IRS Penalty Abatement: What First Time Abate Covers
Penalties are often a large share of what is owed, and they are the part of a tax debt most readily removed. The main route is decided on your compliance record — which means you can check whether you qualify before you ask.
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Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
The Two Routes, and Why the Order Matters
There are two main ways a penalty comes off. First Time Abate is an administrative waiver granted on your compliance record: clean prior three years, currently compliant, penalty removed. Reasonable cause relief is fact-specific — serious illness, a fire or natural disaster, records destroyed, circumstances genuinely beyond your control — and turns on what you can document.
The order matters more than most people realise. First Time Abate can only be used once in a clean-record window, so where a reasonable cause argument is genuinely strong, using it first preserves the administrative waiver for a later year. That sequencing is worth thinking about before the first request goes in.
Case Details
The criteria below are the IRS's own, from its penalty relief guidance. Interest is treated differently from penalties: interest is statutory and is generally only reduced when it accrued on a penalty that is itself removed, or where IRS error or delay caused it.
The First Time Abate Criteria
— have filed the same return type on time for the prior three years (or twelve consecutive quarters for a return filed quarterly);
— have had no penalty of the same type assessed in that period — or only one that was later removed for reasonable cause or IRS error;
— be current on filing all required returns, and have paid or arranged to pay any tax due, an approved payment plan in good standing being sufficient.
These are mechanical tests. You can work out the answer from your own filing history before contacting anyone, which is unusual in this area and worth taking advantage of.
A Change Worth Knowing About
The IRS is phasing in an Automatic Exemption from Penalty that will replace First Time Abate for eligible returns with original due dates on or after 1 January 2027. For anything due before that date, the First Time Abate criteria above are what apply.
Two practical points follow. If you have a qualifying penalty on an older year, the existing rules govern it — a change taking effect for 2027 due dates does not reach back. And if you are choosing between routes on a recent year, it is worth confirming which regime the return's original due date falls under before assuming which test applies.
What Penalty Relief Is Worth
Interest follows the penalties it accrued on: remove a penalty and the interest charged on that penalty comes off with it. Interest on the underlying tax is statutory and stays.
Requesting It
- 1
Check the prior three years yourself
Same return type, filed on time, no penalty of the same type. If the record is not clean, First Time Abate is not available and reasonable cause is the route to consider.
- 2
Become compliant first
All required returns filed, and tax due paid or under an approved arrangement. A payment plan in good standing satisfies the payment condition.
- 3
Ask — by phone, in many cases
Where the criteria are clearly met, the request can often be handled on the telephone rather than in writing. Form 843 is the written route where one is needed.
- 4
If refused, respond in writing
A refusal is not final. Written requests receive a written determination, and there are appeal rights beyond that.
- 5
Keep reasonable cause in reserve
If a documented hardship explains the year in question, using reasonable cause preserves the administrative waiver for a future year.
Where People Lose Out
The failures here are usually omissions rather than deception.
Never asking
First Time Abate is not applied automatically to every eligible account. A qualifying taxpayer who does not request it simply pays the penalty.
Paying a fee for a phone call
Where the three-year record is clean and you are compliant, this is a short call. Fees are reasonable for contested reasonable-cause cases; they are hard to justify for a mechanical waiver you qualify for on the record.
Spending the waiver on the smaller year
The waiver is usable once in a clean-record window. Using it on a small penalty when a larger one is coming is a costly sequencing error.
Penalty Abatement Questions
Which penalties does First Time Abate cover?
Failure to file, failure to pay, and failure to deposit. It does not cover accuracy-related or fraud penalties, which are dealt with under different provisions.
How clean does my record have to be?
You must have filed the same return type on time for the prior three years, or twelve consecutive quarters for quarterly filers, with no penalty of the same type assessed in that period — unless it was later removed for reasonable cause or IRS error.
Can I get it if I still owe the tax?
Yes, provided you have paid or arranged to pay. An approved payment plan in good standing satisfies that condition.
Does abatement remove interest too?
Interest charged on a removed penalty comes off with it. Interest on the underlying tax is statutory and generally remains, unless IRS error or delay caused it.
How often can I use First Time Abate?
It depends on the three-year clean-record window rather than a lifetime limit — but in practice it is a once-per-window relief, which is why the choice of year matters.
What is changing in 2027?
The IRS is phasing in an Automatic Exemption from Penalty that will replace First Time Abate for eligible returns with original due dates on or after 1 January 2027. Returns due before then remain under the current criteria.
What if I do not qualify for First Time Abate?
Reasonable cause relief is the alternative: serious illness, death in the family, natural disaster, destroyed records, or other circumstances beyond your control, supported by documentation and by the fact that you acted with ordinary business care.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.