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IRS reasonable cause for penalty abatement: what counts and how to ask

If something outside your control stopped you filing or paying on time, you can ask the IRS to remove the penalty for "reasonable cause". This is the route for people who don't qualify for first-time or automatic relief, or whose penalty those don't cover.

Checked 2026-09-28 · All guides

General information from IRS pages, checked 2026-09-28. Not tax advice: the IRS decides each case on its own facts.

What is reasonable cause?

Penalty abatement means the IRS removes a penalty it has charged. "Reasonable cause" is one reason it will. The IRS's test: you took the care a sensible person would take (it calls this "ordinary care and prudence"), and something still stopped you filing or paying on time. It decides case by case, looking at all the facts.

For failure to file or pay, the IRS says valid reasons may include:

Fires, natural disasters or civil disturbances (the IRS manual also names "fire or other casualty").
Not being able to get your records.
Death, serious illness or unavoidable absence of you, or the death or serious illness of your immediate family (spouse, sibling, parents, grandparents, children).
System problems that delayed an on-time electronic filing or payment.

The list isn't closed. But a disaster or illness on its own isn't enough: it has to be what stopped you, and you have to catch up within a reasonable time once it's over.

Wrong advice from the IRS is handled separately. If you asked the IRS in writing, got wrong advice in writing and relied on it, that's a "statutory exception", with its own box on Form 843 (7b). Wrong advice given by phone can count as reasonable cause "when appropriate".

What generally doesn't qualify

Lack of funds, by itself. The IRS says not having the money is not reasonable cause on its own. It can count if other facts show you used reasonable care and still couldn't pay, and paying would have caused "undue hardship" (more than an inconvenience). It generally doesn't excuse filing late.
Relying on a tax preparer to file or pay on time. The duty to file and pay is yours. (For the accuracy-related penalty, relying on a competent adviser you gave all the facts to may be considered.)
Not knowing the rules, unless other facts go with it, such as a recent law change you couldn't reasonably have known about.
Mistakes and forgetting, unless other facts show you tried to comply.
A clean record alone. That's what first-time and automatic relief are for, not reasonable cause.

Which penalties it covers

Reasonable cause can apply to the failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, failure-to-deposit, accuracy-related and information-return penalties. It doesn't apply to the estimated-tax penalty; the IRS has separate pages for that.

What's at stake, using the IRS's rules: the failure-to-file penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part month late, and the failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5%. In a month when both apply, the filing penalty drops to 4.5%. Say you owed $1,000 and filed and paid 45 days late (two part-months, so no minimum penalty): $1,000 × 4.5% × 2 = $90, plus $1,000 × 0.5% × 2 = $10. That's $100 in penalties, plus interest.

How the IRS penalty abatement request works

Check your notice first. If it gives instructions or a deadline for disputing the penalty, follow them.
Call the toll-free number in the top right corner of your notice. Have the notice, the penalty you want removed and your reasons in front of you, plus your documents. The IRS says it will tell you during the call if relief is approved. (Its general line is 800-829-1040, but the IRS points you to the number on your notice.)
If the phone answer is no, ask in writing: Form 843, or a signed letter sent with your documents to the address on your notice. Some penalties can only be removed with a written statement signed under penalty of perjury.

On Form 843: tick the top box for a penalty removed "due to reasonable cause"; line 1, the tax period (one form per period); line 2, the amount; line 6, the Internal Revenue Code section, which is usually on your notice (failure to file is 6651(a)(1), failure to pay 6651(a)(2) or (a)(3)); line 7, box c; line 8, your explanation, with documents attached. Both spouses sign for a joint return.

What to explain: what happened and when; how it stopped you filing or paying on time; what you tried to do, then and once things changed. Name every penalty you want considered; the IRS looks only at the ones you ask about. Documents the IRS lists: hospital or court records or a doctor's letter with start and end dates; proof of the disaster or disturbance; copies of relevant letters and replies; receipts, forms or other records.

Is there a deadline? It depends on whether you've paid the penalty.

Unpaid penalty: the law sets no deadline to ask. The IRS can remove the unpaid part at any time while it can still collect it, which is generally 10 years from the date the penalty was charged (assessed). The tax code counts penalties as tax for this purpose, and the IRS manual tells staff: "Do not deny a request for abatement solely because the tax has not been paid."
Paid penalty: to get the money back, the request has to come within 3 years from filing the return or 2 years from paying, whichever is later. After that window, the IRS won't remove a penalty that's been paid in full, even with reasonable cause or first-time relief.

