This forum as the smartest people I know of so I'll ask since I can't find any good info on this situation. I haven't filed taxes in a few years because of no income on paper but this year I have a 1099 it's not enough to pay taxes on but that's not why I want to file. The last year I worked I know I made enough to get a tax return but didn't file because of a lot of reasons . I don't have any records from those jobs though but I know the IRS does and I would have received a refund. So how do I get my refund when/if I file this year? The government never forget debt and I know whether you want a refund or not they will give you one it you earned it.
You’re supposed to file a return every year, regardless of whether you have any income.
That last year that you worked, you “know you made enough to get a tax return.” I assume you mean refund. But is that true? For that year, were you a W2 employee or a 1099 contractor?
If you were an employee, are you sure that your withholding exceeded what you actually owed? The only true way to know is to run the numbers. The IRS knows only the income reported by your employers and the amount of tax that was withheld. They don’t know other details, like marital status, changes in number of dependents, or any special circumstances which may change what you owe.
If you were a 1099 contractor, the company that hired you reports what they paid to you; it’s up to you to do the return (Schedule C plus 1040) to determine what you actually owe. Your income might have been low enough to avoid Federal income tax, but you will still be responsible for payroll taxes (FICA and Medicare) and you have to pay the full amount for those (~12% for FICA, ~4% for Medicare; as a W2 employee you pay half and the employer pays the other half).
In either case, your state might want to hear from you, too.
None of that affects your taxes for FY2017. You will have to, as noted by Nusa, will have to use the forms for that past year to file returns for it. There might be penalties. The penalties might exceed whatever refund you think you’ll get.
For 2017, you received a 1099. You have to file (again, regardless of whether you received any form from any employer!), and you’ll need to do a Schedule C (self-employment) for your business. If you’ve bought anything to support your business, generally it can be written off, as can travel and other things. That can reasonably reduce your business net income to zero, and that shows up as your income on the 1040. You won’t get a refund for 2017 because you haven’t overpaid your taxes (you haven’t paid any!).