How far back should I go when filing back taxes? Need advice for catching up

First, take a deep breath - you're making the right decision to get caught up! The IRS generally focuses on the last 6 years for back taxes, but there are some important distinctions. If you're owed a refund, you only have 3 years from the original filing deadline to claim it. So if you believe you're due refunds, prioritize filing those returns ASAP before losing that money forever. For example, the deadline to claim a 2022 refund will be April 15, 2026. If you owe taxes, technically there's no statute of limitations on unfiled returns. However, in practice, the IRS rarely goes back more than 6 years. But there's no guarantee they won't request older returns if they choose to. My recommendation: Start with the most recent 3 years to secure any refunds, then work backward to at least 6 years total. This approach balances practical compliance with protecting your refund rights. The good news is that with primarily W-2 income, your returns should be relatively straightforward.

After dealing with a similar back-tax nightmare, I found this AI tool called taxr.ai that was super helpful with organizing everything. I was missing records for some years and freaking out, but I uploaded what I had (old W-2s, 1099s, bank statements) to https://taxr.ai and it analyzed everything to help reconstruct my tax situation for each year. It showed me which years I needed to prioritize based on potential refunds before the deadline expired. Their system automatically flagged that I had a potential refund from 2022 that I would've lost if I hadn't filed by next April. The peace of mind from knowing exactly what I was dealing with for each year was honestly worth it alone.

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai - wow, it actually lived up to the hype! I was missing a bunch of documents from 2021 and 2022, but it helped me piece everything together from the partial info I had. The biggest surprise was discovering I'm owed almost $3,800 in refunds across those two years that I would've lost if I waited much longer. It also confirmed I need to file 6 years back to be safe, but showed me that for the oldest 3 years, I probably only owe minimal amounts plus some small penalties. Such a relief to finally understand my situation instead of just worrying about it!

If you're trying to contact the IRS to get records for your past filing years, good luck lol. I spent WEEKS trying to get through to them to get wage and income transcripts. The phone system is a joke - either "due to high call volume we cannot take your call" or you wait on hold for 2+ hours only to get disconnected. I eventually used https://claimyr.com and it changed everything. They have this system that holds your place in line with the IRS and calls you when an agent is available. You can watch how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. I got my wage and income transcripts for the past 5 years which showed all my reported W-2s and 1099s, making it way easier to file my back taxes correctly.

I have to eat my words about Claimyr. I was super skeptical (see my comment above), but I was desperate enough to try it. For MONTHS I couldn't get through to the IRS for transcript info I needed. With Claimyr, I got through to an IRS agent in about 3 hours - and I was just cooking dinner when my phone rang saying they had an agent ready. Got all my wage transcripts for the past 7 years in that one call. The IRS agent even seemed surprised I got through! Now I can see exactly what income was reported to the IRS each year and file my back taxes accurately. Definitely worth it for the time saved and stress avoided.

Something SUPER important that nobody mentioned yet - if you didn't file at all for those years, make sure you file directly with the IRS. I was in a similar situation and made the mistake of giving a bunch of money to a "tax resolution" company that advertises on the radio, and they basically just filed simple returns that I could've done myself and charged me $3,000 for "representation" that I didn't even need. For simple W-2 returns, you can even use the Free File options through the IRS website for the current tax year, and tax software for reasonable prices for prior years. Don't fall for those "tax relief" scams.

Don't forget about state taxes too! Everyone's talking about IRS, but most states also require back tax filing and have their own statutes of limitations. I got caught up on federal but ignored state, and ended up with a nasty surprise from my state tax agency even after the IRS was satisfied.

I went through this exact same situation a couple years ago - the anxiety is real but you're doing the right thing by facing it! Here's what I learned from my experience: The IRS typically wants you to file the last 6 years to be considered "compliant," but like others mentioned, prioritize the last 3 years first if you think you're owed refunds. I discovered I was leaving over $4,000 on the table from 2020-2022 that I almost lost to the 3-year deadline. One thing that really helped me was requesting my "wage and income transcripts" from the IRS for each year I missed. This shows you exactly what income was reported to them (W-2s, 1099s, etc.) so you know what they already know about. It helped me realize I was missing some 1099s I had forgotten about. For someone with mainly W-2 income like you described, the returns should be pretty straightforward. I used TurboTax for prior years and it walked me through everything. The penalties weren't as scary as I thought they'd be, especially for years where I was due refunds. Start with 2021-2023, get those refunds secured, then work backward. You've got this!