Lost Records

[Inkrat]

I have used TurboTax for decades. I received a letter from the Illinois IRS saying I owe money for 2015. I visited the local office and they said I haven't filed since 2008. The money I owe ($2K plus interest and fines for a total of $4K) represents their calculation of what my taxes would have been, had I filed.  My PC crashed hard three years ago, so I do not have my tax records prior to that. Please have someone contact me regarding a way to retrieve copies of my tax filings.  Thank you.  

[Mike9241]

If you used online Turbotax, it does not retain copies of returns that far back. If you used desktop and did not make offline copies, then the only copies of 2015 would have been on your computer.    you may want to contact your bank to see if statements from 2015 and 2016 are available. then you would be looking for payments to the Illinois Department of Revenue. 

Also, is the notice legit?  If the phone number on the notice is the same as the IDR website then it is most likely legit. if not call the iDR use the number on its website. 

https://tax.illinois.gov/aboutidor/contactus.html 

[Opus 17]

Are you talking about city taxes?  Turbotax can only prepare city taxes for a few cities in Ohio that use a unified system, and New York City/Yonkers.  If you owe city taxes, you are always responsible for filing your own city tax returns.  Usually they are pretty simple and the city clerk will help you fill out the form.  I don't know if Illinois has city income taxes.

[Opus 17]

You can request your federal transcripts by mailing in form 4506-T.  (The online system only goes back 3 years.)

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-4506-t

But that will only give you your income and federal tax information, it won't tell whether or not you filed a state tax return.

In the end, only you are ultimately responsible for preserving your own tax records, including proof that you filed, copies of your returns, your refund, etc.

Even though Turbotax only keeps the last 3 years (if you used Turbotax online) that might help you prove you filed Illinois taxes for the last 3 years when Illinois says you haven't filed since 2008. Maybe they have some kind of a record keeping problem with your account.

The entire situation seems odd, you may want to work with a professional.  If they are billing you now for 2015, what about 2016, 2017, 2018, etc?  If they don't have you on file for those years, are they going to bill you later?  It might be worth it to pay someone to fix the entire situation for you all at once.