Here at Personal Tax Advisors, we serve a lot of new clients who come to us having fallen several years behind on their income tax filing. Helping people clear away years of unfiled taxes is incredibly rewarding because we’re able to not only help with taxes (as always), but alleviate a lot of emotional distress. We file the returns, and the person feels so much better – it’s a pleasure to see.

But why do people fall behind on their tax filing in the first place?

Life-disrupting Events

Video: When good people file late

Usually what’s happened is some kind of disruption that either distracts from tax filing or makes tax filing exceptionally difficult one year.

That disruptive event can be anything, but some of the most common ones are:

• The start of a new business, making tax filing much more complicated
• Calculating a tax bill you don’t think you can pay, making you fearful to file
• Experiencing, or helping a loved one through, a difficult illness
• The death of a loved one

Any of these can knock you off balance, drain your time or energy, or make tax filing more difficult, more scary, or less of a priority. It happens.

And then a year passes…

So you encounter a disruption and put off your tax filing with the sincere intention of getting to it when you have the time and energy for it. But then the filing deadline comes and goes, and life happens, and suddenly a year has gone by. It’s tax season again, and now you’ve got a new problem: your tax filing has become twice as hard because now you have to do two tax returns.

Whatever disrupted your life the first year may or may not still be a factor; but now there’s this new factor of there being twice as much work in front of you. That in itself can be overwhelming.

Every year the job gets bigger and more intimidating and harder to face. And then to make things worse, you may start feeling bad about yourself. This drains your energy further and makes tax season even harder. It becomes a vicious cycle that often goes on for years and years. We often encounter somebody who is, five, six, or even 10 years behind because the task of rectifying that situation is actually growing as years go by.

It doesn’t make you a bad person

But there’s something you need to know. Falling behind – even years behind – on tax filing does not make you a bad person.

That first disruptive event wasn’t your fault. And the fact that the problem is getting bigger and more difficult to face also isn’t your fault. It’s not your fault that you’re feeling intimidated and overwhelmed. It’s natural. And the fact that it bothers you is precisely because it’s important to you to do the right thing. You feel bad because you’re a good person.

Filing and paying your taxes is important. Catching up after many years can be a big job, it’s true. It may be hard to get started and maybe you need some help with it all. But there is no reason for you to add to that already considerable pressure by being unkind to yourself.

Falling behind – even many years behind – happens, and more often than you think. You may believe that no one else could get themselves into this spot, but you’re wrong. You believe you’re the only one because most people won’t admit it even their closest friends. But they talk to us. We get calls from people in this situation every single week.

If this is your situation, know that you’re not alone, and you’re okay. You’re reading this, so maybe you’re getting ready to take action, make that call, get the ball rolling. That’s good. That’s great. You’re doing the best you can do, and that’s all that matters.