled return debt in full? Should you? Should you try for an Offer In Compromise? Should you try to get an IRS payment plan for your back taxes? Expert help can help you decide on the game plan that makes the most sense for you.
If you follow these steps to solving your unfiled delinquent tax return problem, you can find hope. Working with a tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist is the best way you can get many happier tax returns.
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