All right, folks, I see it is now the top of the hour. For those of you just joining us, welcome to today's webinar, Navigating through the restart of automated collection notices and penalty relief. We're so glad you're joining us today. My name is Evette Davis, and I am a Senior Stakeholder Liaison with the Internal Revenue Service, and I will be your moderator for today's webinar, which is slated for 60 minutes. This webinar offers one IRS continuing education credit, certificates of completion will be emailed to the registration email address of qualifying participants from the email address seen on this slide. That email cl.sl.web.conference.team@irs.gov. Please take a moment and add this address to your contacts to ensure you receive the email with the PDF certificate attached. Before we begin, if there’s anyone in the audience that's with the media, please send an email to the address on the slide. 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Type your question in the text box and click Send. Now folks, this is very important to remember. Please do not enter any sensitive or taxpayer specific information. During the presentation, we'll take a few breaks to share knowledge-based questions with you. At those times, a polling style feature will pop-up on your screen with a question and multiple-choice answers. Select the response you believe is correct by clicking on the radio button next to your selection and then click Submit. Some people may not get the polling question and this may be because your pop-up blocker is on, so please take a moment to disable your pop-up blocker now, so you can answer the questions. We've included several technical documents that describe how you can allow pop-ups based on the browser you are using. We have documents for Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari, that's for you Mac users. You can access them by clicking on the Materials dropdown arrow on the left side of your screen. We're going to take some time right now and test the polling feature. So folks, here's your opportunity to ensure your pop-up blocker is not on, so you can retrieve the polling questions throughout today's presentation. So here's the question. Have you ever viewed an IRS National Webinar recording from the IRS Video Portal? Is your response A, yes; B, no; or C, where is the IRS Video Portal? Take a moment, click the radio button, it should have popped up on your screen. Click the radio button that corresponds to your answer. Have you ever viewed an IRS National Webinar recording from the IRS video portal? A, yes; B, no; or C, where is the IRS Video Portal? Okay. Let's give you a few more seconds to make a selection. All right, folks, let's go ahead and close the polling and stop the polling now. And let's see how the majority of you responded. Okay, I see the majority of you responded, yes, you have viewed the IRS National Webinar recording from the IRS Video Portal. That is amazing. So glad so many of you have already used that tool. We hope you received the polling question and that you were able to submit your answer. If not, now's the time to check your pop-up blocker. Please make sure you have it turned off. Again, we've included several technical documents that describe how you can allow pop-ups based on the browser you are using. Just click on the Materials dropdown arrow on the left side of your screen and download your browser document. Okay, again, welcome, we're glad you joined us for today's webinar. Before we move along with our session, let me make sure you're in the right place. Today's webinar is Navigating Through the Restart of Automated Collection Notices and Penalty Relief. This webinar is scheduled for approximately 60 minutes from the top of the hour. Now, let me introduce today's speakers. We have Nikki Johnson. She serves as the Director of Headquarters Collection in the Small Business/Self-Employed Division and provides corporate-wide guidance, coordination, and support on all aspects of the collection process. Nikki leads three directorates, including collection policy, collection inventory delivery system, and quality technical support. And she provides comprehensive service to the field, campus, and specialty collection programs. Welcome, Nikki. We also have Rocco Steco. Rocco currently serves as the Director of Collection Policy. In this role, he's responsible for providing executive oversight and policy guidance on collection processes, overseeing program coordination, and providing technical guidance for field and campus collection programs. He's also responsible for reviewing and coordinating procedural guidelines and policies. We've got a great group of presenters today. