Missing a year or several? We pull your IRS records, rebuild what’s needed, prepare and file the returns, and deal with the balance and penalties in the right order — with the scope and price agreed before work begins. Federal returns for clients nationwide, plus California and other state returns, handled online.
5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month the return is late, up to 25%. If a return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty for returns due in 2026 is the lesser of $525 or the tax due.
Another 0.5% per month on the unpaid tax, plus interest — currently 7% a year for individuals — compounding daily from the original due date.
If you don’t file, the IRS can file for you using only the income reported to it, with no deductions, credits or correct filing status. The result is a bill that is usually far higher than a real return would show.
A refund has to be claimed within three years of the return’s due date. A 2023 return with a refund must be filed by April 15, 2027; the 2022 refund window closed in April 2026.
Unfiled Form 1065 or 1120-S returns are penalized at $255 per partner or shareholder per month, for up to 12 months, even when no tax is owed.
Balance-due notices escalate to liens and levies. Filing the missing returns is the first step to stopping that, because the IRS won’t set up a payment plan until you’re current.
IRS policy is that enforcement of filing requirements is normally pursued for a six-year period. In most cases that means the last six years, though anything the IRS has already assessed or asked for is handled regardless of age.
If a year has a refund and the three-year window is still open, we file it — the money is yours until the deadline passes.
A substitute-for-return assessment can be replaced by filing an accurate original return for that year, which usually reduces the balance.
California’s Franchise Tax Board runs its own matching and its own penalties, and an LLC owes the $800 annual tax for every year it existed, filed or not. We work federal and state years together.
Before any return is prepared we pull your IRS account and wage & income transcripts, list every year that is open, and show you which ones actually need to be filed and why.
With your authorization we get the account transcripts and wage & income transcripts for every open year, so we see what the IRS sees: W-2s, 1099s, notices, assessments and payments.
You get a list of the years to file, what each one needs, and a per-return price from our published base pricing, confirmed before work begins.
Missing statements and receipts are reconstructed from transcripts, bank records and what you have. For business years, catch-up bookkeeping rebuilds the books first.
Returns are prepared in the right order — usually the most recent year first so current-year deadlines and refunds are protected — then filed. Older years may have to be paper-filed, and we handle that.
Once you’re current, we set up the payment plan that fits — short-term, a Simple Payment Plan, an installment agreement, or currently-not-collectible status — or evaluate an offer in compromise if the numbers support one.
First-time abatement or reasonable-cause relief is requested where it applies. The IRS’s new automatic penalty exemption only helps taxpayers with three clean prior years, so most catch-up filers still need a request.
A signed Form 8821 or 2848 so we can pull transcripts and, if needed, speak to the IRS for you.
Every notice you have, opened or not. The notice numbers tell us where each year stands.
W-2s, 1099s, K-1s and brokerage statements. Missing ones are usually recoverable from the wage & income transcript.
For Schedule C or entity years, statements for each account so income and expenses can be rebuilt.
Marital status, dependents, address, health coverage and major events for each unfiled year, since filing status and credits change the result.
It establishes carryovers, depreciation and the starting point for everything after it.
Each year is priced as a return: personal returns from $300, Schedule C from $750, partnership, S corporation and C corporation returns from $1,200. See the pricing page.
Years that need records rebuilt, business years that need bookkeeping first, state returns, and replacing substitute-for-return assessments. We confirm the full scope and price before work begins.
Responding to notices, setting up payment plans and requesting penalty relief are scoped individually as IRS resolution work, with the price agreed up front.
We don’t guarantee penalty removal or a particular settlement. We do tell you what is realistic for your numbers before you commit to anything.
CP59 (no return on file), CP2000, CP3219N and balance-due notices explained. IRS notices guide →
The full IRS resolution service, from a single notice to a multi-year balance. IRS resolution →
We rebuild the books for each unfiled year, then prepare the return from them. Catch-up bookkeeping →
Once you’re current, the same team files every year going forward. Personal tax → · Business tax →
IRS policy normally enforces filing for the last six years, plus any year the IRS has already assessed or specifically asked for. We confirm the exact list from your transcripts before preparing anything.
Only if you file within three years of the return’s due date. After that the refund is forfeited, even though the return still has to be filed.
A substitute for return uses only the income reported to the IRS, with no deductions or credits. Filing an accurate original return for that year usually replaces it and lowers the balance.
Failing to file is a serious matter, but for the vast majority of people who come forward and file, the consequences are financial: penalties, interest and collection. Getting current is what closes the issue.
No. The IRS requires all required returns to be filed before it approves a payment plan or an offer in compromise, which is why filing comes first in our roadmap.
Yes. Wage & income transcripts recover W-2s, 1099s and similar forms, and bank records rebuild the rest. Estimates are used only where they can be supported.
Tell us which years are missing and we’ll pull the records, list what needs filing and confirm the price.