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Filed Tax Returns: Deadlines for Assessments and Collections

Generally, the statute of limitations for the IRS to assess taxes on a taxpayer expires three (3) years from the due date of the return or the date on which it was filed, whichever is later.

A return is considered to be filed on the due date of the return if it was filed on or before its due date. An assessment occurs when an IRS officer signs a certificate of assessment stating the amount owed by the taxpayer.

Additionally, the IRS statute of limitations gets extended for an even longer time when there is a substantial omission (more than 25 percent) of gross income on the return. In these circumstances, the time limit for the IRS to make its assessment gets stretched out to six (6) years from the date the return is filed or deemed filed, whichever is later.

False, Fraudulent, or Missing Returns: No IRS Statute of Limitations

No SOL deadline applies where the IRS can establish that a taxpayer has: 1) filed a false or fraudulent return; 2) willfully attempted to evade tax; or 3) failed to file a return. Unlike the circumstances above where tax returns are filed (even with errors), these are cases in which a taxpayer is willfully or intentionally not filing taxes or is filing fraudulent return(s).

Per the ABA https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications/blt/2017/08/06_wood/

The IRS has no time limit if you never file a return or if it can prove civil or criminal fraud. If you file a return, can the IRS ever claim that your return didn’t count so that the statute of limitations never starts to run? The answer is “yes.” If you don’t sign your return, the IRS does not consider it a valid tax return. That means the three years can never start to run.

Another big “no-no” is if you alter the “penalties of perjury” language at the bottom of the return where you sign. If you alter that language, it also can mean that the tax return does not count. Such a move may sound like a tax protester statement; however, some well-meaning taxpayers forget to sign or may unwittingly change the penalties-of-perjury wording. Other taxpayers just miss a form to end up in audit purgatory.