Days before Christmas, the Internal Revenue Service said it is waiving $1 billion in tax penalties for 4.7 million individuals, businesses and organizations who owe back taxes.
The rare relief is about $200 on average for each affected taxpayer and about 70% of those affected have household incomes below $100,000, the IRS announced Tuesday.
The IRS said taxpayers who owe on their 2020 and 2021 taxes could be eligible for relief depending on the amount of their tax bill.
The agency said it’s waiving the penalties because it stopped mailing automated reminders in February 2022 because of the pandemic.
The failure-to-pay penalty has continued to accrue for taxpayers who didn’t fully pay their bills after the initial balance due notice.
The IRS said it plans to resume sending out normal collection notices for tax years 2020 and 2021.
“As the IRS has been preparing to return to normal collection mailings, we have been concerned about taxpayers who haven’t heard from us in a while suddenly getting a larger tax bill,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.
“The IRS should be looking out for taxpayers, and this penalty relief is a common-sense approach to help people in this situation,” Werfel said.
The penalty relief will be automatic and eligible taxpayers won’t need to take any action, the IRS said.
The relief applies to eligible taxpayers with assessed tax under $100,000 for each return, according to the IRS.
Taxpayers still have to pay the taxes, just not the fees that have accumulated.
Meanwhile, eligible taxpayers who already paid the failure-to-pay penalties related to 2020 and 2021 taxes will get a refund or credit.
The IRS said it will send the first round of refunds “starting now through January 2024.”
The failure-to-pay penalty will resume on April 1, 2024, for taxpayers eligible for relief.
That makes no sense at all, I guess they are saying Hunter not paying his taxes is no problem. It ticks me off that hard-working people pay taxes and those who don’t get rewarded for not paying theirs.