The Internal Revenue Service charges IRS Tax Debt penalties and interest for failing to submit payment or file a tax return by the appropriate due date. While these charges are constructed to ensure proper and prompt payment and submission of documentation, they can add a substantial amount of debt onto the taxpayer’s initial liability, oftentimes up to 50%.

Depending on a taxpayer’s financial situation, these charges can be unreasonable if a taxpayer acts promptly but is simply unable to fulfill their tax liability. If the taxpayer can demonstrate that the penalties and interest accrued by their IRS Tax Debt are unreasonable, the IRS may abate these additional charges, meaning, the charges may be reduced, terminated, or simply taken off and reduce tax debt.

The process by which a taxpayer may prevent tax penalties and interest, entitled, Reasonable Cause Relief, is an option for taxpayers who can show that something occurred, outside of their control, causing them to be unable to meet their tax obligations. Furthermore, taxpayers must provide evidence that they took reasonable steps to rectify the problem but still could not meet their obligations.

Under normal circumstances, it is difficult to prevent tax penalties via Reasonable Cause Relief. In addition to providing a strong case in defense of their prudence, taxpayers must complete the following requirements before they can qualify: 1) a request for abatement must be made (submitting Form 843 with a written statement, or submitting a verbal request); 2) paying the entire liability, with penalties and interest is recommended (this is for simplicity’s sake, as additional penalties and interest may accrue while the petition is being considered, entailing additional petitions for abatement).

After the request is filed, an IRS Appeals Officer, who proceeds to assess the taxpayer’s case, usually contacting the individual by phone or fax to verify or expand on the information provided with the original request.