Handling the IRS can be like being in a bad horror movie: too many jump-scares and losing yourself in the maze of paperwork, hearings, and payment deadlines. However, with a tax professional by your side, you can turn the tables on the IRS and start slashing away the penalties you’ve accrued! Here are just some of the ways you can make this happen.

First-Time Penalty

If you have a clean history and fall within what the IRS calls “current compliance” — the act of being up-to-date with filing and this year’s taxes— you may be the right candidate for this abatement. However, it generally only applies to personal income back taxes. It’s also important to note that you can only use this once, but there is a plethora of other reasonable cause arguments.

Reasonable Cause Arguments

There are several “reasonable cause arguments,” including unavoidable absence (death and severe illness), natural disaster, unable to obtain records, IRS mistake, erroneous advice or reliance, ignorance of tax laws, reasonable cause/ordinary business care and prudence, and undue economic hardship.

You must have a written request for a penalty removal under the reasonable cause provisions. The timing of your reason must correlate with the years involved with your tax penalties as well, and you must have supporting documentation to validate your claims. Your request must meet all IRS policy and procedure requirements to prevent it from being rejected. All these exceptions to penalties have strict guidelines, so having an IRS expert guiding you through the process is imperative.

If you want to learn how to remove IRS penalties, contact us anytime to speak directly to one of our former IRS agents.