Q: I haven’t received any reported income over the last 17 years and I have been single. Am I in any trouble?
I am now married, as of December 2018. My wife works a full time salary job so is has always filed her taxes. Should she file married/joint? Will this raise a flag to the IRS since I haven’t filed any taxes for this long?
A:
If you were required to file taxes in any of those 17 years you should have. You can voluntarily file your returns to get compliant if that is the case. If you did not make enough money to meet the filing requirement for those years, you are not responsible to file the returns.
You have not given enough information as to why she would prefer to file married filing separately or jointly.
A: Before doing anything you need to speak with a good tax attorney. Stay away from the places you see advertised on TV. Most of us offer a free consultation. If you were required to file tax returns and did not, you need to get compliant. You do not want to do this without talking to someone first.
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