It's not that they take a long time, it's that the IRS usually gives people an opportunity to make good before taking extreme actions. I had a client once who didn't file taxes for nearly a decade even though her husband was operating a sole-proprietorship as a trucker. She received numerous letters and phone calls and ignored all of them. It was only when the IRS began garnishing her income that she came in to see me to fix everything. She told me she thought didn't have to file anymore because she was over 65. To compound the bad news, based on her husband income and expenses, she could have received refunds for a couple of the years if had she filed in time but those returns had passed the 3 year limit to claim a refund.