My 30yr old son has never filed taxes in 15 years - where do I even start?
So I just found out something that's totally freaking me out. My son is 30 years old and confessed to me he has NEVER filed a tax return. Not once in his entire working life! He's been working since he was about 15 at various jobs - mostly retail and food service, now some warehouse work. He makes around $42k per year now, but averaged maybe $25-30k through most of his twenties. The only "good" news is that he's had taxes withheld from all his paychecks (I checked a recent stub), so I'm thinking he's probably owed some decent refunds for all those years. But I have no idea where to even begin untangling this mess! He doesn't have most of his old W-2s and definitely doesn't have access to tax documents from his first jobs as a teenager. I promised him I'd help sort this out (he's completely overwhelmed and embarrassed). Do we need to file for all 15 years? Is there a statute of limitations? Will he face penalties even though he's probably owed money? I'm so worried the IRS is going to come after him. Any advice on where to start with this nightmare would be so appreciated!
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Ella Lewis
This is definitely fixable! Don't panic. Here's where to start: The IRS generally only requires you to file returns for the past 6 years to be considered "caught up" - even though technically your son should have filed all those years. The good news is that if he's owed refunds, there are no penalties for filing late. The bad news is that refunds can only be claimed within 3 years of the original due date, so he's likely lost any refunds from years before that. First, gather whatever information you can. If he doesn't have W-2s, he can request wage transcripts from the IRS that show what employers reported. Go to IRS.gov and search for "Get Transcript" or call 800-908-9946. You can also try contacting previous employers for copies of W-2s. Start with the most recent tax year and work backward. Tax software like TurboTax or free filing options can help, or you might want to consult with a tax professional given the complexity of multiple years.
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Andrew Pinnock
•What about penalties though? I thought there were huge penalties for not filing? Also, if he's been working for companies that take out taxes all these years, wouldn't the IRS already know he hasn't been filing and come after him?
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Ella Lewis
•There are only penalties if you OWE taxes and file late. If you're due a refund, there are no penalties for filing late - the government is actually happy to keep your money! The downside is just that you can only claim refunds going back 3 years. The IRS system isn't as proactive as you might think. They receive millions of W-2s and 1099s each year, and their automated systems primarily flag returns that are filed with discrepancies. When someone doesn't file at all and the withholding appears sufficient based on reported income, they often don't trigger enforcement actions - especially for modest incomes. That said, it's always best to get caught up before they do notice.
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Brianna Schmidt
I was in almost the exact same situation with my brother (32) who hadn't filed in 8 years. We were totally overwhelmed until I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which seriously saved us. You upload whatever documents you have, and their AI analyzes everything and tells you exactly what years to focus on and what you need. The best part was it showed us he could still claim about $8,200 in refunds from the past few years, but years 4-8 were "expired" for refunds. Saved us from wasting time on years where no money could be recovered. The system even organized all the documents by year which made filing so much easier.
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Alexis Renard
•How does it work with missing W-2s though? My sister has a similar situation but is missing a ton of her paperwork.
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Camila Jordan
•This sounds like an ad. Does it actually work with the IRS wage transcripts the first commenter mentioned? Because that seems like the real solution here.
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Brianna Schmidt
•For missing W-2s, it gives you specific instructions on how to request wage transcripts from the IRS for each year you're missing documents. It even tells you exactly what forms to use for different situations. We uploaded my brother's IRS wage transcripts and it organized all the employers by year. It absolutely works with IRS wage transcripts! That's exactly what we used. You upload the transcript PDFs and it extracts all the employer information, reported wages, and withholding amounts by year. Made the whole process way less intimidating since we had no idea where to start either.
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Camila Jordan
Ok I feel the need to follow up on my skeptical comment. I actually tried taxr.ai for my own situation (6 years no filing) and holy crap it's legit. I got my wage transcripts from the IRS like they suggested and uploaded them, and it laid everything out year by year, showing me which years I could still get refunds for and which were too old. Apparently I'm owed about $3,700 for 2022-2024 that I can still claim! The organization alone was worth it because my tax situation was a complete mess.
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Tyler Lefleur
Just wanted to share that after dealing with a similar nightmare situation for my cousin, the hardest part was actually getting through to the IRS to get the wage transcripts. We literally called dozens of times and could never get through. Finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) which somehow got us connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent was able to send all the wage transcripts we needed for the past 7 years. Without those documents, we would've been totally stuck trying to recreate years of employment history.
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Madeline Blaze
•Wait how is this even possible? The IRS phone lines are impossible to get through. Is this service just calling for you or what?
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Max Knight
•Sounds fishy. Why would you pay someone else to call the IRS when you can just do it yourself for free? I've gotten through to them before, just have to call right when they open.
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Tyler Lefleur
•It's not someone calling for you - it's a system that navigates the IRS phone tree and holds your place in the queue. When they finally reach a human agent, it calls you and connects you directly. I spent over 3 hours on multiple days trying to get through myself and never once reached a human. Maybe some people have better luck, but we called at opening, called late day, tried different IRS numbers - nothing worked. My time is worth something too - spending 20-30 minutes on hold is one thing, but 3+ hours of failed attempts over multiple days was ridiculous. And this was for a pretty urgent situation where we needed those wage transcripts.
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Max Knight
I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After being totally skeptical and wasting FOUR MORE HOURS trying to reach the IRS myself this week (called right at 7am opening twice!), I broke down and tried it. Got connected to an IRS agent in 17 minutes while I just went about my day. The agent pulled up all my brother's missing W-2 information and even helped us figure out which years we still needed to file. Sometimes you don't realize how valuable your time is until you waste a week of it on hold music.
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Emma Swift
One important thing nobody mentioned - your son should be prepared for the possibility that he might actually OWE money for some years, especially if he had multiple jobs simultaneously or any 1099 income. My nephew was in a similar situation and while he got refunds for most years, there were 2 years where he owed because his withholding wasn't enough. Also worth mentioning that the IRS Fresh Start program can help if he does end up owing a substantial amount. They offer payment plans and sometimes even settlement options.
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Hunter Edmunds
•Oh gosh I hadn't even considered he might end up owing! He did work multiple jobs during college, sometimes 2-3 at once. Is there any way to figure out if he'll owe before we file? I don't want him to get hit with a huge bill he can't afford.
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Emma Swift
•Yes, that's actually why getting the wage transcripts is so important! They'll show all reported income and withholding for each year. With that information, you can estimate if he's likely to owe or receive a refund before actually filing. For the years with multiple jobs, the issue is that each employer withholds as if their job is his only source of income, which can lead to underwithholding overall. But don't worry too much - at the income levels you mentioned, even with multiple jobs, any amount owed is likely to be manageable. And if there is a substantial amount owed, payment plans are very reasonable - sometimes as low as $25-50 per month.
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Isabella Tucker
Has your son received any letters from the IRS over the years? The fact that they haven't reached out makes me think he's probably due refunds rather than owing money. But regardless, fixing this now is smart before they do eventually notice. My advice is to focus on the last 3 tax years first (2022, 2023, 2024) since those are the only ones where he can still get refunds. Then deal with 2019-2021 to get fully compliant, but understand those refunds are likely lost forever.
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Jayden Hill
•Not necessarily true. I didn't file for 7 years and never received a single letter from the IRS despite owing about $12,000 in total. Found out when I tried to buy a house and got denied for the tax lien I didn't even know existed. The IRS doesn't always send notices, especially if they don't have your current address.
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