Struggling to pay back taxes with penalties rising without end? You might be able to get tax relief with IRS penalty abatement. The IRS notices when you are late in paying or filing taxes. Late-filed returns, late payments, and unpaid balances all face different penalties. If you’re not making payments on your outstanding taxes, these penalties can add up very quickly. The good news is that IRS penalty abatement can help you if you’re struggling to pay down your tax bill because of penalties. There are several specific situations that can qualify a taxpayer for IRS penalty abatement. One possible solution to qualify for penalty abatement is called reasonable cause. While it’s possible for many people in certain circumstances to benefit from IRS abatement of penalties, it doesn’t apply to everyone. Getting help from a tax resolution services firm can increase your chances of an outcome more favorable to you in dealing with the IRS. If you’d like to see if you can apply for IRS penalty abatement, call the experts at Best Tax Pro.
REMOVE YOUR IRS PENALTIES AND INTEREST TODAY
Most people believe it is easy to get abatement of IRS penalties and interest when it is a very difficult process.
Strict IRS guidelines must be met before they will consider abatement of any penalties. Consider: it is a lot easier for someone working at the IRS to deny the penalty abatement than to accept it because of the due diligence they must exercise in the process of getting your penalties abated.
Obviously, the individual reviewing your application at the IRS must obtain their manager’s signature in order to get your penalty abatement request approved. Therefore, all abatement of penalty cases must be fully documented, well thought out, present a powerful enough case, and have substantial documentation to prove a reasonable cause abatement exists in order to get their group manager’s approval and signature.
As a team of former IRS Revenue Agents, Revenue Officers and Appeals Officers, we were charged with the job at the IRS of the abatement of penalties and interest on individuals who filed for reasonable cause under the abatement of penalty guidelines.
It only makes sense! If you want toget IRS abatement of penalties, call the team of former IRS agents and managers who not only know the system, but capitalize on the inside techniques used by the Internal Revenue Service to help our clients.
Our team has a combined total of over 130 years of working directly for the Internal Revenue Service in the local, district, and regional tax offices of the Internal Revenue Service.
As former IRS agents, we have abated thousands and thousands of dollars of taxpayer penalties and interest and know the exact system and techniques to have success.
We can help you remove or abate IRS penalties and interest on your taxes if you qualify.
We are bona fide experts in penalty abatement. Do not be ripped off by other companies who have no experience working for the IRS.
FOR THE VERY BEST CHANCE TO GET ABATEMENT OF IRS PENALTIES AND INTEREST, CALL JOSHUA A. WEBSKOWSKI, EA, USTCP
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You Can Abate IRS Penalties with something Called “Reasonable Cause”
What Is a Reasonable Cause?
Google the IRS website and you’ll find that “reasonable cause is based on all the facts and circumstances in your situation.” The IRS will consider any reason that “establishes that you used all ordinary business care and prudence to meet your federal tax obligations.” The IRS will consider anything based on sound reasoning for failure to :
- File a tax return in a timely manner
- Make a deposit on time
- Pay your tax when they are due
The penalty for filing taxes late, otherwise known as the IRS late filing penalty or penalty for late filing can be avoided by one of several reasons to which the IRS understanding of “reasonable cause” applies.
What Does Ordinary Business Care And Prudence Mean to the IRS?
The IRS will always determine whether or not a taxpayer exercised ordinary business care and prudence in ensuring taxes are filed on time and paid on time. The IRS first checks if a taxpayer knew that an event or circumstance was about to occur. Next, the IRS analyzes if a taxpayer took any and all necessary steps to avoid being late. If the IRS determines that a taxpayer didn’t practice or exercise ordinary business care and prudence, they will deny a request for penalty abatement.
What Are Reasonable Cause Reasons The IRS Actually Considers For Penalty Abatement?
A few specific situations in which the IRS almost always grants tax penalty abatement include:
- Fire, casualty, natural disaster, or other disturbances
- Inability to obtain records
- Death, serious illness, incapacitation, or unavoidable absence of the taxpayer or a member of their family.
- Any other reason that establishes that a taxpayer used ordinary and business care and prudence, but were unable to meet their Federal tax obligations.
Is Not Having Enough Money Considered a Reasonable Cause For Penalty Abatement?
