"No one pays penalties for simple mistakes. That's what FOX news tells you, but it's not true" My first reaction is "agree" as I have been through this as well

"No one pays penalties for simple mistakes. That's what FOX news tells you, but it's not true" My first reaction is "agree" as I have been through this as well. But now I will modify that agreemet to recognize that not everyone is smart or capable enough to know how to approach fixing something like this with a letter. Or to take the time to read the letter or understand what is going on. Or maybe they go to the clerk at the tax prep office and they are clueless so they ignore the letter and then they have a bigger problem. Stuff like that does happen. There are probably more people who don't know or have the resources to handle this then people that do. As an aside many years ago I received refunds of thousands of dollars of overpaid sales tax to a state by simply submitting a letter and a spreadsheet which they never audited or checked. I could have said anything with practically any amount (iirc maybe 20k was the amount requested inflation adjusted approx.). By simply presenting a spreadsheet showing the errors each month and writing a letter a check arrived back cheerfully iirc 6 mos. later. Just like that.