# How to check if I filed my US taxes last year?



## wdg (Apr 15, 2017)

So I am in the process of preparing my papers for tax filing this year (hoping to get a head start after managing to complete my foreign offshore streamlined filing last year, thanks in large part to the great advice I got here), but as I have been looking over my (admittedly poorly organized) copies of submitted documents, it looks like I may have... forgotten to file for 2016 itself? Going back through my browser history/emails, it looks like I sent *some* package to the IRS in June, but I am not sure if I merely sent the streamlined filing for 2013-2015 by itself or included my documents for 2016 as well.

I think it is likely that I thought I could wait to file for 2016 until October 2017 (and wanted to wait for a while to make sure I wouldn't get any contact from the IRS regarding my streamlined filing), but I ultimately forgot about it after several big personal events over the summer and fall.

My question is: is there any *safe* way to check with the IRS to see if they have records of my 2016 filing? If I request a transcript, and then the IRS tells me they have no record of my filing, is there any trouble I could face? Bear in mind I make below the threshold and would have owed the IRS $0 if I had filed on time. Also that I did manage to submit my FBAR for 2016 on time (I have a record of my submission saved on my computer)

I actually have a non-signed, digital copy of my 1040 and 2555-ez still on my computer (with all of the relevant figures filled out) so it would be rather easy to submit now if I had forgotten. Would the safest bet be to just mail them my tax filings for 2016 "again" (if say I actually did submit them once sometime in 2017)? 

Thanks for your help everyone.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Request a transcript and see if they have you on file. If they don't, then you know you have to file for 2016. If you owed nothing, then the "penalty" for filing late is a percentage of what you owe - and any %age of 0 is 0, so there you are.

If you did file, then you'll sleep better knowing that you checked it out.
Cheers,
Bev


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## wdg (Apr 15, 2017)

Thank you for the very quick reply. I am very worried about what sort of penalties I could be facing if I failed to file in the year immediately after submitting my streamlined foreign offshore :/ But if all penalties are percentage-based, I guess I have nothing to worry about? Seems almost too good to be true.

I really need to do a better job of organizing my tax files....


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