The last chance to claim a 2009 Tax Refund Was April 15, 2013, but you can still file 2009 Taxes with RapidTax.
Yes, you can still file your 2009 taxes. However, the IRS has a statute of limitations that only allows you to get a refund for three years after the original due date of a return.
In other words, you can file your late 2009 tax return, but you won’t be able to claim your 2009 refund. The last day to file and get a 2009 refund was April 15, 2013. After this date, the government stopped issuing 2009 refunds, even though you’re technically still required to file a 2009 return.
If you weren’t expecting a 2009 refund and instead, have tax due, you’ll want to file your 2009 taxes as soon as possible.
IRS Statute Of Limitations
Unfortunately, though you only have three years to get a refund, the statute of limitations on the IRS collecting taxes due is ten years. So if you owe money, don’t think that you’ve successfully evaded the IRS. They still have 5 years to collect your tax due.
If you do owe the government money, you may have to pay a failure-to-file penalty, a failure-to-pay penalty, and interest. These penalties get larger for every day that your return is late, so it makes sense to file as soon as possible.
How To File 2009 Taxes Today
Many people who are late on their taxes automatically assume that they’ll be punished for it. However, if you were entitled to a refund, you won’t be facing penalties. After all, not being able to claim your refund is a punishment in itself. However, you should still file.
Unfortunately you won’t be able to e-file your 2009 return. E-file is only available between January and October for current year returns. This means that you’ll have to paper file your 2009 return.
You can still prepare your return online with RapidTax. To do so, create an account and enter your tax information. Then, we’ll do the hard work for you. After your return is prepared, you’ll simply print it out, sign, and mail it to the IRS yourself.
If you have any questions along the way, the RapidTax team is available via phone, chat and email!
Photo via Jérôme on Flickr.
Hi. I added 2014 w2s to my 2015 return not knowing it wasn’t allowed. Will the return beeee rejected or do they have to catch it? How does that work and what should I do?
Hi Tiff,
To avoid complications, you should amend your 2015 tax return and remove the W2 information from your 2014 W2s. Then you should resubmit your return for IRS filing. Once you have done this, you should amend your 2014 tax return and refile it with 2014 W2 information.
My husband received a tax amnesty letter, but we have never gotten any notices from the IRS. If we did owe or didn’t file one year would the IRS seen us a notice? I was wanting to know if this would affect our current years refund.
Hi Amy,
Unfortunately, the IRS does not notify everyone who does not file a tax return for the year. That is more of the taxpayer’s responsibility. However, the IRS can conduct an audit to collect the tax you owe. At that point, the IRS would notify you via mail. You can also request free transcripts from the IRS dating back to 2012 HERE. If you are still weary, just give the contact on the amnesty letter a call. They may be able to give you more information.
If I requested my refund transcript for 2014 and it says it’s not available does it mean I didn’t file my taxes ?
Hi Karen,
It doesn’t necessarily mean that you didn’t file for that year. If you requested the transcript online and were told it was unavailable, then you can request it by mail or file form 4506-T with the IRS.
My boyfriend has not filed his taxes for the past 4 years. And has none of the w2 for either year. How does he go about it.
Hi Amanda,
He will get the quickest results (not to mention it being the simplest for him) if he can contact his employer(s) from the years in question. They will still have access to his W-2 information. If not, then he can request this information from the Social Security Administration for a fee or you can request a copy from the IRS.
Lost my job in 2010 was on unemployment and had a baby by the time 2011 tax season came never filed and was told i owe the irs havent been employed since and also had another child since what do i do and what can i do to find out if i can file or am i penalized help anyone please
Hi Olivia,
The IRS does consider unemployment income to be taxable income. That means that this income must be reported on a tax return for each year that you received it (if it meets the amount requirement to file a return at all). It is possible that you are not earning enough unemployment in order to be required to file a tax return. You will only be penalized if you owe the IRS taxes. If you were to collect a refund for those years, then you will not be faced with any penalty fees (and you may be able to still collect those refund amounts). You can create an account for free on our website, enter your information for each year and then see what you are expected to pay to the IRS or how much your refund will be.
We got penalized over $4000 for not filling 2009 tax returns. I now have the w2s to file for that year. Even though they won’t give us the tax refund that would’ve been due us, will they reimburse any of the penalty?? It seemed excessive!
Hi S.Johnson,
Unfortunately, the IRS can be unforgiving when it comes to penalty fees. As stated by the IRS directly, “The IRS may abate penalties for filing and paying late if you have reasonable cause and the failure was not due to willful neglect.”
In other words, you will most likely need to pay a majority of the penalty and interest fees but you may have a chance to explain your situation and have the bill reduced. I suggest contacting the IRS as soon as possible to get a start on sorting this out.