Your real options — before you call a relief company.
Owe the IRS? You likely have more options and owe less than late-night ads imply. Here are the legitimate relief paths and who qualifies for each.
Penalties and interest can balloon a balance. The failure-to-file penalty (5%/month) is ten times the failure-to-pay penalty — so always file, even if you can't pay. See your real total in the tax debt calculator.
The simplest fix: pay over time. Most people who owe under $50,000 can set one up online. Penalties keep accruing, so pay it off as fast as you can. Estimate the payment in the payment plan calculator.
Settle for less than you owe — but only if you can show the IRS that's the most it could realistically collect from your income and assets. Estimate a possible offer in the OIC calculator.
First-time abatement and reasonable-cause relief can wipe out penalties for otherwise-compliant taxpayers. It's worth asking — see the penalty calculator for what's at stake.