Tax returns?

[mangoman39]

OK, so this is probably a really stupid question but I'm really kinda lost here. I know that I need copies of previous tax returns. Where exactly do I get these copies? Please help!!

[mangoman39]

OK, so I found out where I can order them from the IRS. However, does anyone know if a tax return transcript is good enough? Or do I have to pay $39 a piece for 3 years of exact return copies? The transcripts show that I filed so I'm assuming that that is ok. Any ideas?

[SleeplessInMI]

Well you should keep copies of all your tax returns to begin with but I won't lecture you on that

It is best to have the copies on hand.

[AAAArt]

If they ask to see your tax returns, then showing them one page that you filed will not be adequate. They want to see how much you made...etc.

[bkfiler]

my attorney needed transcipts. that showed him all he needed to see if the taxes were dischargable or not. the state taxes 2.5 months to get it back lol so do it soon.

[brightspell]

vehicle for freelancing

Hallo,
I'm a UK citizen but I guess the system here is not so different! In place of the IRS we have (Her Majesty's) Inland Revenue. Some years back they liquidated me.....why? The IR did this because I had registered a limited company here. I used this company to carry out my business as a freelance architectural services provider. However, I also used it for (hourly paid) term contract drafting work carried out through technician freelancers agencies. These agencies would pay you `extra over' the employees (hourly) rate for eliminating their need to provide payroll facilities....therefore it was `killing 2 birds with one stone'.

This arrangement worked well until recession hit hard in the early 1990's here, particularly in the building construction and property sector. Then the IR zapped me in a 4am `Gestapo type' raid! I had to attend at `Gestapo Headquarters' in a large amorphous office block in Bloomsbury, (Doomsbury?!) central London. I was shown down a long corridor with dark wallcoverings (no windows) and grey nylon floor carpet into a darkened room.....like where they put you in Casinos for card counting!....the dreaded `back room'.

I could just about see my interrogator across the desk....he was an African guy. He asked me several very relevant and tough questions, in a directly aggressive manner. When I stated that my company had been used `as a payroll vehicle' for freelancing work as well as architectural services, he kind of `lightened up'! (relatively) but more importantly, I was liquidated (luckily not by firing squad) and therefore I did not have to pay the back tax previously owed, as a director/employee of my former company.

Perhaps this situation could not occur in the USA? but I've posted, just in case the tax regime is similar, in this respect, to that in the UK. Of course it inevitably goes on your financial record......but time is a great healer!
Regards
Brightspell

[Senior Citizen]

Interesting story from the other side of the world.

[quest42]

I got my transcripts from the IRS for 1998..2004 it took about a week. Each one came in a separate envelope. You can use the IRS automated phone system to order them.