Client never paid the $695 IRS penalty for not having health insurance in tax year 2017.

The "tax person" who told her not to pay should be handling this.

Why are you even involved? You refer to her as your client, but you are apparently not her tax person.

You have not indicated that there is any justification for not paying the penalty. It seems that her tax person gave her bad advice. The best thing for her to do would be to pay the $711 that she now owes, by the deadline in the IRS notice. She should pay it in a way that will give her documentation proving that she paid it, and when she paid it. And she should find a new tax person.

Bob Sandler

I agree. And if it was the fault of the former tax person, she should take him to small claims court to get her $711 back.

Respectably, you can't ask them to pay the tax, only the penalty and interest. The original tax was owing before so the principal is to restore them only to the original amount owing.

The amount that a reasonable court would permit is $16. You can ask for penalties for pain and suffering, but how much do you think will be allowed.

Now...is that worth it?

The "tax person" who told her not to pay should NOT be handling this!

Agree - pay up.

If any money is owed to the "tax person", deduct the $16.