<prompt> Human: Not even sure where to start but the last 5 years have been pretty hectic and stressful. We.ve been married 15 years and my wife has always filed the taxes without me even looking at them. 2015 was a good year financially but somehow my wife didnt file a 1099 we received for nearly 50000. I logged into the IRS website to look at details of it and also noticed she didnt do a large 1099 from 2016 either, although I havent heard anything about that. I can afford to pay the money back over a generous timeframe, but would I be best to contact a tax lawyer? or just contact the IRS and work out payments with them. Am I in danger of being arrested without any notice?Assistant: 1. Since you mention paying it back over a generous time frame, make sure your wife understands very clearly that she cannot simply spend or otherwise tie up earnings like that without even considering the taxation on the income.2. You will either have to help her file in the future or just file jointly. This is extremely irresponsible behavior.3. You will not be arrested for this. IRS just wants their money. If it turns out you guys were involved in a committedintentional tax fraud, then it is time to find a lawyer. Otherwise there is no good reason to do such a thing. You will have to pay what is owed to them plus the penalties.4. You have to look through all of her tax records now, not just the 2016 one. You need to know for your own sake.5. In the future, if you suspect you have committed a serious crime, do not ask Reddit if you are going to be arrested :Being busystressed is not a valid excuse nor is it an explanation for any of this.Human: I plan to use a CPA this year and going forward. She stays home so she doesnt have income. Not reporting it was unintentional but I was asking about being arrested because I was assuming that the IRS doesnt care about intent or excuses.  <response>: I was assuming that the IRS doesnt care about intent or excuses.The IRS wants the money that is owed to them. That is why they exist, that is all they care about. They dont _want_ to send anyone to jail, they just want paid. When you hear about people going to jail over this, its typically because they committed tax fraud on an obscene scale or refused a court order to pay back taxes. You should probably pay a CPA a couple hundred bucks to review everything. You should be able to file an amended tax form for the past three years to show that this wasnt an intentional mistake and you werent trying to misrepresent anything on your taxes. You should also file this with form 9465, which is a request for payment in installments. You will owe interest. Up to 3 quarterly. You will owe fines. Up to 1 but probably much lower of the outstanding balance _monthly_. You will pay fees to set this up, depending on how you set up your payments. Typically the maximum you can stretch this out is 60 months, but since the IRS knows exactly how much you make and this form helps them figure out what you can afford to pay every month, they might make it much less than that.You are not eligible for a payment plan within 5 years of having another payment plan with the IRS. So if youve had one in the last 5 years, youre out of luck. If you screw up again in the next 5 years, youre out of luck. She stays home so she doesnt have income.Sounds like shes going to have to get a job where she makes... say... 17000 per year or more. 