Millions of taxpayers may be owed money back from the IRS, and most don’t know it.
A recent court ruling (Kwong v. United States) found that IRS penalties and interest charged on 2019–2022 tax returns during the COVID period may have been improper.
If the IRS charged you any of the following between January 20, 2020 and July 10, 2023, on a 2019, 2020, 2021, or 2022 tax return you may be entitled to a refund:
- Late filing penalties
- Late payment penalties
- Estimated tax penalties
- Interest on unpaid balances
How to Check if You Qualify
You can look up your own IRS account online to see if you were charged these penalties. It’s completely free and only takes about 10 minutes.
- Go to: sa.www4.irs.gov/ola/ (Or search “IRS Online Account” at IRS.gov)
- Sign in or create an account using ID.me
- You will need your Social Security Number, a photo ID (driver’s license), and a selfie or short video call. This is the same service the IRS uses to protect your information.
- Once logged in, find the box titled Records and Status on the home page → Click “View Tax Records” → Click “View Transcripts” → find the box titled Account Transcripts, click “Show more transcripts.”
- Download the Account Transcript for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022
- Look for any of these codes with a date before July 10, 2023:
- TC 166 / TC 160 = Late filing penalty
- TC 276 = Late payment penalty
- TC 170 = Estimated tax penalty
- TC 196 = Interest charged
If you see any of these codes, you may qualify for a refund, and the July 10, 2026 deadline is quickly approaching. For assistance, fill out this form to get in contact with our IRS Tax Resolution team, and we’ll take it from there.
For more information, click here.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax or legal advice.
