I do mine by hand too.. and every year without fail...

I used to know someone who didn't file at all. I asked him about it once and he said he didn't see the point. I asked him if he were worried about the IRS finding out and he said no because he doesn't worry about such things.

I have that same question, kfca37. I have a family member who has missed years at a time and didn't worry about it and didn't care. I sure wish (sort of) that I could just drop a dime.

i once had a co-worker who didn't pay for 4-5 yrs. the only reason she did end up filing taxes, which was in 2009, was her daughter was trying to get financial aid for "beauty" school and my co-worker would have gotten caught when her daughter applied LOL. she did her own taxes for those yrs, came up w/ a $5000 refund, yea right she could not have even paid in that over 5 yrs, hahaha, filed for those yrs and they of course didn't refund her the $$ LOL. she honestly thought she'd get the IRS's money back as her refund, 5 yrs later lol. but her daughter did get finacial aid and as far as i know they never came back to her for back taxes, fees or interest. thou she'd never tell me that, my dad is a CPA ;-) she's one of "those" people who let their $300 mortgage go into foreclosure, skipped out on $30K in student loans, can't get a car loan or credit card and no bank will even give her a savings acct because she's bounced hundreds of checks... ~ liz

Hi all,

The guy who " ... doesn't worry about such things ..." had better keep his eyes open when he goes down a road where there's been heavy rains ...

... or he may miss the sign that says, "Bridge out"!

Hope he can swim.

If one has had enough income to have incurred a tax liability but hasn't fulfilled his/her responsibility to file an income tax return for a number of years ...

... it'd be wise for him/her to get the info all arranged and get the returns ready for filing - and do it right quickly - then go to the income tax people and 'fess up.

For things are a lot simpler, and one can avoid some serious penalties, possibly (part of) the interest, etc. if one goes to them rather than waiting until they find out about his/her delinquency and comes looking for her/him.

Sometimes they don't catch up with a delinquent until the person dies - at which time there's a good possibility that the beneficiaries (may?)/will find that there's a lot less available (if any) remaining in the estate than they had thought that there might be.

Should one be recently divorced (or about to be) and the spouse is at all vindictive - that's an excellent time to file delinquent returns!

I have a self-employed family member that has been following such a path - has got away with it, so far.

As the guy who'd been pushed off of a balcony at the 40th floor was heard to say as he went past floors 25 - 20, "Well - so far ... so good!"!

ole joyfilled

My sis hasn't filed in years and she has far more money than I do, but I think it is about income. I thought everyone had to file whether they owed or not. We use the same accountant or used to. When I asked my accountant to confirm that my sis didn't have to file, she said her income is less that $14,000 a year. She also said, "don't go there, you will file until you die".

Forgot to add, if a person doesn't file and should, I hope they have no enemies because they will be reported if they do. But then maybe not because anyone who reports another person will be audited also.

Year ago my folks could have not filed after he retired due to they did not make much money, but they did every year and I am glad, because when they passed away we had no trouble with the estate. Even then I did not have to file, but did and again am glad. We did get a letter stating that nothing was owed from the IRS. Still have it.
Our former neighbor did go to jail because he refused to pay state income taxes--his reason--bible reason, don't understand it but IRS never came after him. Owed too little not worth it, they claimed. He was a retired fire fighter which did anger many because it is our taxes that paid his wages. Oh well, now he is quite ill. Guess what goes around, comes around.

I have a niece who is married, has a couple of little kids. She and her husband bought a house in California, they took out a marriage. She was a stay at home mom, her husband moved out and left the family. She stayed there with the kids for almost a year, not paying the mortgage because she couldn't, she had no job. The bank foreclosed and she movec out. Luckily landed on her feet,moved back east, got on welfare , lived in an apartment, found a job and decided to buy a home for herself and kids. She, unbelievably, with all that bad history, qualified for a new marriage of her own, and is now doing fine. Is this a great country or what? Her husband is out of the picture, no one is going after him for the old mortgage or child support or anything.

And they keep getting re-elected

It could take years for them to get on to you -- or
if you are really "lucky", you could be at the
center of a random "find" in a year or so.

If someone is submitting tax information (W-2, 1099's,
etc.) on you, they will find you sooner or later.

If you have never filed -- you may be living on
borrowed time.

If you live long enough - you will be found. LOL

My FIL didn't file tax returns for for several years before he died. I don't think it was because he didn't want to pay what he owed because I think he actually sent in some estimated payments but didn't complete his personal or business returns. I think it must have had something to do with the fact it just got to be too much for him to figure out himself and he didn't want to ask for help. It never caught up with him but it was certainly a nightmare for the executors of his estate.

Other than that I've never known of anyone who didn't file and pay their taxes. Or at least no one foolish enough to tell other people about it.

Jannie, I hope that was a new mortgage your niece qualified for. LOL

I once knew someone who filed every year but never paid. She made lots of money, but she spent it all and had nothing left over to pay her taxes. She seemed to find this a reasonable way to operate. The government bugged her for the money in various ways, and eventually there was a big confrontation. Her lawyer negotiated a settlement for her, which really annoyed me when I heard about it. It's not as though the rest of us are negotiating settlements every year!

