Attachment to Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement, Line 8
Taxpayer: [Name(s) as shown on the return] TIN: [SSN or EIN]
Type of tax: [Income tax, Form 1040 / 1120 / 706 / 709] Tax period(s): [Year(s)]
Request: Abatement of interest under IRC 6404(e)(1) for the period [MM-DD-YYYY] to [MM-DD-YYYY] on the [deficiency assessed on [date] / payment of $[amount]].
1. Eligibility
- The interest is on [income / estate / gift] tax described in IRC 6212(a). No employment tax is involved.
- The tax period begins after December 31, 1978, and the period of limitations under IRC 6511 for this request is open: [the return was filed on [date] / the interest was paid on [date]].
- The IRS first contacted the taxpayer in writing about the [examination / underpayment] by [Letter or notice number] dated [Date]. The abatement requested begins after that date.
2. The error or delay
[Describe the specific act with dates and the IRS employees or offices involved, e.g.: On [date] the examiner's group manager approved the taxpayer's request to transfer the examination to the [city] office. The case was not received by the new office until [date], [N] months later. No action was taken on the case during that period. OR: On [date] the agreed and unagreed issues were identified and the report was finalized; the notice of deficiency was not issued until [date]. OR: The taxpayer's case file was misplaced between [date] and [date], as the examiner acknowledged in [letter or call].]
The act was [a ministerial act: a procedural or mechanical act requiring no judgment or discretion, performed after all prerequisites such as conferences and supervisory review were complete / a managerial act: an administrative act involving the loss of records or the exercise of judgment or discretion relating to management of personnel] within Treas. Reg. 301.6404-2(b). It did not involve a decision concerning the proper application of federal tax law, and it was not a general administrative decision about how to organize the processing of returns. It most closely matches Example [Number] in Treas. Reg. 301.6404-2(c), in which [one-sentence description of the example].
The delay was unreasonable because [state why, e.g. the act ordinarily takes [N] weeks under IRM [cite], no action was documented for [N] months, and the taxpayer's inquiries on [dates] went unanswered].
3. No significant aspect attributable to the taxpayer
The taxpayer responded to every IRS request within the time allowed: [list each IDR or letter and the response date]. [If a statute extension was signed: The taxpayer's consent to extend the period of limitations on [date] does not attribute the delay to the taxpayer under Treas. Reg. 301.6404-2(a)(2).] No related person within IRC 267(b) or 707(b)(1) contributed to the delay.
4. Period and amount
The taxpayer requests abatement of interest that accrued from [MM-DD-YYYY, the date the act should have been completed] to [MM-DD-YYYY, the date it was completed] on the additional tax and penalties assessed as a result of the examination. [Estimated amount, if computed, and the basis for the computation]. Payments of tax or interest for the period are shown on line 3 of Form 843: [dates and amounts].
5. Grossly unfair treatment
Failure to abate would result in grossly unfair treatment because the taxpayer [had no ability to shorten the period, had completed all required actions, and was charged interest for [N] months in which the only outstanding step was the IRS's own].
If the request is denied in whole or in part, the taxpayer requests Appeals consideration. Please send correspondence to the taxpayer and to the representative under the enclosed Form 2848.
Enclosures: Form 2848; copy of the first written contact; [Transfer approval, correspondence showing dates, account transcript, examiner's acknowledgment of the lost file, copies of the taxpayer's inquiries].
Form 843 is signed by the taxpayer under penalties of perjury; both spouses sign for a joint return, and an officer signs with title for a corporation.
When 6404(e)(1) applies and when it does not
IRC 6404(e)(1) lets the IRS abate interest on a deficiency attributable to an unreasonable IRS error or delay “in performing a ministerial or managerial act.” Two statutory limits follow: “an error or delay shall be taken into account only if no significant aspect of such error or delay can be attributed to the taxpayer involved, and after the Internal Revenue Service has contacted the taxpayer in writing with respect to such deficiency or payment.” The broader rules are at interest abatement.
IRM 20.2.7.5.1 turns this into six criteria and warns that a request “not meeting all of the above criteria is automatically disallowed by law”:
| IRM 20.2.7.5.1 criterion | Where the template addresses it |
|---|---|
| The period of limitations to file a claim under IRC 6511 is open | Section 1, second bullet |
| The request is for tax years beginning after December 31, 1978 | Section 1, second bullet |
| The interest relates to taxes described in IRC 6212(a); employment taxes are excluded | Section 1, first bullet |
| An unreasonable error or delay occurred in performing a ministerial or managerial act | Section 2 |
| The error or delay occurred after the taxpayer was contacted in writing | Section 1, third bullet, and the start date in section 4 |
| The taxpayer or representative did not contribute to the error or delay | Section 3 |
Reasonable cause is not a ground: “Interest can’t be abated for reasonable cause.” Employment tax interest is out: “IRC 6404(e)(1) does not apply to employment taxes.” And IRM 20.2.7.5 says “Do not abate interest accruing from the return due date up to the date when the IRS first contacts the taxpayer.” IRC 6404(g) is a suspension, not an abatement, and IRC 6404(e)(2) covers erroneous refunds of $50,000 or less. The penalty and interest calculator and interest rate table help size the request.
