Relief & Settlements · Bowling Green, KY
Penalties made your balance worse. Some can be erased.
On an older balance, penalties and the interest on them can rival the tax itself. Two separate relief paths exist — and one of them requires no excuse at all.
Direct Answer: IRS penalty abatement First-Time Abate
Internal Revenue Service penalty relief comes in two forms under IRM 20.1: First-Time Abate, which waives failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties for taxpayers with three clean prior years and requires no cause narrative, and reasonable-cause abatement for circumstances beyond the taxpayer's control. Bowling Green Tax Resolution has vetted, licensed CPAs and Enrolled Agents check both paths — plus Kentucky Department of Revenue penalty waivers — before any balance is negotiated.
Path one: First-Time Abate (no excuse needed)
If you were compliant for the three years before the penalty year — returns filed, no prior penalties of the same type, and current on an installment agreement if you have one — the IRS will abate failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties essentially as a matter of policy (IRM 20.1.1.3.2.1). No illness narrative, no disaster documentation. It's the most under-claimed relief in the system, because nobody advertises it on the radio.
Path two: reasonable cause
When life genuinely interfered — serious illness, a natural disaster, records destroyed, bad advice from a prior preparer you reasonably relied on — the IRS can abate penalties on the facts. The key is contemporaneous documentation: what happened, when, and how it prevented compliance. Vague hardship claims fail; specific, evidenced timelines succeed.
The compounding nobody mentions
Penalties accrue interest too. On a balance several years old, the penalty-plus-interest stack can exceed the original tax — which means abatement can cut some balances nearly in half without touching the underlying liability. Any honest resolution plan for a Bowling Green taxpayer starts here: strip what's removable before negotiating what's left. And don't forget the Kentucky side — KY DOR penalties need their own waiver request. Bowling Green Tax Resolution evaluates both on the first call.
Common questions
What is First-Time Penalty Abatement?
FTA is administrative relief (IRM 20.1.1.3.2.1) from failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties for taxpayers with a clean compliance history for the prior three years. It is requested by phone or in writing — no "cause" narrative required.
What counts as reasonable cause?
Facts beyond your control that prevented compliance: serious illness, natural disaster, inability to obtain records, reliance on professional advice, and similar circumstances documented with evidence.
Can penalties be abated on Kentucky DOR balances too?
Kentucky has its own penalty-waiver provisions, separate from the IRS. Both should be evaluated — state penalties are often overlooked.
Does abatement reduce the underlying tax?
No — abatement removes penalties (and the interest that accrued on them), not the tax itself. But on older balances, penalties and interest can exceed the original tax, so the savings are real.
You may be paying penalties you don't actually owe.
A free, confidential call checks your FTA eligibility and reasonable-cause facts — federal and Kentucky.
Calls only. No fee to talk. No Social Security numbers or bank details collected on this website.