Illustrative balance on 2026-10-30
Estimate$20,547
- Tax
- $15,000
- Penalties
- $2,325
- Interest
- $3,222
This is not your IRS balance. Your actual balance, with every notice date and rate the IRS applied, is on your account transcript and in your IRS Online Account. Use this to understand the shape of the number, then check it there.
Published IRS rates cover 2017-01-01 through 2026-12-31. Any modeled days from 2027-01-01 use your 7% annual projection, not a verified future IRS rate.
Time and eligibility
- Estimated collection deadline
- 2034-05-27
- Estimated time left
- 7y 6m
- Plan type
- Under $50,000: generally within the IRS streamlined installment range (verify current thresholds)
Payment plan options from 2026-10-30
| Term | Monthly | Interest | Penalty | Total paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 mo | $3,511.66 | $423 | $100 | $21,070 |
| 12 mo | $1,792.95 | $792 | $176 | $21,515 |
| 24 mo | $933.99 | $1,549 | $320 | $22,416 |
| 36 mo | $647.97 | $2,327 | $453 | $23,327 |
| 48 mo | $505.21 | $3,128 | $576 | $24,250 |
| 60 mo | $419.77 | $3,950 | $689 | $25,186 |
| 72 mo | $362.99 | $4,795 | $794 | $26,135 |
| 84 mo | $322.60 | $5,661 | $891 | $27,098 |
Shorter terms cost less in total; the right term is the shortest one you can keep paying every month. Setup fees are not included.
If you wait a year instead
- Balance in 12 months
- $22,969
- Same plan (36 mo), started then
- $25,975
- Extra cost of waiting
- $2,648
Your preferred 36-month plan starting now: about $647.97 a month, $23,327 in total.
How this is calculated+
- Interest follows verified IRS quarters. Standard underpayment rates from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2026 apply on their effective dates, compounding daily using 365 days (366 in leap years). Only dates after that history use your future-rate assumption. Earlier original due dates are not supported; large-corporate rates are not modeled.
- The balance snapshot includes a payment on the as-of date but excludes that day’s interest and new penalties. Other payments are applied after any new monthly penalty but before that day’s interest, to tax, then penalties, then interest. Real IRS payment allocation and posting may differ. Plan payments fall on monthly anniversaries of the as-of date (clamped to month-end); the first is one month later.
- The late-payment penalty is 0.5% of unpaid tax for each month or part of a month, 1% for months that begin more than 10 days after an intent-to-levy notice (CP504 or a final notice), and 0.25% while an approved plan is in place if the return was filed on time. It stops at 25% of the tax unpaid at the due date.
- The late-filing penalty is 5% of tax unpaid at the original deadline per month or part of a month, up to five months, reduced by overlapping late-payment penalties. For returns more than 60 days late, the sourced minimum is capped at unpaid tax. It is selected by original due-date year, not the date you eventually file. Its interest is estimated from the filing deadline (including an extension). For “Not filed yet,” accrual stops at the as-of date: no future filing or plan approval is assumed. Without a known assessment, no collection deadline is shown, and late-payment penalty interest starts at the as-of modeling placeholder.
- Late-payment penalty bears interest from the assessment date for amounts accrued before it, and from accrual after it. This approximates the 21-day notice-and-demand rule.
- The collection deadline is ten years from the assessment date plus the suspension/extension days you enter. The tool does not infer these days or stop its illustrative balance accrual at that date. No proposed plan ends after it. Additional assessments have their own deadlines; verify yours with the IRS rather than relying on this estimate.
- Not modeled: estimated-tax penalties, accuracy penalties, penalty relief (including special pandemic relief), multiple tax years, setup fees, disaster-specific rules, and the IRS’s exact notice, penalty accrual and assessment timing. Dated payments/refunds are combined by day and applied chronologically. Excess is not carried forward. Late-filing overlap is estimated at monthly boundaries; its total is treated as due at the filing deadline for interest. These limitations mean even a historically sourced estimate will differ from your transcript.