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over now to Nikki to begin our objectives for today's webinar. Nikki, the floor is yours. Well, thank you, Evette, for that great introduction. Today's objectives are to provide an overview of the automated collection notice restart. We also will provide information on the new special reminder letter, the Letter 38; information on how the typical sequence of automated notices may change; information on how the IRS will gradually send notices this tax season; discuss penalty relief for tax years 2020 and 2021; we will also provide helpful resources available to resolve tax debt. At the end of this webcast, we will also have a live Q&A session to answer any questions you may have, and we hope that you have. Now, let's share the reason collection notices paused. Now, many of you may have had that question, why were automated collection reminder notices paused? Due to the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS temporarily suspended the mailing of automated reminders to pay overdue tax bills starting in February 2022. Now, these bills would have normally been issued as a follow-up reminder after the initial balance to notice tax bills received in the mail. And to be clear, the IRS never paused the initial tax bill. We sent out to tax bills during this period, just these follow-up notices. So the IRS did not suspend the mailing of the first or initial balance due notices for taxpayers, such as the CP14, which is generally issued to individuals; and the CP161, which is issued to businesses. So, although, these follow-up notices were suspended, the penalty for failure to pay continued to accrue for taxpayers who did not fully pay their balance in response to their initial bill. Now, with the pandemic behind us, we will be resuming mailing of collection notices for older tax periods starting next month. Now, I will talk about the resumption of automated collection notices. As many of you are aware, current tax year 2022, individual and third quarter 2023 business taxpayers began receiving automated collection notices in the fall of 2023 as the IRS took steps to resume or return to normal business as usual. The IRS is also taking steps in advance of resuming normal collection notices for tax years 2020 and 2021 to help taxpayers with their unpaid tax bills, including some people who have not received a notice from the IRS in more than a year. Now to help taxpayers as the normal process resumes, the IRS will be issuing a special reminder notice starting in January 2024, which we will talk about further on the next slide. Now, the notice will alert taxpayers of their liability, easy ways to pay, and their updated balance. We are also offering penalty relief, which we will talk about in greater detail later on in this presentation. Now, as we return to normal operations, we will resume sending automated collection notices for all years in February 2024. IRS is carefully evaluating the impact to operations as we resume notices. So let's share some information about the special reminder letter, which is called the Letter 38, Reminder, Notice Resumption. To further assist taxpayers as our normal processes resume, the IRS will be issuing a special reminder letter starting in January. Taxpayers in Automated Collection System, or commonly known as ACS, will receive a Letter 38, Reminder, Notice Resumption, in the next several months advising them of the following. Their updated balance with penalty relief reflected if applicable. We will talk more about penalty relief again later in this webinar. They will also be advised of how to access their account, pay quickly, and avoid added interest and penalties. On this letter will QR codes, which are included for quick online account access. This will allow taxpayers to pay online directly from your bank account, pay with your credit card, debit card, or even apply for a payment plan. The letter will also provide options to help if you can't pay your tax liability in full. It will include a summary of the bill with the tax period, tax form, amount owed, interest, failure to pay penalty assessed and the total amount due shown. We urge taxpayers and tax professionals to read the notice carefully and follow the instructions on the notice to take action to resolve the account. Additional information can be found on the webpage at irs.gov/LT38. Please review the information on Letter 38 notice and the taxpayer's particular, their particular tax situation within. Now, this will include taxpayers an opportunity to address their tax bill before the next round of letters are issued. Now that's important because time does not make these past-due tax bills get any better. Now, Evette, I see we have time for the first polling question. I'll turn it over to you. Yes, Nikki. Thank you. Okay, audience, let's go, this is our first polling question and it's about what Ms. Nikki just talked about, Letter 38, Reminder, Notice Resumption includes what? A, updated balance, bill summary, and options to help if you can't pay in full; B, QR code to quickly access accounts, make a payment, and apply for a payment plan; C, both A and B; or is the response, D, none of the above. Okay, take a minute. Let's look at the question again. Click the radio button that you believe most closely answers this question. Letter 38, the Reminder, Notice Resumption, it includes what? A, updated balance, bill summary, and options to help you if you can't full pay; B, QR code to quickly access the account, make a payment, and apply for payment plan; C, both A and B; or D, none of the above. All right. Let's close the polling right now, and let's share the correct answer on the next slide. And the correct response is C, both A and B, and I see that 96% of you responded correctly. Woo! All right, Nikki, we are off to a great start. Let's go ahead and carry on with changes to the typical sequence of automated notices. You've got their attention. All right, thank you. Well, so as we restart notices, you may see changes to the typical sequence of automated notices that