Are Form 843 Additions 2011-2024

Hi, this is David McCray, CPA. Today, I want to give you a look at a reasonable cause penalty abatement request letter written by a tax-exempt organization that was unsuccessful in having penalties abated. Here's the letter: "On behalf of the above nonprofit organization, I'm requesting your consideration in abating the penalty charged in your attached letter. As a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide assistance to the homeless, the payment of this penalty would create an economic hardship as an entity and would be detrimental to fulfilling the mission of the organization. Regarding the late filing of Form 990, additional processes and safeguards have been put in place by our organization to avoid late filing of any subsequent returns. Again, we respectfully request that this penalty be abated. Now, this is the exact text with some identifying information removed/disguised to protect the identity. This is the exact letter that was written by the organization. Now, why do you think that letter was unsuccessful? What do you see there that's missing? Can you see anything that's wrong? Let's have a look at the IRS's response to this letter. And here is the actual IRS response letter: Dear taxpayer, thank you for the inquiry. Your request for penalty abatement did not state the reason why the return was filed past the due date. In order to consider the request for penalty adjustment, we need the following information. [The IRS proceeds to ask for specific information like the reason for the delay, attached supporting information, the date the delay occurred, and information about people involved.] So, this is the kind of response that the organization got. What the IRS is saying is that the organization didn't give them the reason why they filed late and didn't explain why they felt they deserved penalty abatement...