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October 15 was the deadline for those who had requested an extension to file their tax return. After that day, anyone who did not file past due and began to accumulate surcharges that will grow month by month. The good news is that there is still a way to stop the damage and bring the situation up to date.

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IRS penalties for those who did not file their taxes on time

The penalty for failing to file a tax return (failure to file) equals 5% of the tax owed for each month or fraction of a month of delay. That “or fraction of a month” is a detail worth keeping in mind: just one day past the deadline already counts as a full month, so there is no grace period.

The penalty is calculated on the tax that remained unpaid, not on the total return, and that is why anyone who already paid most of it on time has a much smaller base on which the surcharge is applied.

The percentage keeps adding up month by month until it reaches a cap of 25%, which is reached after five months of delay: from then on, this penalty stops growing, although interest and the failure-to-pay penalty continue to run on their own.

The minimum penalty for those who are very late.

The minimum penalty for those who are very late

There is an important detail for anyone who files quite late. If the return is filed more than 60 days late compared with the deadline, a minimum penalty applies: for returns due in 2026, it is the lesser of two figures, $525 or 100% of the tax owed. In other words, no matter how small the debt is, the penalty for filing very late has a floor.

How to catch up

The general principle is simple: the sooner you file and pay, the less it accumulates. These are the recommended steps:

  • File the return as soon as possible, even if it is already past due: each month that passes adds a surcharge, so it is not advisable to keep putting it off.
  • Pay what you can, even if it is not the full amount: this reduces the base on which the late-payment penalty and interest are calculated.
  • If you cannot pay everything at once, request an installment payment plan (installment agreement) with the IRS, which also lowers the failure-to-pay surcharge while it is in effect. Keep the receipts and confirmations for each step.

In some cases, the IRS may waive or reduce penalties for those with a good compliance history or reasonable cause for the delay through mechanisms such as first-time penalty abatement. It is worth looking into.