Tax Advice

It doesn't necessarily have to cost you more to get them done but you will be responsible for paying a penalty for filing them late. I would probably mail both tax returns in together the 2009 and the 2010. The IRS may consider applying your 2010 refund if any to the balance due on the 2009 return to cover the amount you owe plus any penalty and interest assessed. If you and you husband were still living under the same roof last year, I hope he was filed as Married Filing Separate filing status instead of anything else. Mailing the tax returns in together may get you flagged for an audit and who needs that head ache?

Just suck it up and file it and try to work out payment arrangements but be certain you keep up your payments. The IRS is kinder and gentler but it still has claws and teeth.

Best bet is to work with an accountant if you can. You've got a lot of different things going on for various years. If you can afford it hire someone to sort it out and save yourself the hassle.

We have our personal done yearly for $250. Steeper then turbo tax, but i think in your position I'd still go that route if possible.

You need a good accountant who can give you the correct information. This forum can give you ideas but keep in mind, we are not legal consultants.... just opinions. You need a professional to help you get through this with the best outcome. You will be fined by the IRS, accept that, own up to the errors, pay up and move on.

What you do not want is the IRS on your case. They do not care about any excuses.... They can and will come take what they feel is theirs from you if needed.

We use TurboTax for our personal filing and it is easy and fast. However, my hubby is a numbers person and his undergrad degree is in accounting.

We use a CPA for our business filing because it is much trickier and we are very picky about keeping everything on the up and up, never missing any kind of reporting date,etc.

One thing I know for sure. As you stated, you owe for 2009. If you have a refund coming for 2010, the IRS will take the refund and apply it to the balance you owe for 2009. Keep in mind that in addition to the amount you owe you'll also have to pay late filing penalties, late payment fees and interest. Changes are the amount you owe could be almost doubled.

Of course, you could do this all yourself. But I would recommned contacting a CPA who has experience with these situations.

Please be very careful when using H&R Block. Most of their agents only have minium tax experience and may not be able to handle this. Make sure you understand everything.

I don't have any help with your problem but wanted to let you know that I use to use turbotax but I also thought they were too pricey. Last year I started using taxact.com, they only charge $16.95.

You need to file it as soon as possible. You should be able to find a number for the IRS at www.irs.gov, tell them what happened and see if there's a different address that they want your return sent to. You'll have late fees, but it's really not the end of the world.

There's a financial penalty you'll have to pay, but I think that's it. We just got a notice from the IRS that we hadn't filed our 2009 tax forms when we'd given everything to our accountant and as far as we knew, we had. Turns out the accountant's software had a glitch and didn't send it out! Thankfully, she had a record of it all, wrote a letter to the IRS on our behalf and told us because it was the accounting firm's fault, we won't have to pay the penalty. She didn't mention any other potential consequences, other than the penalty fees.

You might take a look at the IRS website to see how much you'll owe in penalties and then get the tax forms off to them ASAP.

you better just take your info to HR Block and buck up and let them handle it.