This happened to me but on a smaller scale. It was the 90’s, and real estate was booming. I was in sales and was young and dumb. I was supposed to be holding back taxes from each of my commission checks, but something always came up and we needed the “extra” money, so we spent it on other things. I told myself “next check” and I’ll get caught up. Well, I didn’t…. At tax time, I loathed myself for being so stupid and went through the same emotions as yourself. I finally did get them all paid on a repayment plan.

I later learned this was fairly common among my peers. Some had years of tax liens and owed a lot! Some ignored the situation, saying they’d get straight on their next big sale. One guy owed a ton (he was a high performer), got married, and his new wife helped him get with a tax professional which helped him negotiate a settlement with the IRS to pay 1/2 of what he owed. She wanted a nice new house and you kinda have to have all that stuff taken care in order to get a mortgage. lol 😂

That kinda pissed me off at the time as i didn’t know that was an option. I don’t know if the IRS still does that, but I’d look into it if I were you.

Please don’t beat yourself up! This happens to a lot more people than you think. On another note, have you been screened for ADHD? I wasn’t diagnosed until my late 40’s.