How Long Do You Have to Claim Your Tax Refund?
How long do you have to claim your tax refund from IRS? This is a question we hear often.
The general rule is that you can claim your refund up to three years from the due date of the tax return.
So as an example, if your tax return for 2018 is not filed yet, the due date is April 15th, 2019. Roughly three years from that date would be April 15, 2022. The date is not exact because some years, April 15th may fall on a Saturday or Sunday and push the three-year date out a business day.
The year 2019 is an exception to this rule. Due to Covid, IRS automatically extended everyone’s filing deadline to July 15th, 2020. That means if you have an unfiled tax return for 2019, your three-year date is roughly July 15th, 2023!
Here are three things you need to know.
1. If you have an unfiled tax return for a year that you think you will receive a refund, then there is a good chance that you could have refunds for other tax years waiting to be claimed.
Take the time now to ensure you get all the refunds you deserve by filing all of your unfiled tax returns.
2. If you have unfiled returns for years where you know you will owe, go ahead and file those returns too.
If you hire a tax attorney to help lower how much you owe, that reduction could lead to an overpayment. That overpayment could result in a refund.
That money may be sent to you or applied to other years you owe.
3. So far, we have been talking about individuals, but this applies to businesses as well.
We had a business owner client with an overpayment of $13,000. They got their tax return filed, and then they got their refund. We had another business owner client with an overpayment of $200,000. This was a more complicated case, but that client also got a refund.
When it comes to unclaimed tax refunds, don’t forget the 3-year rule. If you are worried about owing on years that are unfiled, then reach out to Tax Law Offices. We can help!