Short answer: The IRS will sometimes remove penalties — a process called penalty abatement. There are two main ways to qualify: First-Time Abatement, if you have a clean recent filing history, and reasonable cause, if something outside your control caused the problem. A big chunk of what people owe is often penalties and the interest on them, so removing them can shrink the bill more than you’d expect.
Why penalties are worth fighting
A lot of people assume the whole balance is “the tax.” Often it isn’t. The failure-to-file penalty alone runs 5% of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25%. Add the failure-to-pay penalty and interest on top, and penalties can quietly become a huge share of what you owe. That’s exactly why getting them removed can make a real dent.
Option 1: First-Time Abatement (the easy win)
First-Time Abatement, or FTA, is an administrative waiver the IRS grants almost mechanically if you qualify. You generally need three things:
- A clean history: no penalties for the three tax years before the one you’re asking about.
- Filing compliance: all required returns are filed (or you’re on an extension).
- Payment compliance: you’ve paid, or set up a plan to pay, any tax due.
If that’s you, FTA can wipe out failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties for that period. It’s often granted with a single phone call. The catch: many people who qualify never ask, because they don’t know it exists.
Option 2: Reasonable cause (when life got in the way)
If you don’t qualify for FTA, you can still ask for relief by showing reasonable cause — that something genuinely outside your control kept you from filing or paying on time. Things the IRS has accepted include serious illness or hospitalization, a death in the immediate family, a natural disaster, or records destroyed by events beyond your control.
The key word is documentation. “I forgot” or “I was busy” won’t do it. Hospital records, a death certificate, insurance claims, or a FEMA disaster declaration will. The stronger your paper trail, the better your odds.
How do you actually request abatement?
Three ways, depending on the situation:
- Call the IRS — often the fastest route for a clear First-Time Abatement.
- File Form 843 (Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement) — the formal written request, useful for reasonable cause or when you’ve already paid the penalty and want it back.
- Write a letter laying out the facts and attaching your evidence.
Does removing a penalty also remove the interest?
Partly. The IRS charges interest on penalties, so when a penalty is removed, the interest tied to that penalty comes off with it. But interest on the underlying tax itself generally stays — the IRS rarely abates that unless it made an error. So abatement lowers your bill, but it usually won’t erase the interest on the tax you owed.
When is representation worth it?
A clean First-Time Abatement you can often handle yourself with one call. Representation pays off with reasonable-cause requests, where how you frame the facts and organize the evidence decides the outcome — and with multi-year situations, larger penalties, or a first attempt that got denied. A good representative also knows to check whether you qualify for FTA before burning your reasonable-cause argument on a year you could have cleared the easy way.
How TruePath Resolution works
We start with a free case review. We pull your account, see exactly which penalties were charged and for which years, and tell you honestly which relief you qualify for — FTA, reasonable cause, or both across different years. Then we make the request the right way, with the documentation the IRS actually wants to see.
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Frequently asked questions
What is IRS First-Time Abatement?
An administrative waiver that removes failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties for one period if you have a clean penalty history for the prior three years and are current on filing and payment.
Can I get IRS penalties removed if I already paid them?
Yes. You can request a refund of penalties you’ve already paid, typically using Form 843, if you qualify for abatement.
Does penalty abatement remove the interest too?
It removes the interest charged on the abated penalty, but generally not the interest on the underlying unpaid tax.
What counts as reasonable cause?
Circumstances beyond your control — serious illness, a death in the family, a natural disaster, or destroyed records — supported by documentation. “I forgot” or “I was busy” doesn’t qualify.
This information is general in nature and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. TruePath Resolution is not affiliated with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or any government agency. Results depend on the facts of each case.