Free IRS and Utah tax letter templates for small-business owners

The templates

Excite Tax wrote each template from the official IRS or Utah State Tax Commission page, and every form number, deadline and address on a template’s page links to the source it came from.

• First-time penalty abatement requestIRS

  A business owner or individual with a clean recent record who was charged a failure-to-file, failure-to-pay or failure-to-deposit penalty and wants it removed without having to prove a specific hardship.

• Reasonable-cause penalty abatement requestIRS

  An owner who filed or paid late because of a fire, a disaster, a serious illness or death in the family, lost records, or a system failure, and who does not qualify for First Time Abate or already used it.

• CP2000 response letterIRS

  A sole proprietor, single-member LLC owner or other Form 1040 filer whose CP2000 says income reported by a payer (a 1099, W-2 or brokerage form) does not match the return.

• Collection Due Process hearing request (Form 12153 companion)IRS

  An owner who received a notice of intent to levy (LT11 or L-1058) or a notice of federal tax lien filing (Letter 3172) and wants an independent Appeals officer to review the collection action or consider a payment alternative.

• Taxpayer Advocate Service request (Form 911 guide)IRS

  An owner whose IRS problem is causing financial difficulty, who has tried and failed to fix it through normal IRS channels, or who is stuck because an IRS process is not working.

• Currently-not-collectible (hardship) requestIRS

  An owner or former owner who owes the IRS and whose income, after necessary living or business expenses, leaves nothing to pay the balance right now.

• Installment agreement request checklistIRS

  A sole proprietor, independent contractor or other individual who owes on a Form 1040, and an operating business that owes employment or other business taxes and needs to call instead.

• Claim for refund or abatement cover letter (Form 843)IRS

  An owner claiming back a penalty, interest or fee that was paid, or asking the IRS to cancel one not yet paid, where Form 843 is the right form.

• General IRS notice response cover letterIRS

  Any owner answering an IRS notice or letter that asks for information or a reply and does not come with its own specific form.

• IRS transcript request (online account or Form 4506-T)IRS

  An owner who needs a tax return, tax account, record of account or entity transcript: for a lender, to reconstruct missing records, or to see penalties and payments the IRS has posted.

• W-9 request letter to a vendorIRS

  A business that pays contractors, landlords or other vendors and will need their taxpayer identification number to file information returns such as Form 1099.

• Utah State Tax Commission penalty waiver requestUtah State Tax Commission

  A Utah business or individual charged a Tax Commission penalty or interest who can show a reason the Commission accepts, and who has already paid the tax for the period.

How to use them

1. Read the notice or bill all the way through and find its number and reply date.
2. Open the matching template and check the current official instructions linked on its page.
3. Replace every [BRACKETED] field, attach copies (never originals) and keep a copy of everything you send.
4. Send it the way the notice or the official instructions say, and keep proof of the date you sent it.

When to get help instead

A template cannot weigh your facts. If the amount is large, a deadline has passed, or the IRS is already taking money, get a person involved. To qualify, income generally has to be below a threshold, and the amount in dispute is usually under $50,000 (IRS — Low Income Taxpayer Clinics). Find a clinic. The Taxpayer Advocate Service’s toll-free number is 877-777-4778 (IRS — Instructions for Form 9465 (07/2024)). The Taxpayer Advocate Service on irs.gov.