I regularly see clients who have not filed returns because they have some issue with the IRS, either taxes that will be owed with the unfiled return, or taxes owed from earlier periods. They think they are avoiding trouble by not filing. Not so.

The IRS levies two separate penalties for non filers: a penalty for not filing the return and a separate penalty for not paying the tax.

Perhaps you can’t pay all you owe with the return, but why incur an avoidable penalty for not filing a timely return?

Tax penalties are not dischargeable in Chapter 7 until they are more than three years old. Contain the damage: file on time.