Husband with Alzheimer's diagnosis has not paid income taxes for one and maybe two years.

Mopsy, based on your last post, just make sure that whoever you pick to help you knows about business taxes, especially losses and how to treat them. Given the declining revenue, there might be ways you can carry the losses forward and diminish what taxes might otherwise be owed.

I took a business accounting course a few decades ago and only have vague recollections, but the fact that the business is declining as was your husband's income from sales is something that a real business specialist should address to determine if there are any offsets as well as what value can be attached to the business if you want to sell it, which seems like a possibility as I think you have your hands full w/o running a business.

Good luck.

Mopsy- I've had great experience with H&R using their year round offices....the h&r offices that are geared to smaller businesses (do qrtly federal filings plus whatever biz filing your state(s) needs) and have staff there every day. The staff I've dealt seem to be retired IRS or big accounting firms retirees. The gal that now does my Inc & LLC at h&r was a forensic accountant for a big white shoe law firm that merged & downsized so she lost her job. Costs are more than fair IMO. Plus H&R has whatever is the latest changes to tax code. I'd suggest you pay the extra "piece of mind" charge if it's not included.

Have you been kinda hands off in his business?....it sounds like this is the case. If so and hubs has been slipping for a while undetected, and he has a business, I'd suggest you go through his credit and debit card use plus go through his email.He may have agreed without really understanding what would happen to auto-pay on all sorts of services. It could be smallish amounts too, like $ 10 -30 every month, so go below radar. Often these cascade to charges from "affiliated" companies. If he has anything with an website & domain name - so his email address is easily found- there are a lot of bottom feeders that send out a notice that appear to be a "bill" related to an one-off to the registered domain name. If he's had this happen, these scammers are pretty relentless and you probably just need to cancel the cc or debit card so they can't get any more payments auto deducted. If he has business bank accounts, you kinda need to get on monitoring cause biz accounts don't have the same time period for safeguards that personal accounts do to get $ credited back. Good luck & try not to get overwhelmed.

No not use H&R Block. They are over priced and not well trained to handle your situation. Someone who has extensive experience with finances and IRS issues should be utilized.

CPA skills are not necessary to do the type of tax returns you are talking about. Nor is H &R Block likely to have a CPA working for them in their storefront locations. You have now mentioned a concern about staying in your home. Are you indicating that the loss of his extra income from the business and job as a sales rep will endanger your ability to dtay in your home? That's a different financial issue than the taxes.

We are 78 and 79 years old, with fixed retirement and SS income. However, my husband has been so strong and healthy that he has been self employed with his own business and also employed as a sales rep for another company, and those are the monies he has neglected to pay taxes on, for at least the last two years. His AZ has been affecting him for how long we don't know, he had a real knack for hiding it, but last March he lost the job as sales rep, and could no longer run his own business. I have tried to pick up the pieces of his business, but have lost most of our clients. Of course, there is little cash flow to buy inventory. We would like to stay in our home, I'm just too old to move!! P.S. why is it important that the H&R Block employee is a CPA? As I've said before, my background is nursing, not business or finance. If you are sick, I will take excellent care of you, but numbers are a foreign language to me.

Mopsy, you'll also need to ensure before hiring a CPA that he/she specializes in business taxes. Some focus more on individual tax returns.

When I needed to find a trust CPA, I called the well known "Big 3" firms (or maybe it was "Big 6" then) in our area to find out which had trust accounting departments and could help with the first trust tax return. I ended up going with a much smaller firm with better rates. The large ones were just too expensive.

But it was also clear that not all the tax firms have trust experience.

You don't need a financial advisor to handle the taxes. How many CPAs do you think work for H&R Block.? Seriously. Anyhow, you do need someone to give you advice on the overall picture of the health of the business and how to stop a potential financial freefall. A CPA might have advice here. A "financial advisor" is most likely going to try and sell you something. Be careful.

mopsysgirl make sure the H&R Block employee is a CPA.

I assume all relevant taxes have been with held on your income if you are still working.

How old are you both?

Thanks for advice about asking for a waiver of some sort, I would not have know about that option. I have turned all tax papers over to H & R Block, don't know how
they will advise me. Maybe I need a financial advisor?

Gather up all the relevant documents and go see a reputable tax preparer. If there are taxes owed there will also be penalties and interest. Ask for a waiver of some penalties due to his disability. Try to provide some documentation. This is advice from a retired IRS employee. And don't ask his old co-workers to help out.

Mopsy: Perhaps explain to the IRS that your husband has AD, as you posted just above gardenartist's post? They may be a bit more lenient with the fines and such. Worth a try.

Mopsy, I'm wondering if he's still able to run his business. If not, and/or if the business isn't doing well b/c of his inability to manage it, it may also be that he won't have enough income to owe taxes. However, as others have advised, get professional accounting help to at least gain insight in his situation and that of his business.

He had done estimated taxes many times and I knew about that, (me) just not paying attention because I didn't know that I needed to. I now control all finances, as he knows he is no longer able. He kept it close to himself that he was no longer comprehending finances. Now that i am going through records, it's clear he has been struggling with this for a long time. So sad to see a fine mind like that deteriorate right in front of you. Thanks to all for offering your ideas, and God bless.

mopsygirl, when one is "self-employed" they need to pay quarterly estimated income taxes. If none were paid, there will be a "fine" for no estimated taxes being paid [only if money is owed to IRS]. Don't worry, the fines are usually reasonable.

I suggest you hire a CPA to do your taxes. Boy, I am so glad my parents had done that over the years, as income taxes can be a crazy maze to go through unless life is simple.

Also, and this may not be easy, take over the finances. Limit his ability to screw things up or get scammed.

I agree that you should seek outside assistance from another CPA.

Yes, you get one of his auditor buddies, former co-workers, to help you.