You will owe the IRS or state taxing authorities a lot more money if penalties and interest are included. The problem can get progressively worse the longer you delay to submit and pay. To ease your task, we’ve come with some basic information to calculate IRS penalties and interest rates.
IRS Penalty and Interest Calculator
If you find yourself in a situation where you must pay your taxes after the deadline, you probably want to know how much the IRS will charge in penalties and interest. However, there are several variables that affect the exact amount you will pay.
The following three factors will most strongly influence how much you owe:-
- Regardless of whether you submitted your tax return on time
- How much you still owe
- The current IRS interest rate
Although the IRS handles each late payment penalty on an individual basis, an IRS tax calculator can give you a good idea of how much interest and penalties you’ll have to pay.
How is Interest Calculated by the IRS?
Penalties are more difficult to calculate than interest. For most people, the federal short-term rate plus 3% determines the IRS interest rate.
The federal short-term rate is .44% as of January 2022. The federal “short-term rate” is calculated using a one-month moving average of market yields on marketable US debt securities with maturities of three years or less.
The Internal Revenue Service announced that the interest rates will stay the same for the first quarter of 2022 as of January 1.
The rates are as follows:-
- Overpayment penalties are calculated at 3% (or 2% in the case of corporations).
- 5% of a corporate overpayment that exceeds $10,000 will be charged.
- For underpayments, it should be 3%.
- 5% for underpayments by large corporations.
Remember that interest rates are expected to start rising in 2022, so these figures may change and most likely will. Since interest is calculated daily, you will accrue more debt for every day you delay paying your taxes.
Hence, if you owe $10,000 to the IRS and are 90 days late, your total interest costs will be close to $75.
What Justifies the Calculate IRS Penalties and Interest Rates?
If having insufficient funds to pay your tax debt wasn’t stressful enough, the IRS isn’t very lenient when it comes to penalties. Your penalty’s monetary value will vary depending on its nature and how long it will take you to pay it back. According to the IRS, the goal of penalties is to promote voluntary compliance.
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Different types of IRS Penalities
You could be charged with a variety of various IRS penalties. The more you are aware of the many kinds of fines, the better you will be able to deal with them when you are confronted with them or completely avoid them.
There are many reasons why the IRS imposes penalties, but the most frequent one is if you fail to:-
- Immediately submit your tax return
- Pay any taxes you owe promptly and correctly.
- Create a precise tax return.
- Provide truthful information
IRS Penalties for Missing a Filing
If your tax return is not submitted by the deadline, you will be subject to the Failure to File Penalty. The fine is a portion of the taxes that you failed to pay on time.
The amount of the fine is determined by the amount of unpaid tax as of the initial due date and how late your tax return was filed.
Your total amount of unpaid tax is the amount of tax that must be declared on your return less any amounts deducted for withholding, anticipated tax payments, and permitted refundable credits.
The Failing to File Penalty is determined as follows:-
- Every month or fraction of a month that your tax return is late, you will be penalised 5% of the unpaid taxes. A maximum of 25% of all unpaid taxes may be assessed as a penalty.
- If a Failure to Pay Penalty is also accessible, the Failure to Pay Penalty is reduced by the amount of the Failure to Pay Penalty for that month, resulting in a total penalty of 5% for each month or portion of a month that your return was late.
- The Failure to File Penalty will reach its maximum after five months of nonpayment, while the Failure to Pay Penalty remains in effect until the tax is paid, up to a maximum of 25% of the unpaid tax as of the due date.
- The minimum Failure to File Penalty is $435 or 100% of the tax that must be stated on the return, whichever is less, if your return is over 60 days late.
IRS Failure to Pay Penalty
Taxpayers who fail to pay the tax recorded on their tax return by the due date or an authorised extended due date are subject to the Failure to Pay Penalty. A portion of the unpaid taxes make up the accessed penalty.
Depending on how long the past-due taxes go unpaid, the IRS determines how much of a failure to pay penalty to impose. Unpaid tax is the total amount of tax that must be reported on a return less amounts withheld, estimated tax payments, and permitted refundable credits.
The Failure to Pay Penalty may not be greater than 25% of the entire amount of overdue taxes.
