Fill Form 843 Filing 2011-2024

Hi, I am David McCree, CPA. You know, tax professionals usually react in one of two ways when they are the cause of a late filing penalty for a tax-exempt organization. The first reaction is, "Oh well, it was my fault. I guess I'll just have to pay the penalty." The other reaction is, "What? Are you kidding me? I have to pay all that money just because I made an honest mistake?" If you're the professional preparer and it's your fault that the return was late, you have the same opportunity to argue for a penalty abatement under the reasonable cause provisions of the code that the organization would have. CPAs are not in the business of missing client deadlines. We have due date tracking systems, and we have a vested interest in meeting the deadlines. Willful neglect is rarely an element when a CPA is involved. And even so, willful neglect in and of itself is not enough to prove reasonable cause. Unfortunately, a lot of preparers don't put the kind of effort into their abatement request letter that is necessary. And I think that's because they really don't know quite where to start and what kind of argument and evidence to use to establish reasonable cause. Whenever I write an abatement request letter, I go through a five-step process. I do this to make sure that I don't miss anything and that I don't leave any stone unturned. I don't want to leave anything out if it's possible that it could help in proving reasonable cause. In the materials that I offer for sale on my website, I explain this five-step process to you, and I give you examples of actual letters that were used, most of which I wrote, that were successful in getting penalties abated. However, you should...