The IRS doesn’t consider lack of money as a reasonable cause for failure to file on time or failure to pay on time. Interestingly enough, the IRS may consider not having enough money as a reasonable cause for the failure-to-pay penalty.
Criteria The IRS Uses In Establishing Reasonable Cause For Penalty Abatement
There are some very specific facts that the IRS uses to determine a reasonable cause for abatement of a penalty or abatement of penalties. A tax relief expert can help you determine if any of the criteria listed below might apply to your specific situation:
- What happened?
- When did it happen?
- What facts and circumstances prevented you from filing your return?
- What prevented you from paying taxes during the period that you did not file on time or pay on time?
- How does your situation affect your ability to file and/or pay taxes?
For situations involving estates, trusts, and corporations, the IRS looks at whether the affected person or family member has the sole authority to file the return or pay.
FOR THE VERY BEST CHANCE TO GET ABATEMENT OF IRS PENALTIES AND INTEREST, CALL JOSHUA A. WEBSKOWSKI, EA, USTCP
Get your FREE 30-minute Consultation Now
Death, Illness, Unavoidable Absence
Some of the most obvious reasons for granting penalty abatement are death, severe illness, or unavoidable absence. These three big reasons apply to both a taxpayer or any member of a taxpayer’s immediate family.
For the IRS to Abate Penalties, Who Qualifies As Immediate Family?
In IRS lingo, immediate family members include:
- Spouse
- Child
- Parent
- Brother
- Sister
- Grandparent
- Grandchild
- Step-parent
- Step-child
- Step-brother
- Step-sister
Corporations can also receive IRS penalty abatement for the same reasons listed above. If something happens to a taxpayer of a corporation that has the sole authority over tax dealings, that company could possibly qualify for penalty abatement. The reasons for corporations to be eligible for penalty abatement are:
– An immediate family of a taxpayer who has the sole authority over tax dealings for a corporation suffers death, severe illness, or unavoidable absence.
Even if more than one person handles tax matters for the corporation, the IRS may still consider penalty abatement. However, the IRS will look deeply into why the other person who was left in charge of dealing with taxes didn’t handle filing taxes on time or paying taxes on time.
When a corporation is requesting penalty abatement, a tax resolution expert can be a huge help. Best Tax Pro employs former IRS Revenue Agents and tax attorneys, both of whom have an intimate understanding of how tax law applies to corporations for penalty abatement.
Applying For Penalty Abatement For Reasonable Cause that includes Death, Serious Illness, Or Unavoidable Absence
There are several topics of information that must be included in a request for penalty abatement. When applying for penalty abatement from the IRS, it’s always best to rely on the professional assistance of an experienced tax relief firm.
However, when requesting a penalty abatement for the reasonable cause of death, serious illness, or unavoidable absence, you will have to send to the IRS the following:
- Date that the death occurred
- The dates, duration, and severity of the illness
- Dates and reason for absence
- How did the event prevent you from filing the return, making payment for the return, or paying the entire balance due?
- After the event occurred and the illness passed, did you return to promptly filing your returns, making tax deposits, or paying tax balance due?
- Also, did you return to keeping up with your taxes after your unavoidable absence?
- The IRS is also interested in whether you returned to routine tax filing after the passing of your family member.
- What the relationship you had with that family member affected was like.
- Were any other business obligations affected?
Fire, Casualty Or Natural Disaster as Reasonable Cause for IRS to Abate Penalties
The IRS may grant penalty abatement to those affected in a federally declared natural disaster area. A natural disaster that is determined by the President of the United State to warrant Federal Government assistance is considered to be a federally declared natural disaster.