I remember she had very strong political opinions, and I was thinking anyone who doesn't pay their taxes shouldn't be allowed to vote.

I knew someone years a go (I'm guessing 20) who did not file taxes for a year or two. It did not take terribly long for the IRS to send him a letter, which he orginally ignored. In the end, he had to hire someone to help him and what could have been an hour out of his life and a refund ended up costing him many hours and real money. I remember losing respect for him, because his behavior was so irresponsible and frankly, stupid.

There's a difference between not filing taxes and not paying them. I went a number of years without filing taxes but I didn't owe anything - actually I had refunds coming. They don't care about that, in fact they kind of like it. Then I got caught up on work and caught up on paperwork. Got more organized and no problem since. Usually I get refunds.

I don't know where the idea comes from that if you turn someone in you get audited. I've turned people in a number of times and, knock wood, never been audited. Actually you can qualify for a percentage of the recovery if you contribute something of value to them in recovering owed tax.

For people to slip through the cracks, well it can happen. But there's more and more cross-references and you're more likely to get caught if you try to pull something. I don't understand these nutcases that think they're making some big stand by refusing to pay taxes.

DS was living in Japan and was working for an American company.....he and his then girlfriend broke up and since she had always done taxes and stuff, he thought his company had somehow, magically, filed.
Since our address was his permanent address we started getting his mail from the IRS.....we forwarded it and since he was an adult, didn't worry about it.
He then got married to his wife, who was a Japanese citizen. They got married in Hawaii and then went to Tokyo for a few weeks. DS moved back to the US and when is wife applied for a visa it was denied. It took quite a while for DS to get his act together before she could come to the US.
That was quite a while ago and recently DH asked him what would happen if we didn't file or report income or something like that. DS said DH had to realize he would NOT get away with it and it is much better to file on time with honesty.
It was a difficult lesson for DS to learn but he does file on time every year. Anything that costs DS money gets his attention. LOL

Cynic because it happened to someone I know, they were told this. We have a lot of people living in Kansas that claims Oklahoma as their residences and I have really wanted them to get caught, but I've never reported them. Kansas has a hot line for reporting offenders.

Never understand how people cannot file their taxes and if taxes are owed, pay them. I would despise worrying and looking over my shoulder for the IRS to come and put my butt in the pokey. (jail) I don't like living life on the edge.

I can understand it. If you're scrambling to keep a roof over your head and keep food on the table, you're going to be less worried about sending the government your few hundred bucks so they can spend $770 million rebuilding mosques in Egypt.

I think some tax evaders are conscientious objectors and some are financially unable and some just feel overwhelmed by the 60,000 pages of tax code. And some feel strongly that the IRS is a violation of the US constitution (which IMHO, is true).

I've always paid mine, and always will, but only because they now have shotguns and all sorts of scary weapons that could reduce my well-ordered life into a smoldering wasteland.

Fear is an excellent tool of compliance. Works for me.

Here is a link that might be useful: It's true: $770 million to rebuild mosques in Egypt

What irritates me is that these people who are so against paying taxes also expect the benefits of our taxes. Sure, there's a lot of wasteful spending but the money also goes towards the sort of things that people take for granted, like armed forces, firefighters, unemployment, jail, free schooling, maintained streets and highways, etc.

I just don't get where people expect these services to come from without taxes. I wish there could be some sort of trade off for people who choose not to pay taxes. They aren't allowed to send their kids to school, use the library, collect medicare or social security, collect unemployment, call the police, call the fire department, drive on our streets, use public parks or utilize our court system. Chances are they use and expect these services already. We actually pay some of the lowest percentages of developed countries. Granted we don't have national health care but most of the tax money is going towards funding of health care anyway.

Rosemary, do you really think the government is going to kill you for not paying your taxes? I'm pretty sure you're worth more to them alive. :P

A few years ago I come into some inheritance and I had them take out tax before I cashed it in. When it came time to do my taxes, I almost passed out when I found out I owed more than $5k, which is a lot for a single 25 year old. The inheritance had bumped my income into the next bracket so I was taxed additionally for all I had made the prior year. It took me a year to pay off with hefty interest but I called the IRS and they worked with me, very pleasantly I might add.

chi83 -- I certainly agree with you!

When I make out the (substantial) checks for our real estate tax I think about all that I'm getting for the money. I'm pretty happy with the way my small city spends our money.

Now, with the State and Federal taxes...I feel powerless. The institutions are so big that I have no way to meaningfully influence how they spend my money.

I'm angry that corporations and the wealthy are allowed to BUY influence and lower (or zero) taxation. All the 'poor' who are supposedly soaking up tax dollars don't count for beans against those companies and individuals who pay nothing while they benefit from government contracts.

we just did our taxes and will get a refund. Our tax lady wants to see our paystubs because she thinks they may not be taking enough out. she said we might owe next year if that is the case. so we will have to have more taken out now so we get something back later.

samkaren
your resident dj

She doesn't need to see your pay stubs to find out
how much you have deducted. If she did your taxes,and
filed the proper W-2's, etc. she knows that. Or,
are you talking about med premiums, etc. that you paid?

You want more taken out, to be used by the Government
all year, so you can get it back next year? I'm
just wondering what she told you.