No blanket covid-19 IRS penalty relief

Hopes for blanket COVID-19 penalty relief from IRS have been dashed. IRS said that the Service will continue to judge requests for penalty relief on a case-by-case basis.

by agency head Charles Rettig. For months, the American Institute of CPAs and other tax professional groups have been pleading with IRS to offer more relief from the late filing and late payment penalties for taxpayers who couldn’t timely file or pay because of the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, the AICPA asked IRS to provide a penalty waiver and to create a streamlined penalty abatement process for taxpayers affected by the pandemic. At last week’s AICPA virtual conference, Rettig dismissed the idea of blanket relief.