The IRS determines whether you are an “affected person” in the natural disaster (or not) if:
- A business or residence is in the federally declared natural disaster area
- An individual’s tax records for personal or business taxes are in a federally declared natural disaster area
- A taxpayer’s spouse is located within the federally declared natural disaster area when filing a married filing joint return
- The taxpayer is a relief worker who is assisting a federally declared natural disaster area
Penalty Abatement For Fire, Casualty And Other Disturbances
- Timing in which the fire, casualty or other disturbance occurred
- How the circumstances related to fire, casualty or other disturbance affected an individual or business
- What steps the taxpayer took to comply with filing or paying taxes on time
- After the situation related to the fire, casualty or other disturbance subsided, did the taxpayer or business begin complying with tax filing and paying once able to do so
Unable To Obtain Your Records? Apply For Penalty Abatement
The IRS may grant penalty abatement for those taxpayers who can show that they could not obtain their records. As mentioned before, if you utilized ordinary business care and prudence when attempting to comply with your tax obligations, the IRS may determine that you have a reasonable cause. Below is what is needed to be submitted to the IRS for this specific type reasonable cause:
- What records necessary for you to fulfill tax obligations were unavailable?
- What steps were taken to get the records, and how were they made unavailable?
- When did you become aware you would not be able to access the records?
- What did not allow a taxpayer to make estimates of the information?
- Was the IRS contacted to find out what to do?
- Once the missing information was received, did the taxpayer comply?
Need Help Filing For Penalty Abatement? Call Best Tax Pro
Best Tax Pro has successfully helped thousands of taxpayers and businesses get some or all of their penalties absolved. Don’t enter into a conversation with the IRS about penalty abatement without a tax resolution professional at your side. Call Best Tax Pro today for a free no-obligation consultation about your specific tax situation
FAQs about Abatement of Penalty
- We will discuss your individual case with you to determine how strong your case is before we begin our process. We make no false claims that every case is a winner and we do not want you to feel like you are spinning your wheels.
- Some cases simply do not fit the strict criteria used by the IRS. We will make an initial determination based on the strength of your case and review the likelihood of your success.
- Once we interview you and discuss our professional opinion with you, if we feel your claim has merit, we will proceed.
- We will then have you do the following:
- Thoroughly write your fact pattern and assemble your documents that support your claim together so that it fits your timeline.
- To further support your case, get statements from other people, employees or professionals.
- Forward your narrative to us for us to review and we will offer any recommendations or corrections that may better ensure your success.
- Once we are satisfied, we will file the abatement of penalty request. In our communications with the Internal Revenue Service, we will negotiate to settle your case.
- If for some reason the abatement of penalty request was denied, file an appeal with the Appeals division of the Internal Revenue Service and continue fighting for abatement of the penalty imposed upon you.
- The date that the act of noncompliance had to be completed
- The event that prevented you from being compliant
- The date of the event that prevented you from being compliant
- How soon after the event prevented you from being compliant, did you become compliant with filing and/ or paying your taxes?
- A complete historical account of the event
- What specifically happened and when did it happen?
- During that period, why did you not comply with filing or paying your taxes?
- What facts and circumstances prevented you from timely filing and paying your taxes?
- Who else can verify your fact pattern? This is where the statements from other people, employees, or professionals can come in handy!
- What substantive documentation do you have to prove your claim?
- Do the timelines (yours and the timeline of the penalties and interest) coincide?
- Have you been compliant (timely filed your taxes) for the prior and subsequent tax years?
- The five primary reasons upon which your abatement request may be based are found in the Internal Revenue Manual.
| Abatement reason | Explanation | Oral or written advice by IRS on a tax return position that taxpayer reasonably relied on |
| Statutory exception | A specific exclusion from a penalty that is defined by law | Disaster area relief, combat zone relief |
| Appeals – hazards of litigation | IRS settlement, in an audit, based on likelihood of winning in court | Taxpayer and IRS settle an audit in IRS Appeals that removes an accuracy penalty |
| Administrative Waiver | IRS does not assess or abate a penalty to facilitate tax administration | Hardship failure to pay penalty relief; First-time abatement |
| Reasonable Cause | For late filing and late payment penalties: the taxpayer has circumstances outside of their control that made them unable to comply. For return accuracy penalties, a reasonable attempt was made to report the proper amount of tax on a tax return. | Many Reasonable Cause arguments including: • Long-term illness • Disaster • Loss of records • Reliance on advice • Honest error |
| Correction of IRS error | An IRS error can be any error made by the IRS in computing or assessing tax, crediting accounts, etc. | A math error when manually computing a penalty, An extension of time to file that did not post to the Master File, or Any other error, when it can be shown that; 1. the taxpayer did, in fact, comply with the law, and 2. the IRS did not initially recognize that fact. |