Appeal State $200 Late filing penalty?

Filed my taxes postmarked by the 10/15 extension. Got a State $200 Late filing penalty+interest. While I understand the $20 interest for the 6 mo.s I thought the extension meant it wasn’t late?

I’m going to call them tomorrow, but wondering if there are appeal rights and what acceptable reasons are other the 1st time/ 2018 tax law withholding changes.

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Extension only allows you to file return later. You have to pay all taxes due by usual filing date (April 15). If you did not pay by April 15 this explains penalty.

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Perhaps more explicitly, you own a late payment penalty for any tax liability not paid by Apr 15th but you should only owe a late filing penalty, assuming you applied for an extension, if you filed after Oct 15th. In addition, both penalties are typically multiples of the net tax liability (ie what you owe after accounting for your timely payments), so for example if you’re due a refund there’s no late filing penalty in any event.

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correct late payment amount shows $0 and I had filed a fed. extension which gives you an auto AZ extension.

Usually have a refund, but losing the exemptions and higher salary. Not sure what a legit. reason would be to appeal.

Frankly, I think you maybe better off simply begging for mercy, than trying to concoct an excuse to justify anything. You typically receive a refund so the possibility of owing money never crossed your mind. And pay the amount due before/with the appeal - either just the tax due amount if you have some time before the due date, or the full amount (including the penalty) if you dont expect a response before the due date. Make it clear you have no intention of stiffing them, and if they do waive the fee, your account will just have a credit balance carried into next year.

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no problem begging for mercy, if that can be a good strategy. I wonder if calling is better then letter.

We already paid the tax due amount (about $600 ) b/f the 10/15 date. Wondering why the penalty is so high…

Found some guidelines. Will try the math error, expecting refund argument, but pay the penalty while they decide per advice here:

  1. Recent changes in the law:
    The taxpayer may have reasonable cause if the failure to comply was a result of a
    recent law change or form revision and the taxpayer could not reasonably be
    expected to be aware of the change.

https://azdor.gov/forms/other-forms/request-penalty-abatement

After all that called and they said the IRS hadn’t notified them about my extension! Late fee Waived!

Probably will have to call the feds when I get that notice. or should I call proactively? Best IRS #?

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Scroll down to IRS phone numbers

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Went irs.gov account 1st and looks like they only charged Penalty for late payment of tax+interest so I’m sure i have to pay feds in full vs the state late file penalty was an error.

Will paying earlier than monday help reduce it ? I will increase withholding to prevent this too or do ES next year. Any CC payment deals to soften the blow?

RETURN DUE DATE OR RETURN RECEIVED DATE (WHICHEVER IS LATER) Oct. 14, 2019
PROCESSING DATE Nov. 04, 2019
TRANSACTIONS
CODE EXPLANATION OF TRANSACTION CYCLE DATE AMOUNT
150 Tax return filed 11-04-2019 $13,239.00
806 W-2 or 1099 withholding 04-15-2019 -$10,547.00
460 Extension of time to file tax return 04-01-2019 $0.00
ext. Date 10-15-2019
610 Payment with return 10-14-2019 -$2,692.00
276 Penalty for late payment of tax 20194205 11-04-2019 $80.76
196 Interest charged for late payment 20194205 11-04-2019 $73.92
971 Notice issued 11-04-2019 $0.00

dup…

First and foremost, congrats on the additional income. As for withholding, I’d keep it the same for one more year, calculate your taxes on time, and if you owe money, thank Uncle Sam for the interest free loan. :smile:

Additional income is great, but losing the exemptions wasn’t :frowning:

Send in some 1040ES payments if you need to. I mean, why not.

I will, but looks like ok for this year.

Update: Got the IRS notice with
276 Penalty for late payment of tax 20194205 11-04-2019 $80.76
196 Interest charged for late payment 20194205 11-04-2019 $73.92

I plan on calling them next week (# included) to see if they can waive the $80. The letter was clear that interest is not waivable, but penalty can be waived. I was successful with the state but that was an error. Anyone had luck with IRS penalty waivers on phone?

I’ve only been able to do it in writing, although I tried pretty hard on the phone. This was decades ago, so you may be able to do it by twitter, now.:wink:

The good thing was that once they waived the penalty, I then wrote to complain about the interest on a non-existent penalty. They re-calcalculated it, incorrectly in my favor. I didn’t complain.

I tried pretty hard on the phone. At 1st the CSR asked if it was the 1st time and was going to transfer to penalty abatement dept. I also followed up on a prior year refund (that’s still pending) thinking they could pull out the penalty from the refund or waive it since I have a prior year refund.

Apparently prior year refund is “frozen” so she did a referral with my tracking #. I went ahead and paid the penalty and will try writing if that’s better. Is 1st time considered a valid reason?

The IRS won’t count your old refunds against your current or past year liabilities until they’re officially “released” for payment. I guess they make a nice spread charging penalty rates while only paying you a little (taxable) back interest on the delayed refund.

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