Federal Tax Penalty
Estimate IRS late-filing and late-payment penalties plus interest on a balance due under current federal tax law.
About Federal Tax Penalty
A simplified IRS-penalty estimate under current federal tax law: failure-to-file accrues about 5% of the balance per month (capped at 25%), late payment about 0.5% per month (capped at 25%), plus interest on the overdue balance. Rates and rules change, so confirm with the IRS before relying on the number.
Formula
Penalty
Penalty = balance × (5%/mo filing, cap 25%) + balance × (0.5%/mo payment, cap 25%) + interest
Worked example
With the default values below, Federal Tax Penalty returns Total Penalties + Interest of $555.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Balance due on returnminimum 0
- 3,000
- Months late payingaccepts 0–25
- 3
- Months late filingaccepts 0–25
- 3
- Assumed IRS interest rateaccepts 0–25
- 8
Results
- Total Penalties + Interest
- $555.00
- Failure-to-File Penalty
- $450.00
- Late-Payment Penalty
- $45.00
- Interest
- $60.00
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Penalty
- 3Total Penalties + Interest= 555.00
- 4Failure-to-File Penalty= 450.00
- 5Late-Payment Penalty= 45.00
- 6Interest= 60.00
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- Approximate estimate — not official IRS figures.
- This is an estimate for general information and not professional financial, tax or legal advice. See the full disclaimer for the limits that apply to this kind of calculator.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Approximate estimate — not official IRS figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I request a penalty abatement?
Yes — first-time penalty abatement or reasonable-cause abatement can be requested with the IRS.
How accurate is this estimate?
Rates are approximate reference values. Local rates, exemptions and rules can differ, so treat the output as a planning figure only.