Over the past couple of years more and more accountants are refusing to call the IRS for clients. This may be the biggest pain point for many tax offices. The IRS is terrible at being timely with notice responses, and if you try to call them on the phone, it is a nightmare. If you can even get through, it includes waiting on hold for 40 minutes to speak to someone who then needs an additional 40 minutes to look into files. This leads offices to tack on additional charges for mistakes that the IRS created.

But most people don't want to pay for something that isn't as complex as the actual tax return preparation. Most of the time it just takes a conversation with someone at the IRS, and if you have the exact lines to say to them, you can get the penalty abated. Especially if you have lived in Israel for the past few years, where many tax return and payment deadlines have been extended until September 30, 2027.

For a lot of people living in Israel, or working with an Israeli accountant, those penalties and interest should not be there at all. And getting them removed is something you can absolutely do on your own. It takes about 10 minutes of preparation, one phone call and some patience on hold.

You do not need to pay anyone to make that call for you. Here is how to do it.

Key Points

  • Four IRS relief notices, Notice 2023-71, Notice 2024-72, Notice 2025-53 and Notice 2026-63, postponed US filing and payment deadlines for people affected by the war in Israel, covering October 7, 2023 through September 30, 2027.
  • If you qualify, penalties and interest do not apply during the relief period, and that includes the estimated tax penalty.
  • You qualify if you live in Israel, and also if your tax preparer or your tax records are in Israel.
  • The IRS only applies the relief automatically when the address on your tax return is in Israel, which is why so many penalty letters are going out.
  • Everyone else has to call the IRS disaster hotline and ask for the relief, and you can make that call yourself.

Why you probably do not owe those penalties

After October 7, the IRS issued Notice 2023-71, which pushed back US tax deadlines for people affected by the attacks. When the war continued, it followed with annual extensions, the most recent being Notice 2026-63. Taken together, the four notices postpone a wide range of deadlines that fell anywhere from October 7, 2023 through September 30, 2027.

That covers filing your income tax return, paying the tax on it, making estimated tax payments, retirement plan contributions and filing refund claims. If a deadline fell inside that window, it moved to the end of the window. And if the deadline moved, the late filing penalty, the late payment penalty, the estimated tax penalty and the interest that normally run from the original due date should not have started running at all.

The relief postpones the tax, but it does not forgive it. If you owe tax for the year, you still owe it. What goes away is the penalties and interest for the relief period, and on the most common IRS notice, the CP14, that is often a meaningful part of the number.

Check if this is you

Most people assume this relief is only for people who live in Israel. That is the most common case, but it is broader than that. You are an affected taxpayer if your principal residence is in Israel. You are also an affected taxpayer if your tax return preparer is located in Israel, even if you live in New Jersey. The same goes if the records you needed to file your return are in Israel.

If you file jointly, your spouse qualifying is enough for the joint return. There are also provisions for relief workers and for visitors who were hurt.

So if you live in Teaneck and your accountant is in Beit Shemesh, this very likely applies to you. A word of warning though. Don't abuse this by going out and hiring an accountant in Israel specifically to get the benefit. US tax preparers in Israel don't appreciate the request, and we don't want to convince the government to stop offering leniency like this in the future.

Why the IRS sent you the letter anyway

The IRS applies this relief automatically based on the address on your previously filed returns. If that address is in Israel, their system flags you and the penalties never get charged. Usually, anyway. The IRS is still the IRS, and it makes mistakes all the time.

Their system does not look at where your preparer is. It does not know your records are here. It does not know you moved in the middle of the year, or that you use a US mailing address because Israeli mail may be unreliable. In all of those cases the penalty letter goes out as if nothing happened.

That letter is not the IRS deciding you do not qualify. It is the IRS not knowing yet. The IRS itself says taxpayers outside the automatic group need to call and tell them.

Before you call

Getting through to the IRS is the hard part, so do not waste the call by scrambling for information once you have someone on the line. Have the penalty letter in front of you, including which letter it is (the CP number is in the top right corner) and which tax year it is for. Have a copy of the tax return for that same year open as well.

The agent will verify your identity before they will discuss anything. You will need the Social Security numbers, the dates of birth and the address exactly as they appear on that return. If you filed jointly, have your spouse's details ready too. If the address on the return is an old one, use the old one. Also make sure you know your in-law's maiden name, just in case.

Also know the date you became an affected taxpayer. For most people living here, that is October 7, 2023. If you made Aliyah later, or started working with an Israeli preparer later, it is that date instead.

Making the call

The IRS disaster hotline is +1-866-562-5227 from the US. From Israel, you can call +1-267-941-1000, which is not toll free, but I'd still suggest calling the first number. In my experience the shortest wait times are on Tuesday or Wednesday, calling right when the lines open around 1PM Israel time.

When you get an agent, keep it simple. Here is roughly what to say, filling in your own details in the brackets.

“I received a [CP14 or other letter number] penalty letter for the [tax year] tax year. I am an affected taxpayer under the Israel disaster relief in Notice 2026-63 because [I live in Israel / my tax preparer is in Israel / my tax records are in Israel]. I became an affected taxpayer on [date]. Please apply the postponement to my account and remove the penalties and interest for the relief period, including the estimated tax penalty.”

The agent may ask you a few follow up questions. Answer them plainly. You do not need to argue your case or explain the war. Once they understand which relief you are asking for, it is usually a simple adjustment on their end.

It may take them time to research on their end. While many people are calling the IRS about this topic, turnover at the IRS is high, so this may be the first time the particular agent you reach is learning about it. Don't worry. Give them time, and know that they'll get there in the end.

Before you hang up, write down the agent's name and ID number, the date and time of the call, and exactly what they told you was removed. If anything goes wrong later, that note is what you will have in hand.

After the call

Remember that the relief removed penalties and interest for the relief period, not the tax. Once the relief period ends, interest starts running again on anything still unpaid, so do not let the balance sit.

Then watch your mail for a corrected letter showing the adjusted balance. It can take several weeks. If it does not come, or if it still shows penalties, call again with your notes from the first call.

What about writing to the IRS?

You can respond by mail instead, but beware. A short letter to the address on the penalty letter, citing Notice 2026-63, explaining why you qualify and the date you became affected, with a copy of the penalty letter enclosed, is a valid response.

The problem is time. Mail to the IRS can sit for months before anyone opens it, and there is a real chance nobody looks at it before the next letter in the sequence goes out. I would not rely on it. If you do not get through on the phone the first time, try again another day. A few frustrating attempts on hold will still get this resolved much faster than waiting on the mail.

This is your money

Not every IRS problem is something you should handle alone. But this one may be. The relief exists, the IRS has told taxpayers to call, and the hotline is set up to make the fix. You do not need to pay someone to ask for it on your behalf.

If your situation is more complicated, like returns that were never filed, that is when it makes sense to bring in help. We are happy to take a look, so reach out. And if you got an IRS penalty letter this year that you were not expecting, I would like to hear about it. I want to know how many people this is hitting.

This article is general education and not advice on anyone's particular facts.