The following formula is used to determine the Failure to Pay Penalty:-
- For each month or portion of a month that the tax debt is outstanding, there is a failure to pay penalty of 0.5% of the unpaid taxes. No more than 25% of the taxpayer’s overdue taxes can be penalised.
- If a Failure to Pay Penalty and a Failure to File Penalty are both assessed in the same month, the Failure to File Penalty will be reduced by the Failure to Pay Penalty’s amount assessed in that month. For example, the IRS might impose a 4.5% Failure to File Penalty plus a 0.5% Failure to Pay Penalty for the month as opposed to a 5% Failure to File Penalty for the whole month.
- If you submitted your individual tax return on time and have an approved payment plan, the Failure to Pay Penalty will be lowered to 0.25% per month (or partial month) for the duration of your approved payment plan.
- The Failure to Pay Penalty is 1% per month or fraction of a month if you don’t pay your taxes within 10 days of receiving a notification from the IRS indicating that a levied will be placed on your account.
- Even if you pay your taxes in full before the end of the month, the IRS still assesses full monthly fees.
IRS Accuracy-Related Penality
If you underpay the tax that needs to be reported on your return, you are subject to an accuracy-related penalty. Underpayments can occur if you don’t disclose all of your income or if you make claims for credits or deductions that you are not entitled to.
The IRS imposes two different kinds of accuracy-related penalties on individuals:-
- Substantial Understatement of Income Tax
- Negligence for Disregard of the Rules or Regulations
When the IRS concludes that you didn’t make a sincere effort to comply with the tax regulations when filing your tax returns, negligence is applied. You disregard tax laws or regulations when you do so willfully, foolishly, or carelessly.
Negligence examples include:-
- Not maintaining documents to demonstrate your eligibility for the deductions or credits you claimed
- Not including revenue from an information return, such as income from a Form 1099, on your tax return.
- Not verifying a deduction or credit that seems exaggerated
If you understate your tax burden by $5,000 or 10% of the tax that must be reported on your tax return, whichever is higher, it is considered a significant underestimate of tax.
IRS Underpayment of Estimated Tax Penalty
Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Persons If you underpay or pay your estimated tax on time, there is a penalty. Even if you are due a refund, the penalty might still be imposed.
The tax stated on your original return or a more recent return that you submitted on or before the due date is used by the IRS to determine the penalty amount. Your total tax less all of your refundable tax credits equals the tax that is displayed on the return.
The following criteria are used by the IRS to determine the penalty:-
- The quantity of the underpayment
- The time frame during which the underpayment was overdue and underpaid
- The quarterly interest rate for underpayments that the IRS releases
IRS Failure to Deposit Penalty
Employers who fail to deposit employment tax payments on time, in the appropriate amount, or in the proper manner are subject to the Failure to Deposit Penalty.
Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare contributions, as well as the Federal Unemployment Tax are all levies that employers must pay. The fine is a proportion of the taxes that were not correctly, promptly, or adequately deposited.
Based on the number of calendar days your deposit is past due, starting from the due date, the IRS determines the Failure to Deposit Penalty’s dollar amount.
For instance, the IRS does not impose an additional 10% fine on top of the 2% and 5% late fees if your deposit is more than 15 calendar days overdue. Your new overall penalty would be 10%.
| Numbers of days your deposit is late | Amount of the penalty |
| 1-5 calendar days | 2% of your unpaid deposit |
| 6-15 calender days | 5% of your unpaid deposit |
| More than 15 calender days | 10% of your unpaid deposit |
| 10 or more days from the date of your initial notification or letter (for example, CP220 Notice) or when you receive a notification or letter requesting urgent payment (for example, CP504J Notice) | 15% of your unpaid deposit |
IRS Information Return Penalty
If you don’t submit information returns on time or give payee statements, you may be subject to an information return penalty. Each information return you submit incorrectly late and each payee statement you fail to furnish are subject to fines from the IRS.