you would normally expect. Now, tax accounts that did not receive automated reminder notices due to the pandemic-related pause that were moved to ACS status should expect, as I stated earlier, a Letter 38 reminder notice starting in January 2024. These will go out on a staggered basis for several months. Impacted taxpayers including those, who may have received their last CP500 series notice, such as a CP501, 503, or 504 in 2022. Now, these bills may come as a bit of a surprise to some taxpayers. And given that penalties and interest continue to accrue under the law, the bill amount for those who weren't paying will be larger than the last time that they received a letter from the IRS. Also included in these notices are taxpayers with new tax liabilities for tax year 2022, who were also impacted by the pause. Now these accounts will be joined with existing debt and their accounts will be moved to ACS and receive a Letter 38 notice. Now, I would cover the gradual approach to sending the notices. The timing of the mailing of CP500 series automated collection notices will change. Prior to 2024, CP500 series automated collection notices were mailed every 5 weeks, for instance. If you received a CP501 and you were due the next sequential notice, it would have come out 5 weeks later. So starting in January 2024, this has been extended to 8 weeks. We believe the increased timing of notices will improve the taxpayer experience. It also will allow additional time for taxpayers to find solutions to resolve their balances. It will also allow time for tax professionals to assist clients and allow for time for the IRS to process and update tax account information. So, now, we're moving on to penalty relief for tax years 2020 and 2021. Rocco, take it away. Thank you, Nikki. One of the biggest challenges for struggling taxpayers is figuring out how to pay their past due tax debt. During the pandemic, these challenges became even more severe for some taxpayers. With the pandemic behind us and mailing of automated collection notices resuming, we are aware that these bills may be somewhat of a surprise for some taxpayers. And given that the penalties and interest continue to accrue under the law, the bill amounts for those who weren't paying will be larger than the last time they received a letter from the IRS. The penalty is usually 0.5% of the tax owed for each month or part of a month that the tax return is late, up to 25% of the tax bill, and these penalties add up quickly. For these affected taxpayers, we know this is a tough situation, but the IRS is looking out for taxpayers and we are providing important new steps to help people with past due tax bills. A major component of the steps we are taking to help taxpayers is waiving failure to pay penalties affected by this situation for tax years 2020 and 2021. The IRS will be waiving over $1 billion in tax penalties for nearly 5 million taxpayers. Many people receiving this relief are average hardworking taxpayers. Nearly 70% of the individual taxpayers receiving penalty relief will have income under $100,000 a year. This relief translates into about a $206 reduction per person for each tax year. Eligible taxpayers include: individuals, businesses, trusts, estate and tax-exempt organizations that filed the Form 1040, 1120, or 1041 series, as well as the 990-T income tax returns for tax years 2020 and 2021, with an assessed income of less than $100,000. Eligible taxpayers should have received an initial balance due notice, typically, the CP14 for individuals, or the CP161 for businesses, between February 5, 2022, and December 7, 2023. The $100,000 limit applies separately to each return and each entity. The failure to pay penalty will resume on April 1, 2024, for taxpayers eligible for relief. Additional details on this penalty relief can be found in Notice 2024-7. Let me further explain penalty relief. The failure to pay penalty relief is automatic. Eligible taxpayers don't need to take any action to get it. Eligible taxpayers who already paid their full balance will benefit as well. If a taxpayer already full paid, already paid failure to pay penalties related to their 2020 and 2021 tax years, the IRS will issue a refund or credit the payment toward another outstanding tax liability. The IRS began sending the first round of refunds or credits in December. If a taxpayer does not receive a refund, a special reminder notice may be sent with their updated balance beginning in early 2024. This applies to taxpayers in ACS status as well. Taxpayers with questions on penalty relief can contact the IRS after March 31, 2024, which will allow time for our systems to process relief on these accounts. Taxpayers not eligible for this automatic relief also have options. They may use existing penalty relief procedures such as applying for relief under the reasonable cause criteria or the First-Time Abate program. Visit IRS.gov/penaltyrelief for details or talk to a trusted tax professional. Evette, I think it's time for our second polling question. All right, Rocco, you've got it. Okay, folks, it is now time for our second polling question. And here we go. Taxpayers eligible for penalty relief include: A, individuals, businesses, trusts, estates, and tax-exempt assessed income tax less than $100,000; B, filed certain Forms 1040, 1120, 1041 and 990-T, income tax returns for tax years 2020 or 2021; C, in the