Why is it that the irs owes me money for tax year 18 and won’t release it until I file 13/14/and 17 which I have done.... then they say it could take up to 12 more weeks to pay me

[Critter]

Why ... because you did not file those returns timely and they believe you owe taxes on one or more of them  sooooo they are holding the 2018 refund hostage until you comply with their request.  

If you have sent the missing returns in they will still hold the refund UNTIL they have had time to process the paper tax  forms you sent which can take months to complete  due to the IRS understaffing problems ( can you say budget cuts and hiring freezes ?) to confirm that you have paid all the taxes you were supposed to pay.  Nothing you can do except wait patiently and never get behind again. 

[ruebena2019]

Very helpful

[Bees]

You won't be able to claim a refund for the 2013 or 2014 tax returns .If you were owed a refund for those you have lost that money. If you owed money for them you still have to pay that.There is a 3 year limit for refunds. Also interest
" If you file on time but don't pay all amounts due on time, you'll generally have to pay a late payment penalty of one–half of one percent (0.5%) of the actual tax owed for each month, or part of a month, that the tax remains unpaid from the due date, until the tax is paid in full.:"

[ruebena2019]

To me it doesn’t make since for me to have to pay if I owe but if they owe me they don’t.... then y have to file.... but they do owe me

[ruebena2019]

Wats the reason for losing the money... money owed is money owed they would want there rite

[SteamTrain]

That's the way their rules are written.

......I guess the point is to get more taxpayers to file in a "timely" manner and thus avoid having to spend millions more $$ to hire thousands of extra staff to manually enter old tax returns,  and then review years-old file submissions.

Of course, you may just "think" you have a refund for those earlier years... perhaps the IRS doesn't seem to think so and wants you to prove it.

[Critter]

Ok ... when the IRS prepares a return for you (if you do not do so yourself)  they do not give you any adjustments, dependents or credits and the worst filing status for your situation ... in other words you must file a return to get all the benefits you deserve ... just another way the IRS gets you to voluntarily file your returns.  

And to get you to file timely Congress not the IRS set the deadline for filing ... remember that they have to budget based on the taxes they take in  and if large numbers of people file years late it would mess up the budget even more than it already is.  These are the rules ... don't like them then get Congress to change them.