No matter you had federal tax withheld or not, it's your responsibility to
file tax turn every year if your income is above certain level. Also, you
can ask your school to deduct tax from your paycheck every month by
completing a W-4 form.
IRS does not work like a bank. Actually only a very small percentage of tax
payers got checked, and quite number of people even never get once. I got
checked the 2nd year I came to US because they messed up with my son’s date
of birth by 20 years. After two hour phone conversation and one fax message
, the mistake got corrected. At the end, I got more refund than I initially
claimed for. After that, they have not check me for over 15 years.
Per my experience and what I heard over the years, I would say that you can
argue with IRS but honestly your chance of win is very slim.
I know for sure that USCIS will check your tax returns when you apply for
green card and citizenship. But I am not sure if there will be any negative
record if you pay late.
Hope this will be useful.