What it is
What is the failure to pay penalty?
The failure to pay penalty is what the IRS charges when the tax on a filed return is not paid by the deadline. It is assessed under Internal Revenue Code Section 6651(a), it accrues for each month or part of a month the balance is unpaid, and it stops at the cap the statute names.
It is smaller per month than the failure to file penalty, but it keeps running until the balance is paid, so on an older account it adds up. Interest is separate, statutory, and runs on the unpaid balance alongside it.
Pay first, then ask
The sequence that makes relief work.
Penalty relief on a failure to pay penalty is far easier to obtain once the tax is paid or under a current installment agreement. That is not a technicality; it is the order that makes the request succeed. Deal with the tax, by paying it or arranging it, and then ask for the penalty to be removed on the route your record fits.
The authority
Two routes to removing the penalty.
The failure to pay penalty comes off through the same two routes as the other late penalties.
If your recent record is clean, the route is the First Time Abate administrative waiver, often granted on a call to the number printed on your notice.
If a penalty in the last three years closes that door, the route is reasonable cause relief under Internal Revenue Code Section 6651(a) and Treasury Regulation Section 301.6651-1(c)(1), which turns on what was happening in your life when the deadline passed.
How to respond
Four steps, in the order that works.
Confirm the balance
Check the unpaid tax against your own records. The failure to pay penalty is a percentage of that figure, so a wrong balance means a wrong penalty.
Pay or arrange the tax
Pay it, or set up an installment agreement online. Being current on a plan counts the same as paid in full when you ask for penalty relief.
Pick your route by your record
Clean recent record means the First Time Abate waiver. A prior penalty means reasonable cause under Internal Revenue Code Section 6651(a).
Ask and get it in writing
Make the request by phone or in a short letter, and ask for written confirmation of the decision.
Questions people ask
Straight answers
Can the failure to pay penalty be removed?
Yes, usually once the tax is paid or under a current installment agreement. It is removed through the First Time Abate waiver if your record is clean, or through reasonable cause under Internal Revenue Code Section 6651(a) if a prior penalty rules the waiver out.
Why does the penalty keep growing?
The failure to pay penalty accrues for each month or part of a month the balance is unpaid, up to the statutory cap, and interest runs on the balance separately. Paying or arranging the tax is what stops the climb.
Do I have to pay before the penalty comes off?
You do not always have to pay in full, but you do need the tax paid or under a current installment agreement for the request to be likely to succeed. That sequence is the point.
How do I know if I qualify?
The free eligibility check reads your answers and routes you to the right relief path, or tells you plainly that you do not have a case, before you pay anything.
Free eligibility check
Find out where you stand in about a minute.
Seven questions. No Social Security Number, no documents, no signup, and nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere. If you do not have a case, it says so and you pay nothing.