The ministerial or managerial standard
Treas. Reg. 301.6404-2(b) defines both terms. A ministerial act is “a procedural or mechanical act that does not involve the exercise of judgment or discretion, and that occurs during the processing of a taxpayer’s case after all prerequisites to the act, such as conferences and review by supervisors, have taken place.” A managerial act involves “the temporary or permanent loss of records or the exercise of judgment or discretion relating to management of personnel.” Both exclude the same thing: “A decision concerning the proper application of federal tax law (or other federal or state law) is not a managerial act.” General administrative decisions, such as how to organize return processing, are excluded too. The regulation’s thirteen examples, charted in IRM 20.2.7.5.1, are the coordinator’s vocabulary, so section 2 asks you to name the closest one.
| Regulation example | Classification | Abatable |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer of a case after the manager approved the transfer request | Ministerial | Yes |
| Issuing the notice of deficiency after all reviews were complete | Ministerial | Yes |
| Agent sent to extended training, or on extended sick leave, with cases not reassigned | Managerial | Yes |
| Clerk misplaces the case file | Managerial | Yes |
| Employee gives a wrong balance due by failing to access current data | Ministerial | Yes |
| Delaying a case to finish a tax shelter exam or a statute-imminent return | General administrative decision | No |
| Requesting technical advice on a substantive issue | Application of law | No |
| Wrong balance due that required interpreting carryback rules | Application of law | No |
What each section does
The heading and line 8 items. The Form 843 instructions say to complete lines 1 through 4, check box a on line 7, and on line 8 state the type of tax, the first written notification, the specific period, the circumstances, and “The reasons why you believe that failure to abate the interest would result in grossly unfair treatment.” Sections 1 through 5 follow that order.
Dated period. IRM 20.2.7.14 says the Form 843 must include a description of the error or delay, “The time frame (from MM-DD-YYYY to MM-DD-YYYY) of the unreasonable error or delay for interest abatement,” and the taxpayer’s signature. The two dates are the heart of the request. Pull them from the account transcript, the examiner’s activity record obtained through FOIA, and your correspondence log.
Signature. Both spouses sign for a joint return; an authorized officer signs with title for a corporation.
One form or several. The instructions allow one Form 843 “if the interest assessment resulted from the IRS’s error or delay in performing a single managerial or ministerial act affecting a tax assessment for multiple tax years or types of tax.” Otherwise, one per period.
Filing the Form 843 and what happens next
- Full payment is not a prerequisite. IRM 20.2.7.14.1: “Full payment is not required on an interest abatement request.”
- Send the Form 843 to the address in the instructions: the return address on the notice if responding to one, otherwise the service center where the client would file a current return for that tax. During an open exam or collection case, the assigned employee secures the Form 843 and routes it to the Interest Abatement Coordinator.
- A denial comes as Letter 3010-C (full) or 3022-C (partial) with appeal rights. IRM 20.2.7.15: send the protest, “a brief statement detailing the reason(s) the IRS should reconsider the interest abatement request,” to the office that issued the letter, which forwards it to Appeals. See Appeals.
- If the client does not appeal or Appeals sustains, a final determination letter is sent by certified mail. Under IRC 6404(h) a taxpayer meeting the net worth limits of IRC 7430(c)(4)(A)(ii) may petition the Tax Court within 180 days of that mailing. See Tax Court petitions.
Mistakes that get interest requests disallowed
- Asking for interest from the due date. Only interest accruing after the first written contact and during the delay period is abatable, and only on the additional liability.
- Describing a slow exam without naming an act. A three-year audit is not itself a ministerial or managerial act. Identify the completed prerequisite and the step that then sat.
- Reasonable cause arguments. They belong in a penalty request, not here.
- Omitting the dates. Without a from and to date the coordinator cannot compute the abatement.
Questions practitioners ask
Does a CP2000 or AUR assessment qualify?
Yes, if the delay was a ministerial or managerial act after the CP2000 issued. AUR itself does not abate interest; it forwards qualifying requests to the Interest Abatement Coordinator. See CP2000.
Does a statute extension count against the client?
No. Treas. Reg. 301.6404-2(a)(2) says no significant aspect of the delay is attributable to the taxpayer merely because the taxpayer consents to extend the period of limitations.
Can the request be made by letter instead of Form 843?
IRM 20.2.7.14 says the IRS will consider signed correspondence with the same elements as Form 843: name, TIN, interest period, signature under penalties of perjury and reasons.
What if the delay was in Appeals?
IRM 20.2.7.14 routes a request alleging an Appeals employee's error or delay to the Compliance Interest Abatement Coordinator, with the file flagged.