IRS payment plans
You didn’t pay your taxes. Now what?
You are not the first person to owe the IRS more than you can pay, and you have options. For most people the answer is a payment plan. These guides from tax attorney Darrin T. Mish explain which plan you qualify for, what it costs, and how to keep it.
Want a lawyer to handle it? Call (813) 229-7100.
Three rules before you call the IRS
Not paying is not the same as not filing.
File your return on time even if you cannot pay. The failure-to-file penalty is far bigger than the failure-to-pay penalty, and most plans require every return to be filed.
Ask before the IRS acts.
While a payment plan request is pending, and while a plan is in effect, the law generally bars the IRS from levying. That protection starts when you ask.
Pick a payment you can keep.
A plan you default on can be terminated, and the IRS can resume collection. A slightly longer plan you can afford beats a short one you cannot.
Guides by topic
Every guide cites the Internal Revenue Code section, IRS form or notice behind it, so you can check the rule yourself.
Types of Payment Plans
Short-term plans, Simple Payment Plans, guaranteed agreements, larger balances and partial payment plans.
- Payment Plans for Businesses: Payroll Taxes and Other Business Debts
- Guaranteed Installment Agreements: When the IRS Must Say Yes
- Owe More Than $50,000? How Larger Payment Plans Work
- IRS Short-Term Payment Plans: Up to 180 Days to Pay
- Partial Payment Installment Agreements: Paying Less Than the Full Balance
- Simple Payment Plans: Owe $50,000 or Less
Setting Up Your Plan
How to apply, what it costs, unfiled returns, and what happens with tax liens.
Living With Your Plan
What a plan protects you from, missed payments, rejections and changing your payment.
When a Plan Will Not Work
Currently not collectible status and offers in compromise, for when monthly payments are not realistic.
Darrin T. Mish
Attorney, Law Offices of Darrin T. Mish, P.A.
- Admitted to The Florida Bar in 1993 (Bar No. 986641)
- Also admitted in Colorado and Texas
- Admitted to the United States Tax Court
- Admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States
- Office in Tampa, Florida; IRS matters for clients nationwide
Who writes these guides
Darrin T. Mish is a tax attorney who represents people in collection and enforcement matters with the IRS. The firm handles federal tax matters for clients nationwide from its office in Tampa.
This site is for people who owe and want to fix it. It will not promise to make your tax debt disappear. It will tell you which plan fits, which rule applies, where it comes from, and what to do next.