IRS collection notice process between February 5, 2022 and December 7, 2023; or D, all of the above? Now, we just heard Rocco talk about all of this information. So I know you know it. Let's go. Let's get to that 100%. Take a few minutes, review the question again. Think about what you just heard and what you already read and what you know. Click the radio button you believe most closely answers this question. A little bit longer question, so I want to give you a little bit more time to kind of review it and make your selection. Taxpayers eligible for penalty relief include what? A, B, C, or, D, all of the above. Okay. Let's go ahead and stop the polling now and let's share the correct response on the next slide. And the correct response is, D, all of the above. Now, let's see what percentage of you responded correctly. Oh my goodness, 94% of you responded correctly. We are on a roll, Rocco. All right. I'm going to turn it back over to you. And, I think, you're going to talk about what you should know about penalties and interest next. Yes. Thank you, Evette. I will start with the failure to pay penalty. Some may wonder why the IRS isn't removing interest from these past due bills. That's because under federal law, the IRS is required to charge interest when people don't pay their balance on time. We do not legally have the authority to waive this interest. To reduce your bill, it is important to file and pay your taxes as soon as possible. We'll take a moment to refresh you on the basics of penalty and interest. The failure to pay penalty applies if a taxpayer doesn't pay the taxes they report on their tax return by the due date, or if the taxpayer doesn't pay the amount required to be shown on their return within 21 calendar days of receiving a notice in demand for payment, or 10 business days if the amount is greater than $100,000. Now, I will cover failure to file penalty and interest. Taxpayers who owe tax and don't file on time may be charged a failure-to-file penalty. This penalty is usually 5% of the tax owed for each month or part of a month that the tax return is late, up to 25%. The IRS is required by law to charge interest when a tax balance is not paid on time. Interest cannot be reduced due to reasonable cause. Interest is based on the amount of tax owed for each day it is not paid in full. The interest is compounded daily, so it is assessed on the previous day's balance plus the interest. Interest rates are determined every 3 months. It can vary based on type of tax, for example, individual or business tax liabilities. More information is available on interest on the interest page of IRS.gov. Evette, I see, it's time for our third polling question. Yes, it is, Rocco. Now, listen, folks, let's pay attention to this one. They're trying to trick you a little bit here, but you've got it. A failure-to-file penalty is: A, a penalty for taxpayers who don't pay the tax they report on their tax return by the due date; B, a penalty for taxpayers who owe tax and don't file on time; C, a penalty that is required by law when tax balances are not paid on time; or D, none of the above. Look at the question, think about what you just heard, Rocco state. What you already know to be true. Look at the question, make your selection. All right, here's the one that most closely answers this question. Once again, a failure-to-file penalty is: A, a penalty for taxpayers who don't pay the tax they report on their tax return by the due date; B, a penalty for taxpayers who owe tax and don't file on time; C, a penalty that is required by law when tax balances are not paid on time; or D, none of the above. Okay. We've got this. Let's close the polling. Let's stop the polling now and we'll share the correct response on the next slide. Okay, folks, the correct response is, B, a failure-to-file penalty is a penalty for taxpayers who owe tax and don't file on time. Now, let's see what percentage of you responded correctly. Let's see here. Okay, I think we're at 69%. Okay, I think it’s on our side. It might be the wording, I don't know. But Rocco, can you help us out please and tell us why B is the correct response? Why is it B? Sure. So we did talk about two different types of penalty as well as interest. The first penalty being failure to pay. And the failure to pay penalty is for underpayments on tax returns that are filed and not paid. And the failure to file penalty is for returns that are not filed or are filed late. So the answer to the question here was with regard to the failure-to-file penalty, which is a late file tax return. All right. Yeah. Okay. Thanks so much, Rocco. I believe we're going to turn it over to Nikki next. Nikki, the floor is yours. Thank you, Evette. So as we stated previously, we understand that these bills arriving may come as a bit of a surprise for some taxpayers. And given that penalties and interests continue to accrue under law, the bill amounts for those who weren't paying will be larger than the last time they received a letter from the IRS. Now, to help taxpayers with these unpaid bills, the IRS provides easy options to deal with unpaid tax bills and avoid additional interest and penalties. People receiving these reminder letters should remember that there are frequently overlooked options that can help them like setting up an automatic payment plan or catching up with their tax filings for those with