Legal costs and timelines, in plain numbers. Not a law firm.
The workhorse option
IRS Payment Plans, Explained
Every figure sourced and dated. Updated 2026-09-01.
Most tax debt gets resolved by installment agreement, with streamlined plans stretching to 72 months. It is the boring, high-probability path, and boring is the point.
Against the famous alternative
The Offer in Compromise gets the ads, but acceptance ran 21.4% in FY2024 (36% ten-year average), the $205 fee plus 20% deposit is kept on denial absent the low-income waiver, and accepted offers totaled just $163.4 million in FY2024. Back to Tax Debt.
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Sources for every figure on this page
21.4%: IRS FY2024 data via TaxRise: Offer in Compromise acceptance rate (7,199 of 33,591) (published estimate, retrieved 2026-09-01).
36%: IRS data 2015-2024 via IRS Solutions: ten-year average OIC acceptance (published estimate, retrieved 2026-09-01).
$205: IRS: OIC application fee, kept with the 20% deposit even if the offer is denied (low-income waivers exist) (published estimate, retrieved 2026-09-01).
$163.4 million: IRS FY2024: total value of accepted offers (published estimate, retrieved 2026-09-01).
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