# Plain Language Summary: Affordable Payment Agreements for Taxpayers Act

If you owe taxes to the IRS and can't pay it all at once, the government lets you set up a payment plan called an installment agreement. Right now, the IRS charges fees for setting up these plans—typically between $31 and $225 depending on how you pay. This bill would eliminate those fees for two groups of people: those with lower incomes and those who pay through automatic bank transfers.

The first group that would get fee waivers are people earning less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level. To put that in perspective, if the poverty level is around $14,000 for an individual, this would cover people making roughly $35,000 or less. The second group includes anyone who agrees to pay their taxes automatically through direct debit from their bank account, regardless of income. The idea is that automatic payments are cheaper for the IRS to process, so they shouldn't charge people extra for using that method.

This change would make it easier for struggling families and lower-income workers to set up manageable payment plans without worrying about additional fees eating into their ability to pay down what they owe. For middle-class and higher-income taxpayers, the fees would remain the same as they are now. The bill would take effect whenever it becomes law, applying to any new payment agreements set up from that point forward.

Affordable Payment Agreements for Taxpayers Act

Gallego, Ruben

Affordable Payment Agreements for Taxpayers Act This bill revises provisions allowing a waiver of the fee imposed on installment agreements paid by electronic payment through a debit instrument to extend eligibility for such waiver to taxpayers whose adjusted gross income does not exceed 250% of the federal poverty level.