What Happens If I Don’t File a Tax Return?

Posted on October 09, 2013

What happens if I don’t file a tax return? Click image to see video.

We all have a legal duty to file tax returns, but what happens if you do not file one. The IRS files one for you. And it’s the worst possible tax return you can imagine. They don’t know if you are married, have kids, give to the church, have a mortgage, pay mortgage interest. So what the IRS will do is file on your behalf. They take the gross income reported to them and they make up a tax return, called a “Substitute for Return.” And 99% of the time, that tax return is a horrible tax return and it says you owe more money than you really really do. The easiest way is to file an honest and accurate tax return and persuade the IRS to undo the substitute for return so you can get to the true tax liability.