<prompt> Human: No one knows this but my wife and I. But, I havent filed taxes in over 15 years.Filing taxes was no big deal when I was getting a W-2 form. But the first year that I had to document my own expenses, handle my own deductions and got paid on a 1099...I freaked out. The next year I was going to file but I thought, Oh, no. If I file this year but dont fix last years mistake, Im going to be in hot water. Because I dont have the money to pay those taxes. So I did nothing again.Years later, the IRS has never contacted me about any of this...until December. I got a phone call from a case officer saying that she was sending me a letter about some back taxes.Theyve apparently done substitute returns for the years 1999-2004 but there was no mention of any of the years since.For most of our life, weve not made a much money. But in 2012 and 2013, we did. We had a lot of expenses but we made over 500k both years. But, again, after not having filed taxes in 10 years at that point, we didnt know what to do. Today, our income is much lower and were terrified.Im terrified to talk to the IRS because Im afraid theyre going to send me to jail.Ive talked to two tax attorneys. One wants a 7,000 retainer. The other a large firm wants a 25,000 retainer. I want to resolve this. I wasnt trying to evade my taxes. I was just stupid and irresponsible. But I dont know if I need to pay out that kind of money to a lawyer when it might be better to put it toward the tax bill.Should I hire an attorney to start this process?If I talk to the IRS directly, will they come down on me as a criminal?Would a CPA be able to help me negotiate all this?Any help or suggestions is appreciated. ScaredOfMyTaxesSorry for the long post. Ive never said any of this to anyone so I guess it feels good to just finally say it out loud.  <response>: The IRS doesnt want you in jail. The IRS wants its money. 