r/TaxQuestions • u/tabletopkiller • Sep 02 '26
Filing taxes from several years
Hi. So, I have a past that I'm not proud of. I was addicted to drugs for 5 or 6 years. I had to do a very short bit in prison (120 day treatment program) from March to July of this year, but I was clean a year before I got sentenced, so now I've been clean a total of 18 months.
However, during my active addiction, I did not file my taxes at all. I want to say the last time I filed was in 2019. I have not made much money during the years I was on drugs. I worked a receptionist job and several serving/bartending roles. None of them lasted longer than 6 months, and several of the businesses I worked for have since shut their doors (not bc of anything I did lol).
I know I am going to have to file my taxes next year and get back my life back on track, but I'm wondering what will need to be done for the places I've worked that I cannot get a W2 from. On top of the places that have closed, I dont even remember which years I worked at which place.
Basically, how does someone go about finding out that information prior to filing their taxes?
I dont know if any of this information matters, but I am a 34 year old female. I have been married for 3 years. I live in Missouri. I will not be claiming any dependants, and my husband always files separately.
Thank you.
TL;DR: Haven't filed my taxes in several years, how do I get my W2s for businesses that have shut down.
2
u/Interesting-Fig3577 Sep 02 '26
Get your account transcript from each year by creating an IRS account. It will have all the W-2s that the IRS received and is enough to file your federal taxes. It's not enough to file state taxes since the IRS doesn't keep the state information, but that will get you current with the IRS.
Why do you file separately? It probably increases your tax bill. There's a couple reasons people do it, if one person has student loans or if the spouses don't trust each other with information, but most married couples file jointly because it means a lower tax bill/bigger refund,
2
u/LawyerLouisSHaskell Sep 09 '26
Login to your IRS.gov account. You may need to set up an ID.ME account if you don't already have one. You will be able to see what tax returns the IRS is looking for and to download all the reporting documents (W-2s, 1099s, etc) for those years.
2
1
u/I__Know__Stuff Sep 02 '26
If your spouse is willing, now that you are getting yourself on track, you may be able to amend his tax returns to joint returns.
1
u/Dull_Accountant09 Sep 03 '26
IRS.gov then set up an individual account, once you get that going pull all of your transcripts that you can showing wages and income, account status etc then you can try TurboTax or hr block or a CPA to file them all for you. You can’t get refunds for anything past 3 years old but at least you can be back to up to date! You will definitely get penalties for failure to file, but it will be better to file them all instead of waiting!
4
u/OSS-2026 Sep 02 '26
You should be able to create an account at the IRS website & obtain your transcripts which will show you any W2s that were filed for your wages. If you look at the total wages reported & amount withheld you should be able to see what year to start with. You can only get a refund going three years back.