The IRS Three-Year Window to Claim Your Tax Refund: The Triennial Shade Tree

The best time to plant a shade tree is 20-years ago. The second best time is today. To give good news and bad news, you may have already planted your shade tree, but the IRS is not known for the depth of their arboricultural knowledge, though they do occasionally try their hand. (See Rev. Rul. 79-174 and Rev. Rul. 90-61 for two of my personal favorites.) Under 26 U.S.C. § 6511 The IRS gives you only three years, which may not be enough to grow a full tree, but could be a significant amount of money left sitting if you haven't filed taxes to claim what belongs to you. If you miss that deadline, your refund expires permanently.

Who This Affects

The rule most often impacts:

• Students or part-time workers who had taxes withheld but didn’t earn enough to file.
• Self-employed individuals who put off filing during slow years.
• Taxpayers owed credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Child Tax Credit but didn’t file.

Even if you weren’t required to file, you may still be owed a refund if federal taxes were withheld from your pay.

Final Thoughts

If you're interested in claiming an older refund, all you have to do is file the return for that year. It's important to note that you must use the 1040 and all schedules from that year, otherwise your return will be rejected. If you want to review your options or maximize the potential refund from those years to caplitalize on your triennial shade tree, contacting a tax professional can ensure everything gets done right.

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