The extension of the federal tax filing deadline for 2020 also gives more time to file for past years.
Internal Revenue Service spokesman, Christopher Miller, says 2017 is a key year when it comes to past year returns. “By law, taxpayers have three years to claim refunds. That means people have until the tax deadline of May 17th of this year to send us a 2017 tax return to get that money. After that it goes back to the U.S. Treasury for general purposes,” Miller says.
“In Iowa, we estimate that around 14 million dollars is waiting for around 14,000 people who haven’t filed a 2017 tax return,” he says. “That turns out to be a check of 922 dollars if you pull from the middle. Half of the checks are more than that, and half are less than that. Nationally we are talking about one-point-three billion dollars waiting for around one-point-three million taxpayers that can really help people make ends meet.”
He says there are a variety of reasons people didn’t file. You can go to the IRS website to file for 2017. “Anyone who wants to get a 2017 tax return that they can fill out and send in can go to IRS.gov and search for the 2017 version of the tax return,” Miller says.
Miller suggests if you have other years where you didn’t file that you also file for those years too, so you are caught up. The other years also have a three-year window before your chance to claim any refund expires.