Unfiled back-tax return preparation

Confirmation of every missing year straight from IRS transcripts, not from what the client believes was or wasn't filed. Identification of any year where the IRS has already assessed a substitute for return, and a comparison of that assessment against what the return should actually show. Full reconstruction of each missing year from bank statements, card records, transcripts, and any surviving original documentation. Returns built and filed in order, oldest year first, so each year's closing position correctly feeds the next year's opening figures. Review and signature by a credentialed preparer on every completed return before filing. Representation through our enrolled agent or CPA partner under a signed Form 2848 where the filing needs direct negotiation with the IRS.

We begin with a transcript pull to establish exactly which years are missing and whether any already carry a substitute for return. From there we ask for what you have: bank and card statements, any invoices or payroll records, prior accounting files if they exist. We do not wait for a complete record before starting; reconstruction begins with whatever's available and refines as more surfaces. Each year is built in full before moving to the next, oldest first, checked against transcript data for income the IRS already has on file so nothing gets missed. Completed returns go to a credentialed preparer for review and signature, then are filed. Where the volume or complexity of the filing calls for direct negotiation with the IRS, such as agreeing an order of processing across several years at once, our enrolled agent or CPA partner steps in under your signed Form 2848.

Business owners and individuals with one or more genuinely unfiled prior years, whether that surfaced through a lender's due diligence, a buyer's request during a sale, an IRS notice, or simple recognition that the gap has to close before it grows. It fits a founder who lost a year or two to a chaotic scaling period, a small business owner whose books collapsed after a bookkeeper left, or an accounting firm's client who needs multiple back years rebuilt before the firm's own signer will engage. It is not a fit for someone who has filed every year and is only disputing a balance; that's notice response or penalty abatement territory instead.

A client assumes two years are missing, but the transcript shows a third, older year with a substitute for return already assessed at a much higher balance than reality, which we catch before building the wrong set of returns. Bank records for the oldest missing year are incomplete because the account was closed, which we work around using wage and income transcript data and whatever statements the bank can still produce. A business changed accounting software mid-gap, leaving two incompatible partial records for the same year, which we reconcile into one clean workpaper rather than picking one source and ignoring the other. A substitute for return already assessed a large balance using standard deduction only, and the taxpayer actually itemized or ran significant business expenses that year, which the replacement return we build corrects once accepted.

QuickBooks Online or Xero, whichever the business already uses or is willing to adopt, hosts the reconstructed books for each missing year. Drake Tax prepares the actual return once the workpapers are complete. IRS transcript data, pulled through the Transcript Delivery System, anchors every reconstruction against what the IRS already has on file rather than relying on memory or incomplete paper records.

Back-tax reconstruction is priced by the number of years and the state of the underlying records, not as a flat per-return fee, since one clean year with complete bank statements takes far less work than a year with fragmented or missing records. Reference the published rate card at /us/pricing for our standing tiers and add-ons; multi-year cleanup work is typically scoped after the transcript pull confirms exactly how many years and what condition each one is in. Any separate fee for our enrolled agent or CPA partner's direct representation on the filing is set and billed by that partner.

Every reconstructed year is checked against IRS transcript data for income before it's considered complete, since a return built only from bank statements can miss a 1099 or W-2 the taxpayer never saw. Returns are built and filed strictly in chronological order so a later year's numbers are never finalized ahead of an earlier year that could change its opening position. Every return, regardless of how many years back it reaches, is reviewed and signed by a credentialed preparer before filing, the same bar as a current-year return, with no shortcut for older years.

The transcript pull to confirm missing years typically takes a few business days once your Form 2848 is signed. Reconstructing a single, reasonably documented year usually takes one to two weeks; a year with fragmented records or a substitute for return to unwind can take longer. Multi-year cases are built and filed sequentially rather than all at once, so the first year is often filed while later years are still being reconstructed, which lets relief options like penalty abatement start moving sooner rather than waiting for every year to be complete.