failure to file taxes
I have not filed taxes in the last 6 years. I have never made over the amount that requires me to file. I was due small refunds but just never took the time to file for it. So can I file for all those back years and get what is owed to me?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: failure to file taxes
Can you get your refunds. Well, yes and no. There are time limits on refund claims. They get complicated, like everything else related to income taxes, but assuming a simple situation (all taxes paid in are due to withholding on your wages, no extension requests were filed, you have no special circumstances like being disabled and therefore incapable of managing your own affairs during any portion of the last six years, etc.), then at this point you can recover only the overpayents for 2003, 2002 and 2001. The prior years are too old. You have to file a refund claim within three years of the due date of the return.
For more information on the problems of "nonfilers," see the article I wrote on this subject for the Maryland Society of Accountants. It is on my website at www.bjhaynes.com/articles.