Catch-Up Filing & Back Taxes
Years behind on filings? It's a project, not a verdict.
One year or four. Business or personal. Being behind is common, it is fixable, and it has an end date. We handle catch-up filing from one office in Metairie.
- Personal and business returns, plus payroll filings
- We read your IRS transcripts before anyone guesses at a number
- Bank statements are the first thing we ask for
- Scoped and quoted before we start
Who This Is For
If any of this sounds like you, you are in the normal range
Most people who call us about back taxes are not hiding. They are stuck. A year got away, the next deadline came before the last one was fixed, and the pile got frightening.
- Unfiled personal returns, one year or four.
- Open business years — an 1120-S, a 1065, a Schedule C that never went in.
- Payroll filings behind too: 941s, the 940, W-2s, the state returns.
- Your accountant retired, went quiet or died, and the years stacked up.
- You started once, the paperwork beat you, and you stopped.
- You know roughly what you owe and you have been frozen about it for months.
The work is mostly clerical: statements, transcripts and forms, in the right order. The hard part is starting.
How It Goes
The order of operations
Same four steps, every time.
Pull the IRS record first
You sign a Form 8821 and we read your transcripts. That shows which years are open, what income was reported under your name or EIN, and whether the IRS filed anything for you.
Rebuild the missing years from bank statements
Statements are the first thing we ask for, and usually the only thing you need to send to start. If it is a shoebox, bring the shoebox.
File the open years, oldest first
We work forward from the oldest open year. Filing in order keeps the balances straight and leaves you a clean record instead of a pile.
Deal with what is owed after
Filing and paying are two different problems. Once the returns are in, the balance becomes a number: payment plans, collection alternatives, and penalty relief where the rules allow it.
Why The Timing Matters
Filing on your own is not the same as being found
You are in a different position walking in with the returns than when the IRS writes first. Four plain reasons:
- The clock does not start until you file. For a year with no return on file, the period the IRS has to assess tax generally never begins to run. Filing starts it.
- If you do not file, the IRS can file for you. A substitute for return uses the income reported about you and few of your deductions. The number is usually worse.
- Refunds expire. A refund generally has to be claimed within about three years. An old year that would have paid you back stops being worth anything.
- Being current is a precondition. You cannot ask for a payment plan on returns that have not been filed.
What It Costs
Scoped and quoted before we start
Catch-up work is priced on how many years are open and how much rebuilding each needs, so we do not name a number before we have looked. You send statements, we read the transcripts, then you get a written scope and a price.
And no lecture. You will not get a speech about why you should have handled this sooner.
Questions
The things people ask on the first call
How far back do I have to go?
The transcripts tell us. In practice the IRS usually looks at the last six years when deciding whether someone is in good standing, but that is practice, not a hard rule. For a year you never filed, the clock the IRS runs on assessing tax generally never starts. Filing starts it.
What if I cannot pay what I owe?
File anyway. The failure-to-file penalty is charged at a much higher rate than the failure-to-pay penalty, so the open years are usually the expensive part. Once the balance is known there are recognized ways to handle it: installment agreements, collection alternatives, and penalty relief where the rules allow it.
Will I go to jail?
We cannot promise you an outcome, and nobody honest will. Factually: unfiled returns are handled as civil matters in the overwhelming majority of cases — tax, penalties and interest. Criminal cases generally involve deliberate evasion rather than falling behind. If your situation looks criminal rather than civil, we will say so and send you to a tax attorney.
What do I need to bring?
Bank and credit card statements for the years in question. Any IRS or Louisiana Department of Revenue letters, including unopened ones. The last return you filed. Payroll records if you have employees. We pull the rest.
My old accountant has my records and will not answer. Now what?
It happens, and it does not stop us. Transcripts give us the IRS side without anything from the previous firm, and bank statements give us the rest.
Related reading
Start Here
What happens when you call
- A person answers. Not a menu, not a call center.
- We ask what is filed and what is not. That is the whole triage.
- The first step is sending bank statements. That is all.
- We quote before we start, so you see the scope and the price before any work begins.
- We reply within one business day.
Or call the office: 504-832-1873
708 Rosa Ave, Metairie, LA 70005
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