<prompt> Human: I relied on a family friend to help me with taxes, we couldnt find the 2015 tax forms they said they needed but I figured they took care of things because they never brought it up again after I told them the forms were gone. Mistake 1But we never received our tax refund. And I never pursued it. Now its like when you know something is really wrong with your health but youre to scared to see a Dr.I just learned we have a an IRS office in town, and Im thinking about going in and explaining we made bad choices didnt know what we were doing but what will happen?I want to rectify the situation, pay the taxes I owe if they werent filed right like Im suspecting, and get help for the upcoming tax season and file right this time.Will I get taken to jail just right away? I clearly dont understand taxes or how they work, and what the consequences are for not paying them.Assistant: Just get the files together and hire someone to prepare your 2015 and 2016 returns. If you cant find your w2s and 1099s, you need to contact the relevant parties and see if they can resend. They most likely have everything on file. If you are getting refunds, there wont be any penalties and youll just be getting cash from the IRS yay!. If you did owe on the returns, the IRS will assess interest and penalties and youll have to pay those boo!. The longer you wait, the higher those will be. Keep waiting, and theyll garnish your paychecks. Youre not going to jail. Just get it done because you dont want to keep accruing interest and penalties. Human: So to file properly Ill need my and my husbands W2s and 1099s from 2015 and 2016, explain what happened to an IRS agent and go from there? Accept the fees or whatever.  <response>: You missed a detail in his post. You dont need to say anything to the IRS or talk to them at this point. You need to see a tax preparer with your W-2s1099s and have them do your taxes for 201516.If it turns out you owe money to the IRS after the returns are calculated, then youll owe what you should have paid in 201516 a penalty fee for filing late. If youre owed money i.e. you overpaid your taxes those years, youre fine. 