What happens if I skip filing my taxes this year?

Taking a break from the frustration is understandable, but not filing your taxes can lead to some serious problems down the road. If you're owed a refund, you won't get that money until you file (and you generally have 3 years to claim it). However, if you owe taxes, the consequences get progressively worse: there's a failure-to-file penalty (usually 5% of unpaid taxes each month), plus a failure-to-pay penalty (0.5% per month), and interest keeps accumulating on both the unpaid tax and penalties. For your W-2 situation, you can actually request a wage transcript directly from the IRS using Form 4506-T, or call them at 800-829-1040 with your employer's details. They can contact the employer on your behalf. For the document your girlfriend threw away, you might be able to get a replacement by contacting the issuing organization. The IRS has collection powers that work regardless of whether you own property - they can garnish wages, levy bank accounts, and even take future tax refunds. Don't put yourself in that position!

After reading this thread, I feel like I should share something that helped me in a similar situation last year. I was missing several documents and getting nowhere with the IRS phone lines when someone recommended https://taxr.ai to me. It's this AI tool that helps analyze your tax documents and can even work with incomplete information sometimes. For me, I uploaded the documents I did have, and it helped me identify what was missing and suggested ways to get those documents. The system even had suggestions for how to handle the specific documents I was missing and calculated what my return would likely look like. Saved me from the panic of not filing at all. What really helped was that it walked me through the exact steps to take with the IRS to resolve my missing W-2 situation. Way more helpful than waiting on hold for hours!

Just wanted to follow up - I actually tried https://taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. It's legit helpful! I was missing a 1099 from a client who disappeared, and the system helped me figure out exactly how to document the income based on my bank statements and invoice records. It even generated the right form for reporting income without an official 1099. The documentation analysis was impressive - it flagged potential deductions I was missing from my self-employment work too. Ended up getting a bigger refund than expected and didn't have to stress about the missing form. Definitely keeping this tool for next year's taxes.

Listen, I've been through this exact nightmare trying to reach IRS agents about missing documents. Spent literally days on hold. Finally found this service called Claimyr at https://claimyr.com that got me through to an actual IRS person in about 20 minutes. I was super skeptical at first, but it actually worked. The IRS agent I spoke with helped me get a wage and income transcript with all my W-2 info so I could file without waiting for my employer. They also explained how to handle the other missing document situation. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Don't risk the penalties of not filing at all when you can actually get help from the IRS directly - just need to actually reach them first.

I need to publicly eat my words. After being super skeptical about Claimyr in my comment yesterday, I decided to try it this morning out of pure desperation. I've been trying to get through to the IRS for TWO MONTHS about missing W-2s. Holy crap, it actually worked. Got a call back in about 15 minutes, spent maybe 5 minutes on hold, and then was talking to a real IRS person. Explained my situation about the missing W-2, and they were able to pull up my wage info and tell me exactly what to do. They're sending me a wage transcript with all the information I need. I was 100% ready to skip filing this year like the original poster, but now I can actually get it done without the penalties. Crazy that it took a third-party service to make the IRS accessible, but whatever works I guess.

Everyone's focusing on getting the documents, but I want to address what ACTUALLY happens if you don't file: 1. The IRS will eventually send notices (CP59 Notice) 2. They might file a "Substitute for Return" based on income info they have, which won't include any deductions/credits you'd qualify for 3. They'll assess tax, penalties and interest 4. They can eventually garnish wages, take money from bank accounts, and seize tax refunds for YEARS 5. There's no statute of limitations on unfiled returns, so this can haunt you forever I ignored filing for 3 years when I was younger and it took me 6 years to clean up the mess. DON'T DO IT.

Some practical advice: even with missing docs, FILE SOMETHING by the deadline (April 15)! You can file Form 4868 for an automatic extension to October, then use that time to get your docs sorted. The extension doesn't extend the time to pay, but it prevents the nasty failure-to-file penalty which is much worse than the failure-to-pay penalty.