| If there's one piece of not so conventional tax advice | | | | they can check them against their records. If you need |
| that I try to tell people, it's that past tax returns can | | | | to get your past tax returns, they are a good place to |
| really help you in a lot of ways. From everything to | | | | go. Unfortunately, they are also a slow place to go. |
| making this years tax filing easier to to paying down | | | | You may have to wait a few months for your request |
| your bills to getting a better mortgage rate, hanging on | | | | to be processed and then a few more while they |
| to your past tax returns really helps you out. | | | | send you those returns. You can make this process |
| I hope I have you convinced about their importance, but | | | | go a bit faster by making the request before or after |
| that still leaves a lot of people wondering: how do I | | | | the yearly tax crunch, but it will still take a little while. |
| even get my past tax returns? | | | | Contact your e-filing company. If you used an e-filing |
| The easiest way to get past tax returns is, of course, | | | | service in the past, that's the best way to get past tax |
| to never throw them away. For those of us who file | | | | returns. Like the IRS, they also keep them on file, but |
| electronically, this means hanging on to the PDF copy | | | | because it's done electronically, they are more likely to |
| of our returns in a dedicated folder. For those who file | | | | have them going farther back, and that also makes |
| by mail, it means taking the time to make a copy (or | | | | then easier to access. This is why finding a good |
| two!) of your returns before mailing them off. However | | | | e-filing company and sticking with them is so important: |
| you do it, hanging on to something is a lot easier than | | | | because it helps you keep better records and get past |
| getting something back. | | | | tax returns faster and more easily. |
| But let's say you were mailing your returns in at the | | | | Your old returns can be so helpful that it's important to |
| deadline and so couldn't make a copy, or your | | | | hang onto them for as long as possible. But if you lose |
| computer crashed and so you lost all those old returns. | | | | them for whatever reason, it's just as important to get |
| Or you weren't aware how crucial they could be. In | | | | your past tax returns back as soon as you can. |
| those cases, you need to actively get those past tax | | | | Whether you go through the IRS or you old e-filing |
| returns. There are two ways you can do this: | | | | company, those returns can save you thousands--so |
| Contact the IRS directly. The IRS legally has to hang | | | | having them around should be a priority. Don't put it off |
| onto your old returns for at least one year, so that | | | | until the last minute and get delayed! |