If you didn’t file your 2022 taxes, you could be owed a refund of hundreds — even thousands — of dollars, but the deadline to claim that money is fast approaching.
More than 1.3 million taxpayers have not filed their 2022 taxes, which were due by Tax Day in April 2023. As a result, the IRS is holding nearly $1.2 billion in unclaimed refunds by the April 15 deadline.
“By not filing a tax return, taxpayers will lose more than just their refund,” the IRS wrote in a Friday warning about the upcoming deadline.
The average unclaimed tax refund is about $700, the agency said, and that doesn’t include the 2022 refundable tax credits. That year, for example, the earned income tax credit was worth up to $6,935, and the earlier child tax credit could add up to $1,500 per child to their refund.
How much money the IRS may owe you
The average unclaimed tax refund is up to $686 per person (excluding tax credits). However, the IRS will not send this amount automatically. If you owe an old tax refund, you’ll need to file back taxes to claim it before the deadline.
Those back taxes for the 2022 tax year must be marked by April 15 of this year. Missing this deadline means your refund will disappear; if a tax refund is not legally claimed for three years it “becomes the property of the US Treasury,” according to the IRS.
The states with the largest 2022 tax refunds pending include:
- In Massachusetts: $786
- In Hawaii: $784
- North Dakota: $774
- New York: $757
- West Virginia: $756
How to claim your 2022 tax return in 2026
To claim your tax refund, you will need to file your 2022 taxes. According to the IRS website, you can “file your previous return in the same manner and in the same place that you would file a current return.” A notable exception is the IRS Free File, which does not support filing returns.
Some tax software programs will allow you to file previous years’ tax returns but may require you to print your returns and file by mail (or purchase a version of the program for the year you need to file).
For personal help, the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program can help. Through VITA, community centers, libraries and other local organizations offer legal, free tax assistance, including filing back taxes elsewhere. Tax professionals at brick-and-mortar tax preparation firms, such as H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt, can help you as well.
In short, returning taxes may take more leg work than filing current year’s taxes.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Gather your income information. Review your documents to determine what you have and what you don’t have in 2022. The specific documents required will depend on the type of income earned that year, such as W-2s for employee wages, 1099-MISCs or 1099-NECs for gig or contract work, and 1099-INTs and 1099-DIVs for dividends or dividend income.
- Request your tax transcript for missing income information. If you can’t find all of your 2022 tax information, you can get your tax transcript for free from the IRS. Simply create or sign in to your IRS account online and request a transcript of wages and income, which will include the W-2 or 1099 information you need to complete your return.
- Use the correct forms to return. When filing your taxes, be sure to use the correct annual form. You may need 2022’s forms 1040, 1040-SR or 1040-NR. This is searchable in the IRS form archive.
- Submit your return to the appropriate IRS location. After you file your 2022 tax return, you’ll need to sign it and send it to the appropriate IRS location. The return postal address depends on where you live. If the IRS has mailed you specific filing instructions, follow those.
For more help with your back taxes, you can call the IRS toll-free number, 800-TAX-FORM, or visit the taxpayer assistance center.
Remember that even if you owe a 2022 tax return, it may not result in a payment. The government may first get your refund from back taxes owed for other years, unpaid child support payments or debts you have paid off.
And if you to owe IRS fees starting in 2022, you may need to pay penalties on top of the past due amount.
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