Two facts weigh against waiting on an unpaid penalty: interest keeps growing on the balance, penalty included, and paying it starts the refund clock above. If your notice gives its own deadline to respond, that deadline applies to the notice.

A sample reasonable-cause letter

Built only from what the IRS asks for. Use your own words and only true facts: Form 843 is signed under penalties of perjury. Fill in the brackets.

[Your name]
[Your address]
[Daytime phone]
Social Security number or ITIN: [number]

Re: Request for penalty relief for reasonable cause. Notice [number] dated [date]. Tax year [year], Form [1040].

I am asking you to remove the [failure-to-file / failure-to-pay] penalty of $[amount] for tax year [year] for reasonable cause. A copy of the notice is enclosed.

What happened: [for example, I was in hospital from [date] to [date] and recovering at home until [date]].

How it stopped me: [the return was due on [date], during that time, and I could not [prepare it / get to my records / make the payment]].

What I did: [I asked [who] to [what] on [date]. Once I was well, I filed on [date] and paid $[amount] on [date]].

My other affairs during this time: [optional, for example, my family handled my bills].

Enclosed: [hospital letter with dates], [copy of the notice], [other records].

[Signature] [Date]
[Spouse's signature, if a joint return]

Mail it to the address on your notice and keep a copy. Proof of mailing is worth considering. The IRS "may" grant relief; no letter guarantees it.

Or build your own call script and letter here (it asks about first-time relief first, the order the IRS uses):

Who are you asking? What are you asking for? Tone

Brief Warm Formal

Your name

Tax year

Notice number (e.g. CP14)

Penalty amount

Reason (optional)

What you type stays in this browser. Nothing is sent to us or saved. You send the message yourself; we never contact anyone.

What happens to the interest

If a penalty is removed, the IRS automatically removes the interest charged on that penalty. It doesn't remove interest on the tax itself. Interest (7% a year for October to December 2026) and penalties keep adding up on anything unpaid while you wait; the IRS suggests paying what you can now or setting up a payment plan.

How it fits with first-time and automatic relief

The IRS applies relief in a set order: correcting IRS errors, then statutory exceptions, then administrative waivers (first-time relief), then reasonable cause. So if you ask for reasonable cause but qualify for first-time relief, the IRS applies first-time relief.

One difference follows from that. A penalty removed for reasonable cause still leaves your record clean for future first-time or automatic relief. One removed by first-time or automatic relief does not: first-time relief looks back 3 years for earlier penalties removed that way.

You can't choose the order. The IRS manual says that if you meet the first-time criteria, "the FTA waiver will be applied before reasonable cause", even when you sent a reasonable-cause letter, and the IRS must tell you it removed the penalty because of your clean history, not your reasons. The manual has no step for turning first-time relief down. For returns due on or after January 1, 2027, first-time relief is replaced by automatic relief, which the IRS applies without a request.

Automatic relief covers only the filing, payment and deposit penalties, not accuracy-related or information-return penalties. If you don't qualify, the IRS says you can still ask for reasonable cause.

If the IRS says no

Appeal. If you asked in writing and got a letter denying it, you generally have 30 days from that letter to ask for an appeal; your letter gives the exact deadline. A phone "no" alone isn't enough to appeal, so ask in writing first. Send the appeal to the address on the denial letter, not straight to the Appeals office.
Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent office within the IRS, helps for free if you can't resolve it yourself or the problem is causing financial hardship. Call toll-free 877-777-4778 (the number the IRS prints in Publication 4681 and its volunteer guide), or find your local office on its IRS page.
Low Income Taxpayer Clinics can represent you on appeals and disputes, free or for a small fee, usually where less than $50,000 is in dispute. They generally serve people whose income is at or below 250% of the federal poverty guidelines: in 2026, about $39,900 for one person, $54,100 for two, $68,300 for three and $82,500 for four (higher in Alaska and Hawaii). Each clinic applies its own rules within that. Find one on the IRS clinics page (Publication 4134).

Sources

Sources checked 2026-09-28.

General information, not tax advice. Rules and figures change; each figure shows where it comes from and when we checked it. Free help: IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Low Income Taxpayer Clinics.