I owe the irs for back taxs and it has been over 10 years. how do I find out how much I still owe?

Question

I owe the irs for back taxs and it has been over 10 years. how do I find out how much I still owe?

Answer 1

You can call the IRS toll-free number to find out (1-800-829-1040).  In general, once the tax is assessed the IRS has ten (10) year to collect unless you filed for bankruptcy or make other arrangement with the Service (sign the extension of the collection statute, etc).  In that case, the collection statute gets extended by the waiver.   You can find out these information by calling the IRS representative and as for the collection statute.

Answer 2

If you didn't file, or left major amounts off of a return you filed, then you still are liable for that plus penalties and interest.

If you filed and the tax was assessed but just not paid or collected, you might not owe anything.

Answer 3

You need to investigate your account or better yet hire a professional to pull your account transcripts for all years in question and do a thourough review of the records for you. In most cases their is a ten year statue of limitations that the IRS has to collect on any tax due.  This ten year statute however begins on the assesment date.  The assement date is NOT the filing deadline.  It is the day the tax was assesed. This could be years after the filing deadline if you filed late, or if the filing was done by the IRS after you failed to file your own return.  For example: If you owe $15,000 for tax year 1995, you would probably presume that ten years has passed and now you do not owe the tax.  This is not necessarily true however.  If you had filed your tax return on time it would be.  For the sake of this answer though, let's say you did not file a tax return for this year. Lets say the IRS filed a return for you and assesed tax based on the income information they had on record under your social security number.  If this was the case they likely did'nt get around to doing the filing enforcement for a few years after the return was originally due, lets say December 10th 1998.  This now means that the statute doesn't expire until December 10th of this year and that the IRS will be stepping up all of their efforts to collect the tax due on this period prior to that date.  There are also a number of different things that could have extended the statute, such as filing for an offer in compromise or bankruptcy.   You can find additonal information about these topics on my website at eTaxrelief.com.  Hope this helps a bit.

Christopher R. Jacquez

President, eTaxrelief.com