How many years can you go back to get your taxes done?

Question

I had my son in July of 2004, In January of 2005 my aunt did my taxes with Turbo tax and she couldn't claim my son for me. It said something about him not being born long enough, I'm not exactly sure its been awhile and I don't remember. But I recently was talking to someone and they said that their child was born in December last year and they were able to claim their child. So I was wanting to try to re-do my taxes and try to claim my son but I'm not sure how far back you can go and I'm not sure if it's already too late because it was for the year of '04.

Answer 1

You can claim a child for the year if they're born at 1 minute to midnight on Dec 31, so your aunt was wrong.  But you can only go back three years and get a refund, so it's too late for 2004.

Answer 2

You can file delinquent returns back to 1913 but IRS will only insist on the past six years.

Refunds can be paid only for returns filed within three years of the original due date--this means 2005 forward right now--or two years from the date the tax was paid, whichever is later.

Answer 3

You can amend a return three years after the tax return was due.  Your 2004 tax was due in 2005, so you had until  April 15, 2008 to amend it.

You can still amend your 2005, 2006 and 2007 returns if you need to.