unfiled returns. For this part of the presentation, we will talk about some helpful resources for taxpayers to resolve their tax debt. It's really important that taxpayers with these bills take a little time to understand their tax situation. On IRS.gov, there are lots of information that can help people. They can go to IRS.gov/payments, which has helpful information. For people with complex or uncertain tax situations, a trusted tax professional is always a great place to turn. As an additional resource to taxpayers and tax professionals, we recently launched a new web page, Get help with tax debt. That can be easily accessed by selecting, Pay, at the top of IRS.gov. Now, you can find information on paying your bill, what to do if you can't pay in full and options available to get help. Now, let's talk about getting help with tax debt. The IRS offers several payment options, including help for those struggling to pay. For taxpayers who cannot pay in full, the IRS encourages them to pay what they can and explore a variety of payment options available for the remaining balance, including getting a loan to pay the amount due. In many cases, loan costs may be lower than the combination of interest and penalties the IRS must charge by law. Now, we’re going to discuss three options to help with tax debt, including paying the tax bill in full, paying part of your balance, or if you can't pay anything right now. We'll discuss that as well. Now, let's review the information on how to resolve tax debt. Taxpayers are encouraged to pay their tax bills in full whenever possible. They can visit www.irs.gov/payments for a variety of ways to pay. On the next couple of slides, we will take a moment to go over how to pay electronically and other options to pay on the payments page. If there is a balance due on a tax return, paying electronically is a convenient way to pay. Now, there are options for initiating payments online by phone or from a mobile device. The IRS uses the latest encryption technology, so paying electronically is a safe and secure way to pay. When you use any of the IRS electronic payment options, it puts you in control of paying your tax bill and gives you peace of mind. So payments can be scheduled in advance and you'll receive confirmation after it's submitted. It's quick, easy, secure, and much faster than mailing in a check or money order. IRS electronic payment options are available on our Payments page. Now, I will turn it over to Rocco to discuss the payment webpage on IRS.gov. Thank you, Nikki. The IRS has several options available to help you resolve your tax bill. First step is to pay what you can now to avoid interest and penalties. If you need additional time to pay your tax bill, you can apply for a payment plan, also called an installment agreement, or an online payment agreement. This will allow you to pay your balance over time. Taxpayers needing a payment plan are encouraged to set one up online to save time. You can apply online at www.irs.gov/payments/online-payment-agreement-application. Once you complete your online application, you will receive immediate notification of whether your payment plan has been approved. There's no paperwork and no need to call, write, or visit the IRS to use the online payment agreement. Setup fees may apply for some type of plans. An offer in compromise lets you settle your tax debt for less than you owe. When talking about an offer in compromise, formerly known as the Fresh Start program, we want to add a caution. People with unpaid tax bills also need to be wary about aggressive marketing by some places that overinflate promises of wiping out tax debt. Some people simply don't qualify for these programs, and we encourage people first to review our offer in compromise guidelines on IRS.gov that can answer some basic questions about eligibility without having to pay a third party. Please visit www.irs.gov/payments/offer-in-compromise to check eligibility. Let's share the options if you can’t pay anything now. The IRS has several options to help you resolve your tax bill. The last option to resolve your tax debt we will talk about today is a temporarily delay in collection of your tax debt. Taxpayers can contact the IRS to request a temporary delay of the collection process. If the IRS determines a taxpayer is unable to pay, it may delay collection until the taxpayer’s financial condition improves. Penalties and interest continue to accrue until the taxpayer pays the full amount. Now, Evette, I believe it's time for our fourth and final polling question. Okay, Rocco, you've got it. Yes, folks. It is time for our fourth and final polling question. Okay. So the question is, what are the ways to resolve tax debt? The ways to resolve tax debt include: A, use IRS.gov/payments to find ways to pay your tax bill in full; B, set up an online payment agreement or submit an offer and compromise where you can pay part of your bill; C, if you can't pay anything now because of your financial condition, you can ask the IRS to temporarily delay collection. Or D, all of the above. Okay, folks, we know this. We know this. We've done this before. You've helped your clients before. Take a few minutes to review the question again. And then click the radio button, you believe, most closely answers this question. Okay. What are the ways to resolve tax debt? What do they include? A, B, C, or D? Let's