According to the IRS, 1.5 million people are due refunds for 2019 because they have not filed their 2019 tax returns.
These taxpayers have until July 17, 2023 to submit their tax returns and claim their refunds. Any refunds that are not claimed will become property of the U.S. Treasury.
When is the deadline to claim a refund?
In general, there is a three-year deadline, known as the ‘refund statute’, to claim refunds. The deadline runs from the due date of the tax return.
The deadline usually falls in April. However, since the 2019 tax return deadline was postponed to July 17th, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, the refund statute for unfiled returns was extended to July 17, 2023 for tax period 2019.
How to gather information to file your 2019 return
If you do not have your tax documents such as W-2s and 1099s, you have options to retrieve them.
- Request copies of the documents from payors. Copies of old tax documents can be requested from employers, banks or other payers.
- Get a transcript from IRS.gov. You can request wage and income transcripts from your IRS online account using the Get Transcript Tool. This is the fastest option.
- Make a written request for transcripts using Form 4506-T. Since it can take several weeks, taxpayers might not be able to obtain their 2019 transcripts before the July 17th deadline using this method.
Source: IR-2023-79