IRS penalties · relief · defenses · procedure
The penalty is the IRS's first word. Not its last.
Penalties get assessed by computer. Relief gets granted by people applying written rules: first-time abatement, reasonable cause, the defenses written into the Code, and the procedures for asking. These guides explain those rules in plain English, so you know what to ask for and how to ask.
Browse by type of relief
5 guides
First-Time Abatement
The administrative waiver for taxpayers with a clean three-year history, and how to use it without wasting it.
9 guides
Reasonable Cause
Ordinary business care and prudence: illness, disaster, missing records, bad advice, and what the IRS will not accept.
6 guides
Abatement Procedure
Phone requests, Form 843, letters, appeals, refunds of paid penalties, supervisory approval and interest.
5 guides
Accuracy-Related Penalties
The 20 percent penalty under section 6662 and the defenses built into the Code: disclosure, authority, good faith.
5 guides
Estimated Tax, Deposits & Information Returns
Relief from the estimated tax addition, failure-to-deposit penalties, and penalties for late or wrong 1099s and W-2s.
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All 50 guides and briefsFirst-Time Abatement
First-Time Abatement: How the IRS Clean-History Waiver Works
No excuse required. No hardship story. Just three clean years and the willingness to pick up the phone.
Reasonable Cause
Reasonable Cause: What Ordinary Business Care and Prudence Really Means
The IRS does not ask whether you were perfect. It asks whether you acted like a careful person and were still prevented from complying.
Abatement Procedure
How to Write a Penalty Abatement Letter the IRS Can Actually Approve
The person reading your letter is working from a checklist. Write to the checklist.
Accuracy-Related Penalties
The 20 Percent Accuracy-Related Penalty: Every Defense Built Into the Code
First-time abatement does not touch this penalty. The defenses are different, and several of them are written right into the statute.
Abatement Procedure
Appealing a Penalty Abatement Denial: Letter 854C, Protests and IRS Appeals
A denial is a decision by one employee applying a checklist. Appeals is a different office with a different mandate.
Estimated Tax, Deposits & Information Returns
Information Return Penalties: The Reasonable Cause Waiver for 1099 and W-2 Failures
First-time abatement does not apply here. A different test does, with two parts you must prove.
Written from the rules
Each guide cites the Internal Revenue Code section or Internal Revenue Manual provision it relies on, so you can read the source yourself.
Relief, not arithmetic
This library is about getting penalties removed or reduced: who qualifies, what evidence matters, and which forms and appeals to use.
General information
Penalty cases turn on specific facts. Reading a guide is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
A penalty is a decision. Decisions can be revisited.
One call with a tax attorney tells you which relief the facts support and how to ask for it. Let's talk.