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Have an installment agreement or payment plan?

Jul 13, 2020

As a reminder, if you received tax relief as part of the People First Initiative and didn’t make previously owed tax payments between March 25, 2020 and July 15, 2020 you will need to restart those payments to avoid penalties.

Here’s what you need to do to restart your IRS Installment Agreement, Offers in Compromise or Private Debt Collection program payments:

Installment Agreements
If you suspended your installment agreement payments between April 1 and July 15, 2020, you will need to resume your payments by the first due date after July 15. Under the People First Initiative, the IRS didn’t default agreements, but interest did accrue and the balance remained.

If you had your bank suspend direct debit payments, you should contact the bank immediately to ensure your first monthly payment on or after July 15, 2020 is sent to avoid penalties. If you can’t meet your current installment agreement terms because of a COVID-related hardship, you can revise the agreement or call the number on their IRS notice if you have a Direct Debit Installment Agreement.

Offer in Compromise

  • Pending offers – If the IRS is currently reviewing your Offer in Compromise but hasn’t accepted it, your should restart your required payments on July 15, 2020. The IRS will amend your offer to allow you to pay any skipped payments at the end of the offer period, if the offer is accepted.
  • Accepted offers – If you have an Offer in Compromise, and are unable to make the payments because of a COVID-19 hardship, you should restart payments and make up the missed payments by July 15, 2020. If you can’t make up the missed payments, you should call the number on the IRS notice to discuss your situation.

Private Debt Collection
The IRS didn’t forward new delinquent accounts to private debt collection agencies from April 1 to July 15, 2020 and collection agency interaction with taxpayers was limited to phone calls, unless otherwise requested by the taxpayer.

You as a taxpayer should restart private debt collection payments by July 15. You should also work with your assigned collection agency to establish a new payment arrangement or restructure your existing one based on your current situation.

Other payment options
If you owe but can’t pay, or have questions about your payments, you can call the number on your notice but your may experience a long wait time on the phone. IRS.gov offers several convenient ways to make one time or recurring electronic tax payments.