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Did the IRS or your state send a letter saying you owe more than you can pay?

Tax Debt Costs and Timelines

Learn what a payment plan, an offer in compromise and a tax attorney can cost you, using the IRS's own fees and rules.

It's 100% free, with no sign-up and no cost to you.

Free tool

IRS fee estimator

How to use this free tool

  1. Answer the 5 questions below, and add the total owed with penalties and interest if you have it.
  2. Press "See what it may cost".
  3. Learn the IRS fee to set up your plan or apply for your offer, your first payment, the low-income rules, the online lines for your balance, and this quarter's interest rate and penalty. Every line shows its source.

The fees are federal; the state picks the Alaska, Hawaii or general row of the offer income table.

How you plan to pay
How you would apply
Payments by direct debit from a checking account?
Does an IRS low-income rule apply?

For a plan: adjusted gross income at or under 250% of the federal poverty level. For an offer: income at or under the Form 656 table, $39,900 for one person in most states.

It decides only whether the plan can be requested online.

This form does not ask for your name, email or phone number. Your answers are worked out in your browser, and personal answers stay out of the page link.

Legal Cost by State is operated by LeadVera Media, a marketing company that is not a law firm and does not provide legal services. Nothing on this site is legal advice.

Tools

Tool

IRS Payment Plan and Offer Fee Estimator

Free tool: choose how you plan to pay, how you would apply and whether a low-income rule applies, and see the IRS setup or application fee, your first payment, the interest rate and the penalty.

See what it may cost

Guides

Guide

Tax Attorney Cost: What Is Published and What Is Not

Learn why no one can quote you a market rate, the fees the IRS and Tax Court charge, who can represent you, and where to find free help.

Read the guide
Guide

IRS Fresh Start Program: What It Actually Is

Learn what Fresh Start changed in 2011 and 2012, what is left of it today, and what each IRS option costs you.

Read the guide
Guide

IRS Payment Plan Cost: Setup Fees, Interest, Penalty

Learn the setup fee for each way to apply, the interest rate for the current quarter, the reduced penalty, and a worked one-month example.

Read the guide
Guide

Offer in Compromise Cost: $205 Fee and Who Can Apply

Learn the eligibility rules, the $205 fee, the 20% first payment, the low-income waiver and how many offers the IRS accepts.

Read the guide
Guide

State Tax Debt: Agencies, Payment Plans and Offers

Learn who collects state tax debt, how state payment plans and offers differ from the IRS, and where federal and state collection overlap.

Read the guide

The guides answer the questions people ask most about federal tax debt: what the Fresh Start program really is, who qualifies for an offer in compromise, what a payment plan costs in fees, interest and penalties, what is and is not published about tax attorney fees, and how state tax debt differs. Every figure comes from an IRS, Treasury, U.S. Code, Tax Court or state agency page, with the date it was read. There is no 51-state chart here, because the IRS expense standards that shape payment plans and offers are set by county and metro area, not by state. None of it is legal or tax advice, and no one here prepares IRS forms, deals with the IRS or a state for you, or recommends a professional or company.