For small and large businesses, the maximum fines vary. For willful disrespect, there is no maximum penalty.
| Tax year | Upto to 30 days late | 31 days late through August 1 | After August 1 or not filed | Intentional disregard |
| 2023 | $50 | $110 | $290 | $580 |
| 2022 | $50 | $110 | $280 | $570 |
| 2021 | $50 | $110 | $280 | $560 |
Are Penalties Ever Forgiven by the IRS?
If you operated in “good faith” and can provide sufficient justification for why you were unable to satisfy your tax responsibilities, the IRS may be willing to waive or lessen some penalties. It is against the law for the IRS to do either without first removing or reducing the penalty.
The IRS assesses your situation’s facts and circumstances to decide if there is probable cause. According to their statement, they will “examine any justification which indicates that you employed all reasonable business care and prudence to pay your Federal tax responsibilities but were nevertheless unable to do so”.
Any of the subsequent justifications listed below will be accepted by the IRS as valid excuses for failure to file a tax return:-
- Incendiary events, casualties, natural disasters, or other problems
- Lack of records availability
- The taxpayer’s or a member of their immediate family’s passing, a serious sickness, their incapacity, or their unavoidable absence
- Another factor that shows you exercised all reasonable care and caution in your business dealings in an effort to meet your federal tax responsibilities but were unable to do so
Reminder: Being short on money is not a valid excuse for missing the deadline for filing or paying. The lack of funds’ causes, however, might be acceptable under the failure-to-pay penalty’s reasonable cause standard.
The IRS will ask for the following details to prove probable cause:-
- When and what happened?
- What events and situations prevented you from submitting your return or paying your taxes during the time you missed the deadlines?
- What impact did the facts and circumstances have on your capacity to do your daily tasks, including filing and/or paying your taxes?
- What steps did you take to submit your taxes and/or pay them after the circumstances and the facts changed?
- Did the affected person or a member of that person’s immediate family have sole authority to execute the return, make the deposit, or make the payment in the case of a Corporation, Estate, or Trust?
The IRS will frequently request the following papers to prove probable cause:-
- A letter from a doctor establishing illness or incapacity with precise start and end dates, supported by hospital or court records
- Natural disasters or other incidents that precluded compliance should be documented.
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Final Words!
Hopefully, the above information will be helpful for you. Ask for the help of tax resolution experts if you need further help; they may help you avoid paying fines, calculate IRS penalties and interest rates, and interest while getting you back on track to your goals more quickly than you might expect. Your house, company, bank accounts, and other assets are more vulnerable the longer you wait. A world of difference can be made with prompt professional assistance live chat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What Will Happen if I Don’t File Taxes for a Year?
Ans. Some people fail to file their tax returns for several years. They worry about the potential repercussions after missing a tax year, so they don’t take action to stop the situation from getting worse and instead allow it to snowball.
To get caught up and preventing a recurrence are the best options. It doesn’t matter how awful things are right now; ignoring them will only make them worse.
Q. How Might an IRS Penalty be Refund?
Ans. You have the choice to challenge the penalty if you disagree with the sum that the IRS claims you owe. You can make an effort to contact the IRS by phone or send a letter outlining your case for the IRS to drop the fine. To the IRS address listed on your notice or letter, sign and mail your letter together with any necessary supporting documentation.
If you call, have the following details available or provide them in the letter:-
- IRS correspondence or notice
- You want them to think again about the punishment
- Provide justification for each punishment you believe ought to be eliminated.
Q. How Does the IRS First Time Penalty Abatement Work?
Ans. If certain conditions are met, the IRS may award taxpayers a first-time penalty abatement (FTA) waiver, which releases them from the obligation to file, pay, and deposit taxes.
The procedure’s guiding principles include the notion that everyone is permitted to make one honest error and rewarding taxpayers for a history of flawless compliance.
Some penalties, such those relating to accuracy or underpayment of estimated taxes, are not covered by FTA.
The following requirements must be met in order to be eligible for a first-time penalty reduction:-
- Compliance with filing requirements: You cannot have a pending IRS request for a return if you haven’t submitted all required returns (or filed a valid extension for all of them).
- Compliance with payments: You must have made arrangements for or paid all owed taxes (can be in an installment agreement if the payments are current).
- Clean penalty history: For the previous three years, you must not have received any fines (apart from a potential estimated tax penalty).