go ahead and stop polling now and review the correct response on the next slide. Okay. All right, folks, D is the correct response, and I see that 99% of you responded correctly. See, I knew you had it. I knew you already knew the answer to the question. All right, Nikki, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to you to share important reminders. Okay. We're moving right along. The IRS urges taxpayers to carefully read any letter or notice they receive before calling the IRS. So make sure your address is correct to ensure you are getting notices or refunds from the IRS. It is important to contact the IRS and make arrangements to voluntarily pay the tax due. If taxpayers don’t contact us, we may take one or more of the following actions to collect the taxes, including: filing a federal tax lien, issuing a notice of intent to levy or notice of right to a hearing, issuing a summons, or taking actions to certify the debt which may affect passports. For information on the collection process, visit www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc201 for information on tax topic 201. Evette, that's all I have. I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Nikki. Thank you so much, Rocco. Hello, again, folks. It's me, Evette Davis, and I'll be moderating the Q&A session. Before we start the Q&A session, I do want to thank everyone for attending today's presentation, Navigating Through the Restart of Automated Collection Notices and Penalty Relief. Now, earlier I mentioned we want to know what questions you have for our presenters. Several of you have already entered those questions, so thank you. But if you didn't, here's your opportunity. If you have not input your question, there is still time, so go ahead and click on the dropdown arrow next to Ask Questions field, type in your question and remember, click Send. Nikki and Rocco are staying on with us to answer your questions. Now, one thing before we start, we may not have enough time to answer all the questions you submitted, but we will cover as many questions as time will allow. Let's go ahead and get started so we can get to as many questions as possible. All right. This first question is in reference to penalty relief. Okay. So why did the IRS include only taxes under $100,000? Rocco? This is Rocco. Yes, I'll take that question. Anyone with taxes higher than $100,000 are generally higher income taxpayers. And we've covered the majority of the taxpayers with the taxes under $100,000. That covers most of the general tax paying public. Got it. Understood. Makes sense. Okay. Next question. With collection notices resuming during tax season, will the IRS have adequate staffing available to handle calls from taxpayers with questions about their notices? Good question. Okay. This is Nikki. That's a great question. The IRS will closely monitor level of service to provide exceptional customer service to the nation's taxpayers and tax professional community. Now, because notices are being mailed out over a period of months, the IRS expects to have staff available to handle expected call volume. The IRS has also expanded, as we discussed earlier, the availability of self-service tools, such as the document upload tool, bots, we provide online payment plans, which can often help taxpayers resolve their problem without needing to speak to an IRS representative. Most taxpayers will qualify to set up a payment agreement with IRS using the online payment agreement tool. Okay. Great information. Great question. Great information. All right, so this is the next question. Why is the penalty abatement only for 2020 and 2021 tax years? I know a lot of people want to know that one. This is Rocco, and I will take that. Excellent question. The penalty relief is for taxpayers that were affected by COVID and changes to the IRS notices. Tax years 2020 and 2021 were the years primarily impacted by the pause in the reminder notices. Got it. Okay, good. Thank you, Rocco. This is another question about the notices themselves. Will the notice process automatically begin where it ended before the pause in February of 2022? Who wants to take that one? No, not necessarily. As we discussed, in an effort to get it right the first time and to help taxpayers, beginning in January, the IRS will send a new notice, the Letter 38, specifically designed to acclimate some taxpayers with unresolved accounts back into the collection process and resolving their balances. So this special notice will provide some time for taxpayers to fulfill their tax obligations or come into an agreement with IRS about how to do that before proceeding to the next step in the collection process. Both taxpayers in the automated collection system will receive these taxpayer-friendly notices. Thank you. Very good. All right. Great information. Great. Thank you, Nikki. Thank you. Okay, so this next one is about the collection notice process. Let's see. What does it mean to enter the collection notice process? Sure, I'll take that. Taxpayers who were sent an initial balance due notice have entered the collection notice process, and they are typically the CP14 for individuals and the CP161 for businesses. That first notice explains the amount owed and demands payment in full. It details the amount of tax plus penalty and interest accrued on the unpaid balance from the date the tax was due. While taxpayers may not have