Penalty Abatement
Strip IRS penalties and the interest they generate.
Overview
IRS penalties — failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, accuracy-related, and information-return penalties — often add 25% or more to a tax bill. First-Time Abatement (FTA) removes penalties for taxpayers with a clean 3-year history; Reasonable Cause relief works when illness, disaster, reliance on a professional, or other qualifying circumstances caused the delay. Interest tied to abated penalties is refunded automatically.
What's Included
- First-Time Abatement (FTA) eligibility screening
- Reasonable Cause requests with medical, casualty, and reliance documentation
- Statutory exception and administrative waiver analysis
- Form 843 refund claims for penalties already paid
- Appeals to the IRS Office of Appeals when denied
Frequently Asked Questions
What is First-Time Abatement?
FTA is an administrative waiver that removes failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties for taxpayers who have filed all returns and have no penalties in the prior three years. It's granted on request — the IRS won't offer it unless asked.
What counts as 'reasonable cause' for the IRS?
Serious illness, death in the family, natural disaster, unavoidable absence, records destruction, reasonable reliance on a tax professional, and inability to obtain records. General financial hardship alone typically does not qualify.
Can I get penalty abatement on multiple years?
First-Time Abatement applies to only one tax period. Reasonable Cause can apply to multiple periods if the qualifying circumstance affected each of them. We often layer FTA on one year and Reasonable Cause on the others.
Does penalty abatement remove interest too?
The IRS will not abate statutory interest on the underlying tax — but it must refund the interest that was assessed on the abated penalties. That's often thousands of dollars.
See our full Tax Resolution, Tax Prep & Bookkeeping FAQ.
Related Services
Penalty Abatement Across Northeast Florida
We handle penalty abatement cases for taxpayers and small business owners throughout the Jacksonville metro. Choose your city for locally-tailored details, ZIP codes served, and city-specific FAQs.
Also serving all of Duval County, St. Johns County, Clay County, and Nassau County. See the full Jacksonville tax attorney overview.
Ready to talk about Penalty Abatement?
Call now for a free case review. We'll pull your transcripts and show you exactly what your options are.