IRS sources, effective dates and updates
Source data checked 2026-10-29 (ET). This is a bundled snapshot, not a live IRS feed. Next rate review: before January 1, 2027; check minimums annually and whenever IRS guidance changes.
IRS quarterly interest rates and underlying revenue bulletins · IRS failure-to-file minimums · IRS failure-to-pay rules · IRS interest rules · IRS collection deadlines
| Effective from | Until | Annual rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-01-01 | 2017-04-01 | 4% |
| 2017-04-01 | 2017-07-01 | 4% |
| 2017-07-01 | 2017-10-01 | 4% |
| 2017-10-01 | 2018-01-01 | 4% |
| 2018-01-01 | 2018-04-01 | 4% |
| 2018-04-01 | 2018-07-01 | 5% |
| 2018-07-01 | 2018-10-01 | 5% |
| 2018-10-01 | 2019-01-01 | 5% |
| 2019-01-01 | 2019-04-01 | 6% |
| 2019-04-01 | 2019-07-01 | 6% |
| 2019-07-01 | 2019-10-01 | 5% |
| 2019-10-01 | 2020-01-01 | 5% |
| 2020-01-01 | 2020-04-01 | 5% |
| 2020-04-01 | 2020-07-01 | 5% |
| 2020-07-01 | 2020-10-01 | 3% |
| 2020-10-01 | 2021-01-01 | 3% |
| 2021-01-01 | 2021-04-01 | 3% |
| 2021-04-01 | 2021-07-01 | 3% |
| 2021-07-01 | 2021-10-01 | 3% |
| 2021-10-01 | 2022-01-01 | 3% |
| 2022-01-01 | 2022-04-01 | 3% |
| 2022-04-01 | 2022-07-01 | 4% |
| 2022-07-01 | 2022-10-01 | 5% |
| 2022-10-01 | 2023-01-01 | 6% |
| 2023-01-01 | 2023-04-01 | 7% |
| 2023-04-01 | 2023-07-01 | 7% |
| 2023-07-01 | 2023-10-01 | 7% |
| 2023-10-01 | 2024-01-01 | 8% |
| 2024-01-01 | 2024-04-01 | 8% |
| 2024-04-01 | 2024-07-01 | 8% |
| 2024-07-01 | 2024-10-01 | 8% |
| 2024-10-01 | 2025-01-01 | 8% |
| 2025-01-01 | 2025-04-01 | 7% |
| 2025-04-01 | 2025-07-01 | 7% |
| 2025-07-01 | 2025-10-01 | 7% |
| 2025-10-01 | 2026-01-01 | 7% |
| 2026-01-01 | 2026-04-01 | 7% |
| 2026-04-01 | 2026-07-01 | 6% |
| 2026-07-01 | 2026-10-01 | 7% |
| 2026-10-01 | 2027-01-01 | 7% |
| Original due-date year | Usual calendar tax year | Minimum |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 2016 | $205 |
| 2018 | 2017 | $210 |
| 2019 | 2018 | $210 |
| 2020 | 2019 | $435 |
| 2021 | 2020 | $435 |
| 2022 | 2021 | $435 |
| 2023 | 2022 | $450 |
| 2024 | 2023 | $485 |
| 2025 | 2024 | $510 |
| 2026 | 2025 | $525 |
Update process: verify the IRS table and linked revenue bulletin for every new quarter, update the bundled data and checked date, confirm the original-due-year minimum from IRS guidance, and run the calculator’s arithmetic checks before releasing. Unpublished future rates must remain labeled assumptions.
What this is and is not. General information based on sections 6601 and 6651 of the Internal Revenue Code as described in the draft book, pending professional review. Not advice for your situation. Adapted from Chapters 3, 6, 7, and 9 of The IRS Is Not the End of the World.