NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Michael Devine with the Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers who haven't filed their 2018 returns yet that they could be leaving money on the table.
"If you do a refund, there's a statute of limitations that says you only have three years to file that tax return and claim a refund," Devine said. "On April 18, that's the last day you can file that 2018 return. Our records indicate that there could be 15,000 Kansas residents who didn't claim more than $14 million."
It's not that it is necessarily a large amount of money, but every little bit helps.
"The numbers are really pretty constant for the past 10 years or so," Devine said. "It's about a billion and a half dollars nationally. The average refund might be up to $813, half above, half below."
If you do file back tax returns, though, the IRS is going to want you to file for the intervening years, too.
"If you filed a 2018 return, we're probably going to hang on to that refund until you've filed for 2019 and 2020," Devine said. "That's a good thing, because if you were going to get a refund, but you owed in 2019, that will reduce that tax bill, with penalties and interest. It's important to know that a tax bill isn't going to go away. There's no statute of limitation."
In other words, if you're due a refund, you need to file within three years, but if you are due to pay, those bills and interest and penalties continue to accrue, no matter how far back it goes until it is paid.