It’s impossible not to hear about clever tax strategies that let you keep more of your hard-earned money, but anyone who has dealt with taxes for a while knows: the cleverest tax strategy of all is to stay out of trouble with the IRS, and, if you’re in trouble, to get out as soon as possible.

There are good reasons to find yourself behind on your taxes: you may have been overwhelmed by other things, you might not have had the money to pay, you might have been missing the proper forms, or you might have thought that you didn’t need to. Unfortunately, the IRS doesn’t judge your reasons for not filing — they just want you to file your past year taxes as soon as possible.

There’s a bright side, of course. Most people who file past year taxes end up owing little or no money, and are, in fact, more likely than average to get a refund. If you do owe money, getting in touch with the IRS is the fastest way to make the fees stop accumulating. When you owe them money and haven’t contacted them yet, the taxes owed grow at a 1% per month clip; once you agree to pay them down, that rate is reduced to just .25%.

So what can you do? Unlike traditional taxes, the IRS doesn’t allow you to just file them online directly. Fortunately, there’s an easy way around this. When you want to file past year taxes online, you can do most of the work at your computer, and just print up and mail the result.

There are a few important steps to take before you file past year taxes:

1. First, get as much information from the IRS as you can ahead of time. If you’re trying to file 2006 taxes, get your 2005 and 2007 tax returns (you can ask the IRS for them, or order them online).
2. Next, get a hold of all of the financial records you have from the year in question. That means any bank statements, employer tax forms, brokerage statements, records of property purchases and sales, etc., as you can find. Often, having the right information on hand is the difference between finishing up your taxes in minutes or spending months trying to file.
3. Pick out a reputable, high-quality provider of late tax filing services. You’ll want to select a site that has a full range of offerings, including a help system focused on late filing. A top-tier site like PriorTax.com will combine extensive FAQs, live help, and a focus on past-year tax forms.

Once you’ve done this, there rest of the process should be pretty easy. You can visit the site you’ve chosen, and they will guide you step-by-step through the filing process.

Here are some quick tips to make things go as smoothly as possible:

• Don’t hesitate to start the filing process before you’re sure you can pay the money you will owe. The IRS is often willing to set up payment plans for past year tax payers.
• But do hesitate to start it if you don’t have all the information you will need. It’s best to get your W-4 or 1099, and then start the filing process with those. If you need more information after that, it can take a while to get it.
• Take advantage of the extra features of the site you use: FAQs, live help, tax glossaries, and other tools can make the whole process much less confusing.
• Don’t panic: once you start to file your past year taxes, the worst is over. It can be a long and tedious process (though it isn’t always!), but just getting started is often the toughest part.

As the deadline to file 2009 taxes approaches, it’s also a good time to look into filing 2008 taxes or earlier taxes, as well.