IRS Failure-to-File Penalty Explained: Costs, Deadlines & Relief Options

The failure-to-file penalty is a charge the IRS imposes when you miss the due date, including extensions, for filing your federal tax return. Apart from the failure-to-pay penalty, this is among the priciest IRS fines.

Usually 5% of the unpaid taxes for every month (or portion of a month) your return is late, this penalty maxes out at 25%. The minimum penalty is either $485 (for 2024 returns) or 100% of the unpaid tax, whichever is less, if your return is over 60 days late.

The IRS combines the failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties if they both apply for the same month, so lowering the failure-to-file component to 4.5% and still applying the 0.5% failure-to-pay penalty—resulting in a total penalty of 5% every month.

This penalty grows fast, hence it’s usually advised to submit your return on time even if you cannot pay. Filing keeps you in better standing with the IRS and helps lower your total penalty. You can ask for a filing extension, which allows you extra time to send in your return but not to pay.

You may ask for penalty abatement by describing your circumstances and offering supporting papers if you have a legitimate cause for not filing on time—such as significant illness or a natural disaster.

All things considered, the failure-to-file penalty can increase quickly and be more expensive than the failure-to-pay penalty. Always submit your tax return before the deadline—even if you cannot pay the whole sum you owe—to reduce financial effects.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2025 at 12:07 am and is filed under Penalties & Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.