Penalties

To be sure that all taxpayers pay their fair share of taxes, the law provides penalties for not filing returns or paying taxes as required. Criminal penalties may be imposed for willful failure to file, tax evasion, or making a false statement.

Failure to file tax returns. If you do not file your tax return by the due date, you may have to pay a penalty. The penalty is based on the tax not paid by the due date. See your tax return instructions for more information about this penalty.

Failure to pay tax. If you do not pay your taxes by the due date, you will have to pay a penalty for each month, or part of a month, that your taxes are not paid. For more information, see your tax return instructions.

Failure to withhold, deposit, or pay taxes. If you do not withhold income, social security, or Medicare taxes from employees, or if you withhold taxes but do not deposit them or pay them to the IRS, you may be subject to a penalty of the unpaid tax, plus interest. You may also be subject to penalties if you deposit the taxes late. For more information, see Publication 15.

Failure to follow information reporting requirements. The following penalties apply if you are required to file information returns. For more information, see the General Instructions for Forms 1099, 1098, 5498, and W-2G.

• Failure to file information returns. A penalty applies if you do not file information returns by the due date, if you do not include all required information, or if you report incorrect information.
• Failure to furnish correct payee statements. A penalty applies if you do not furnish a required statement to a payee by the required date, if you do not include all required information, or if you report incorrect information.

Waiver of penalty. These penalties will not apply if you can show that the failures were due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect.

In addition, there is no penalty for failure to include all the required information, or for including incorrect information, on a de minimis number of information returns if you correct the errors by August 1 of the year the returns are due. (To be considered de minimis, the number of returns cannot exceed the greater of 10 or 1/2 of 1% of the total number of returns you are required to file for the year.)

Failure to supply taxpayer identification number. If you do not include your taxpayer identification number (SSN or EIN) or the taxpayer identification number of another person where required on a return, statement, or other document, you may be subject to a penalty of $50 for each failure. You may also be subject to the $50 penalty if you do not give your taxpayer identification number to another person when it is required on a return, statement, or other document.

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