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IRS Penalty Abatement

Remove failure to file, failure to pay and deposit penalties where the facts support relief.

Over 30 Years of Experience

IRS Penalty Abatement in Las Vegas, NV and Nationwide

Penalties are frequently a large share of what taxpayers owe. Failure to file accrues at 5 percent of the unpaid tax per month up to 25 percent, failure to pay adds more, and interest compounds on top of both.

The IRS will remove penalties in defined circumstances, and it does so more often than most taxpayers realise. What it will not do is remove them because the amount feels unfair, which is why how a request is framed matters.

The two workhorses are First Time Abate, an administrative waiver for taxpayers with a clean three-year history, and reasonable cause, which turns on what happened and whether you exercised ordinary business care. We service clients all over the USA.

What we handle

First Time Abate requests
Reasonable cause penalty relief
Failure to file and failure to pay penalties
Payroll tax deposit penalties
Accuracy-related penalty challenges
Estimated tax penalty review
Refund claims for penalties already paid
Appeals of denied abatement requests

How we work

First Time Abate

If you filed and paid on time for the three years before the year at issue, and you are current now, the IRS can waive failure to file and failure to pay penalties administratively. It is the cleanest relief available and it is frequently missed, including on accounts where a preparer simply never asked. We check every account we take on for it.

Reasonable cause

Where First Time Abate does not apply, relief turns on facts: serious illness, a death in the immediate family, records destroyed, reliance on a professional who failed you, or circumstances genuinely outside your control. The request has to connect those facts to the specific period and show you acted responsibly once you could. Documentation carries this, not adjectives.

Penalties you already paid

Relief is not limited to unpaid penalties. Where penalties were paid, a refund claim can be filed within the statutory window. If the balance underneath also needs a payment plan or settlement, see IRS Tax Relief and Resolution.

Interest is different from penalties. Interest is statutory, and is generally only removed where it accrued on a penalty that is itself removed, or through IRS error. Anyone promising to erase interest across the board is not describing how the code works.

We service clients all over the USA. Representation before the IRS is federal, so where you live does not limit who can act for you. We are based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we represent taxpayers nationwide, including state level matters with your own state revenue department.

Common questions

Does not being able to afford the tax count as reasonable cause?

Inability to pay by itself generally does not excuse failure to file, but it can support failure to pay relief when combined with circumstances such as job loss, illness or a business collapse. The distinction matters and shapes how the request is written.

How many years can be abated at once?

First Time Abate applies to a single period. Reasonable cause can cover multiple years where the circumstances span them, which is common in illness and disaster cases.

Will asking for abatement trigger an audit?

No. An abatement request is a penalty matter handled separately from examination. It does not put your return into an audit queue.

What if the request is denied?

Denials can be appealed, and appeals are worth pursuing where the facts are strong. Many abatements are granted at that stage rather than the first.

RT Smith & Company9788 Gilespie St, Suite 401, Las Vegas, NV 89183
(702) 743-6091 · rtsmithco@gmail.com

GET IN TOUCH

Free consultation

Tell us which years and which penalties are on your account. We will check First Time Abate eligibility and reasonable cause grounds before you pay us anything.

Prefer to talk? (702) 743-6091
rtsmithco@gmail.com