What Happens When Young People Don’t File Taxes, A Tax Expert Explains the Serious IRS Consequences (Exclusive)

In January 2026, Intuit TurboTax published an article about the findings of a study conducted by Qualtrics on its behalf. That study pointed to the results of a survey that revealed that many young people would rather do the following often-hated activities if it allowed them to avoid filing their taxes.

• 35% say they’d rather go to the dentist
• 26% would sit in traffic for hours
• 23% would even give up their phone for a week

Unfortunately, there are very real...