Catching up unfiled tax returns in Easton, MA
Most tax problems start here, and no resolution is approved until the returns are in. The work is records first, returns second, and it serves the IRS and the Department of Revenue from the same file.
THE CLOCK — REFUNDS EXPIRE; BALANCES DO NOT
A refund for a year never filed is generally lost if the return is not filed within 3 years of its due date, according to the IRS. A balance has no such limit: where no return is filed, the IRS and Massachusetts can both assess at any time. Every month of delay costs one or the other.
Where to start: what the IRS already has
The first step is not a tax return. It is finding out what the IRS and the Department of Revenue already hold for each year: which returns they have, which they are missing, whether either has prepared a substitute return, and what income has been reported under your name.
The account transcript answers the first three questions for each federal year. The wage and income transcript answers the fourth, listing the W-2s, 1099s and other information returns filed about you, for the current and nine prior years. MassTaxConnect shows the state side.
How far back to go is a judgment made from that picture. The IRS's own policy, covered on the unfiled returns page, normally limits enforcement of past-due returns to six years, with managers able to require more. Any period with a substitute return or an assessment needs attention regardless, and a period that would produce a refund may be worth filing while the window is open.
Rebuilding records that are gone
Most people behind on filing are also behind on records. That is normal, and it is fixable, because most of the information exists somewhere else.
WHAT TO GATHER
- Every IRS and DOR letter you have, with its envelope, for every year
- Bank and credit card statements for each year, which reconstruct income and expenses when receipts are gone
- W-2s, 1099s and K-1s, or the wage and income transcript that lists them
- The last return you did file, federal and Massachusetts, for carryforwards and a starting point
- Mortgage, property tax, childcare and health coverage statements
- For a business: invoices, payment processor reports, payroll reports and any sales tax filings
Please do not send Social Security numbers or tax documents through the website form. We will tell you how to share them securely.
Replacing a return the IRS prepared
Where the IRS has already prepared a substitute return, filing your own is usually the largest reduction available on the whole account. A substitute is built from reported income and nothing else, so it typically allows no business expenses, no cost basis on sales and no dependents. The IRS's own guidance says filing your own return is still in your interest and that it will generally adjust the account.
The state side works on the same logic. Massachusetts law lets DOR assess an unfiled year on its own best information, and a filed return with the real figures is the starting point for correcting that.
Order matters. Returns first, then the balance they produce, then a payment arrangement for that figure. Negotiating a plan for a substitute-return balance that is about to fall is wasted effort.
Where we come in
Murphy works from an office at 187 Washington Street in North Easton. This is work squarely within what we do: pulling transcripts with your authorization on Form 8821, or with you through your own Online Account; reconstructing income and expenses from bank, card and third-party records; preparing the federal and Massachusetts returns from one record; and explaining, in writing, what each notice means and what the figures come to.
Some matters need someone to act for you before the IRS or DOR, at a hearing, in an appeal or in court. At the IRS that is done by an attorney, CPA or enrolled agent under a power of attorney, and a Tax Court case has its own admission rules. Where a case needs any of that, we say so plainly at the start rather than later.
Plenty of our clients live in Easton, Brockton, Stoughton, Taunton, Bridgewater, Sharon and Mansfield, but whether we are the right fit depends on the work rather than the address. We give you a scope and a price in writing before anything starts.
Where this comes from
The statutes behind this page, so you can check any of it rather than take it on trust.
- IRC §6501(c)(3)
- Federal: where no return is filed, tax may be assessed at any time.
- IRC §6020(b)
- The IRS's power to prepare a substitute return from its own information.
- M.G.L. c. 62C §26(d)
- Massachusetts: where no return is filed, the Commissioner may assess at any time.
- IRC §6511(a)
- The time limit for claiming a refund, which the IRS summarizes for unfiled years as 3 years from the due date.
This page explains what the IRS or the Massachusetts Department of Revenue does and cites the statute. It is not advice about your situation, which depends on facts none of this knows. Tell us what your letter says and what date is on it. Please do not send Social Security numbers or tax documents through the form.
Unfiled tax returns
Almost every serious collection case has unfiled periods behind it. Nothing else can be resolved until they are in — and the returns the IRS prepares in your place are, by design, the worst possible version of your tax position.
Notice CP2566
With no return on file, the IRS has calculated your tax, penalty and interest from what employers, banks and others reported. It is a proposal. You can file your own return instead, and for most people that is the single largest reduction available.
Massachusetts tax amnesty
Massachusetts runs amnesty programs occasionally and briefly. The last one closed on 30 December 2024. Knowing what it offered is useful; planning around the next one is not, because nothing says there will be one, or when.
Getting organized first
Most of the cost of resolving a tax problem is assembling the facts. Doing that first, before hiring anyone, means you pay for judgment rather than document chasing, and you can tell whether the advice you get fits your numbers.
Questions about catching up unfiled returns.
- How many years of back taxes do I need to file?
- The IRS's own policy normally limits enforcement of past-due returns to six years, though managers can require more. Any year with a substitute return or an assessment needs dealing with, and a refund year is worth filing while it can still be claimed. The transcripts decide it.
- Can I still get a refund for an old year?
- Possibly. The IRS says a refund of withholding or estimated tax must be claimed within 3 years of the return's due date. After that, it is generally lost, and it cannot be applied to a balance from another year.
- What if I don't have my records anymore?
- Most of the information exists elsewhere. Wage and income transcripts list what was reported to the IRS, and bank and card statements reconstruct income and expenses. Returns built this way need to be careful and documented, and they usually beat a substitute return.
- Do I have to file Massachusetts returns too?
- If you had a Massachusetts filing requirement, yes. Where no return is filed, the state can assess at any time, just as the IRS can. The same records serve both returns, which is why they are usually prepared together.
- Can you deal with the IRS for me?
- We prepare the returns, pull transcripts with your authorization and explain the notices. Acting for you before the IRS at a hearing or in an appeal is done by an attorney, CPA or enrolled agent under a power of attorney, and we will tell you at the start if your matter needs that.
Tell us what the letter says and what date is on it.
Scope and price in writing before anything starts. Where what you need is something we do not do, you will be told that instead.
Please don't send Social Security numbers or tax documents through this form.