IRS automatically waives a tax penalty

The Internal Revenue Service is automatically waiving the estimated tax penalty for the more than 400,000 eligible taxpayers who already filed their 2018 federal income tax returns but did not claim the waiver.

The IRS said it will apply this waiver to tax accounts of all eligible taxpayers, so there is no need to contact the IRS to apply for or request the waiver.

The announcement was made in a recent news release.

Earlier this year, the IRS lowered the usual 90% penalty threshold to 80% to help taxpayers whose withholding and estimated tax payments fell short of their total 2018 tax liability.

The agency also removed the requirement that estimated tax payments be made in four equal installments, as long as they were all made by Jan. 15, 2019.

The 90% threshold was initially lowered to 85% on Jan. 16 and lowered to 80% March 22.

For more information on the action by the Internal Revenue Service, go to the agency’s website at irs.gov