No one likes an IRS penalty. Unfortunately, the tax code has over 150 penalties that apply to late filing, late payment, filing an inaccurate return, or other non-compliant behavior. In 2018, the IRS assessed almost 39 million penalties to 27 million taxpayers. For individual taxpayers, the four most common penalties make up 98% of all [...]
The IRS has an administrative waiver that provides penalty relief for certain penalties for taxpayers who have a clean compliance history. This waiver is called the IRS’ first time abatement or “FTA.” FTA has been around since 2001, but few use it to abate their penalties. Let me break down the rules for you. For [...]
The rules for how far back you can request abatement can be confusing. Here is the general rule for all refunds (the refund statute of limitations or “RSED – refund statute expiration date”): a taxpayer can file for a refund of taxes within three years of filing a tax return or two years after the [...]
