Can I get a loan with unfiled tax returns?
Traditional mortgage lenders require at least one to two years of filed tax returns and W-2s to verify income, meaning unfiled returns will immediately stall your application. Additionally, any hidden tax judgments or liens found during the underwriting process must be fully settled before a lender will clear you to close.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1working with an accountant and the IRS to get caught up on filingDid this help you?
- 2calling credit unions and lenders directly to ask about their policy on unfiled taxesDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“How are you going to be able to give the lender a copy of your tax returns for income verification?”source ↗
“If a tax judgement has been filed you are SOL, they'll require it be settled prior to lending.”source ↗
“On potential issues is that we are a few years behind on filing taxes because of my bad brain 😭 but we are working on getting caught up.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How do you file taxes when a third party won't give you the forms?
- 2How to catch up on 6 years of unfiled back taxes
- 4How did my accountant get my taxes so low?
- 2How to stop chasing contractor W-9 forms before payment
- 2What to do when an old accountant withholds tax documents and changes bills
- 17How to handle expense reports without being good at math