received subsequent collection reminder notices, online account access is always available to get current balance due and pay tax debt. The IRS also offers several ways to resolve taxes if taxpayers can't pay in full. Very good. All right. Thank you, Rocco. All right. Moving along, folks, you've got some great questions in here. This next question is, will the pause in notices impact the Assessment Statute Expiration Date that's the ASED; or the CSED, the Collection Statute Expiration Date? Will the pause in the notices impact the ASED and the CSED dates? This is Nikki. That's actually another great question. No, the notice pause does not impact statute assessment expiration date. Okay, all right. Nice to the point. No, folks. All right, so next question. Will taxpayers who paid their balance in full qualify? And the answer to that is yes. Taxpayers, whether individual, businesses, trusts, estates, and tax-exempt organizations who paid their taxes in full will receive a refund or a credit will be applied to an existing tax debt. As a first step, the IRS began adjusting eligible individual accounts and followed with adjustments to business accounts in late December to early January. And then trusts, estates, and tax-exempt organizations will begin in late February to early March of 2024. Okay, that's great news. That's great news that so many will qualify for that penalty relief. Thank you, Rocco. Okay. Next question. Is this related to the simple notice redesign, I think about the collection notices? Yeah. Okay. Great. I'll take that one. So the simple notice redesign initiative should not be confused with the restart of collection notices. This simple notice initiative was announced by IRS on January 23, 2024. And it is a sweeping effort to simplify and clarify about 170 million letters sent annually to taxpayers. More information about that process can be found on IRS.gov. So no, they should not be confused with the notice restart. Okay. That was a good question. Okay. Next question. What if a taxpayer has older taxes too? We're talking about the penalty relief here. What happens to them? So penalties on tax years prior to 2020 are not eligible for this relief. Taxpayers with prior year balances will need to pay as much as they can to reduce the penalty and interest on their accounts. The IRS provides several options to help them resolve their tax debt. Okay. Very good. Thank you, Rocco. All right. So, now, this is another great question from our audience here. This question is, how long will the IRS give the taxpayer to pay with the Letter 38 notice before the CP500 series notices are sent? How long will the IRS give the taxpayers to pay the Letter 38 notice before any CP500 series notices are sent? I'll take that, Evette. There will be a 35-day follow-up to the Letter 38 if there's no response from a taxpayer. So once that letter is sent, we will follow-up within 35 days, so that's a great question. And we will determine what the next steps are at that point. The next notice may not be the series 500. We're going to be doing an analysis of those accounts at that point to determine whether taxpayers have resolved their accounts or what the next step may be. So I hope that answers your question. That was a great question again. Yeah, that was a great question. Thank you, Nikki. Okay, next question, folks. We're getting them in. When will taxpayers be able to see the amount of the penalty relief? That's a good question. Sure, I'll take that. While most taxpayers will be able to view their updated account balance online, only a portion will be able to see the total amount of the relief applied. Taxpayers with assessed failure to pay penalties that were waived should be able to see the relief by accessing their transcripts. However, the penalty relief for the accrued portion of the failure to pay penalty may not be displayed but will be reflected in the balance due. Many of those in the collection notice process with balanced dues will be sent reminder notices starting in January 2024 with their updated balances. The IRS plans to send these reminder notices between January through March of 2024. Okay. Great information. Great, great, great. Thank you so much. All right. Okay. The next question. Let's see. All right. So, this question is, will the letters like the Letter 38 also include information regarding penalty abatement either the first-time penalty abatement or reasonable cause? Who wants to take that one? Yes, as we stated earlier, the notices will include information regarding penalty relief, and also we'll take you to the IRS landing page that will provide additional information, for instance, a taxpayer does not qualify for automatic penalty relief, how to go about making a request for a reasonable cause penalty abatement or a first-time abatement, so information will be included in the notice. Okay, so let me stick with the Letter 38 for this next one, too, Nikki. So with that Letter 38, will a Letter 38 be sent for each separate year, or will all the years be on that Letter 38 notice? Yes, each year we'll receive a Letter 38. So, again, what we're saying was if a taxpayer has a 2020, 2021 and a 2022 tax liability, those years will be joined so that they can be included on the notice, and the information on each notice will include the penalties' interest in what to do to pay that particular module. Got it. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you, Nikki. Thank you so much. Okay. So this next question is about penalty relief. Does this relief apply to estimated tax penalties for 2020 and 2021 as well? This is Rocco. I'll take that. No, the estimated tax penalties apply only if a taxpayer pays two little tax during the year and never accrue after the original tax filing deadline. Okay. All right. Okay, folks, listen, that was great. Thank you, Nikki. Thank you, Rocco. That was amazing. Audience, I'm so sorry, that's all the time we have for questions. I do want to thank our presenters for sharing their knowledge and expertise and for answering so many of your questions. Remember audience, you can download a resource document with links to information about this particular topic on IRS.gov. Please, before we close the Q&A session, I just want to go back to you, Nikki. Can you share some key points that you want the attendees to remember from today's webinar? Yes. Thank you so much. I would like to reiterate that there are options to resolve your account if you cannot pay. Please ensure that you follow the instructions on the Letter 38, respond quickly to that letter as we stated, there's a follow up within 35 days. Even if a taxpayer cannot pay in full, there will be options. Whether they want to receive an installment agreement or if they cannot pay, there will be help on the system on IRS.gov to help the taxpayer navigate the next best resolution. Okay. Those are all your key points. Thank you so much, Ms. Nikki. I appreciate that. Okay, audience, thanks again to Rocco and to Nikki. They were amazing. Audience, we are planning additional webinars throughout the year. So to register for an upcoming webinar, please visit IRS.gov, keyword search Webinars, and select the Webinars for Tax Practitioners or Webinars for Small Businesses. When appropriate, we will be offering certificates and CE credits for upcoming webinars. We do invite you to visit our Video Portal at www.irsvideos.gov. There you can view archived versions of our webinars. Again, continuing education credits or certificates of completion are not offered if you view an archived version of any of our webinars on the IRS Video Portal. Another big thank you to Rocco and Nikki for a great webinar and for sharing their expertise. I want to thank you our attendees for attending today's webinar, Navigating Through the Restart of Automated Collection Notices and Penalty Relief. If you attended today's webinar from the top of the hour and stayed on for at least 50 minutes from the official start time, you will receive an IRS certificate of completion that you could possibly use with your credentialing organization for one IRS CE credit. Again, the time we spent before the webinar started doesn't count towards that 50 minutes. Audience, this is important for you to know, certificates of completion will be emailed as a PDF. It's going to be a PDF attachment. It's going to be emailed to the registration email address of you as a qualifying participant from the email address seen on this screen, that is CL.SL.Web.Conference.Team@IRS.gov. Please take a moment and add this email address to your contacts to ensure you will receive the email with your certificate. If you're eligible for continuing education from the IRS and registered with your valid PTIN, your credit will be posted in your IRS PTIN account. Remember, audience, your first name, last name, and PTIN must match exactly with the information on your IRS PTIN account. If it does not your IRS CE credit will not upload. Then we have to wait for you to contact us through our email as seen on this slide to correct the information. If you are eligible for continuing education from the California Tax Education Council, your credit will be posted to your CTEC account as well. If you qualify and have not received your certificate and/or credit by February 22, please email us, that email again is cl.sl.web.conference.team@irs.gov. If you're interested in finding your local stakeholder liaison, you may send us an email using that same email address shown on the slide, and we will send you that information. We would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to complete a short evaluation before you exit. If you'd like to have more sessions like this one, let us know. If you have thoughts on how we can make them better, please let us know that as well. If you have any future requests for webinar topics or pertinent information you'd like to see in an IRS Fact Sheet, Tax Tip, or FAQ on IRS.gov, then please include your suggestion in the comments section of the survey. Click the survey button on the right side of your screen to begin. If it doesn't show up, please make sure you disable that pop-up blocker. It's been a pleasure to be here with you today and on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service and our speakers, we would like to thank you for attending today's webinar. It's important for the IRS to stay connected with the tax professional community, individuals, tax industry associations, along with federal, state, and local government organizations. You make our job a lot easier by sharing this information that allows for proper tax reporting. Thanks again for your time and attendance, and we wish you much success in your business or practice. 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