Did you know that when you owe money to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States, IRS has 10 years to collect. According to an article written by Stephen Fishman, J.D., for Nolo.com, “As a general rule, there is a ten year statute of limitations on IRS collections. This means that the IRS can attempt to collect your unpaid taxes for up to ten years from the date they were assessed. Subject to some important exceptions, once the ten years are up, the IRS has to stop its collection efforts. Every year, the statute of limitations expires for thousands of taxpayers who owe the IRS money.
If your Collection Statute Expiration Date (CSED) is near, the IRS may act aggressively to get you to pay as much as possible before the deadline or agree to extend it.”
Yes, IRS has 10 years to collect money owed BUT you only have three years to claim your Federal tax refund. According to the IRS,
“Many people may lose out on a tax refund simply because they did not file a federal income tax return.
Many taxpayers may not file because they didn’t earn enough money to be required to file. However, taxpayers who had federal taxes withheld by their employer may be eligible for a refund of those taxes. Also, even if you aren’t required to file, you may qualify for benefits like the Earned Income Tax Credit.
You must file a tax return to get the money.
There is usually no penalty for failure to file, if you are due a refund. But, if you wait too long to file a return or otherwise claim a refund, you risk losing your refund altogether.
In most cases, an original return claiming a refund must be filed within three years of its due date for the IRS to issue a refund.
Generally, after the three-year window closes, the IRS can neither send a refund for the specific tax year. nor apply any credits, including overpayments of estimated or withholding taxes, to other tax years that are underpaid.”
Source: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/dont-lose-your-refund-by-not-filing
