About

axpayers who paid IRS penalties or interest on federal deadlines that fell between January 20, 2020 and July 10, 2023 have until **July 10, 2026** to protect a potential refund — and a Dallas–Fort Worth tax firm has built a dedicated filing line to help them and their preparers beat the deadline.

The opportunity stems from *Kwong v. United States*, 179 Fed. Cl. 382 (2025), in which the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held that IRC § 7508A(d) automatically postponed federal tax deadlines for the full COVID-19 disaster period. That reading means many failure-to-file penalties, failure-to-pay penalties, estimated-tax penalties, and the interest charged on them were never legally due.

In April 2026, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins published a public alert titled "Tens of Millions of Taxpayers May Be Eligible for Significant Tax Refunds — If They Act by July 10," urging affected taxpayers to file protective refund claims on IRS Form 843. Because the government is appealing *Kwong* and the IRS is not yet issuing refunds, a **protective claim** is what preserves a taxpayer's right to a refund if the case is ultimately decided in taxpayers' favor. The IRS has since published a dedicated procedure for filing these claims, including a specific mailing address and a required "Kwong vs. United States" annotation.

"Most people have no idea the government's own watchdog is telling them they may be owed money — and the window closes July 10," said Haziq Inayat, EA, principal of Red White and Blue Tax Services. "We built a pipeline so a taxpayer can complete a five-minute intake and we handle everything through certified-mail filing, with proof. The claim is protective: if the case fails, nothing happens; if it succeeds, they're on record."

The firm prepares and files protective Form 843 claims for a **flat $249 covering all eligible tax years (2019–2022)**, with the claim reviewed and signed by an enrolled agent and sent by certified mail. There is no contingent fee.

**Free capacity for other tax firms.** Recognizing that small CPA, EA, and independent tax offices face the same deadline with limited summer staffing, the firm is also offering its pipeline to other preparers at no cost: a partner firm forwards a single email to its affected clients, those clients engage directly, and the firm receives a daily report of which clients are protected. The engagement is scoped in writing to the penalty claims only — the client relationship stays with the original preparer.

"A neighborhood tax office with fifty affected clients can't drop everything in July to prepare and postmark fifty separate claims," Inayat said. "We'll carry that load, and it costs the firm nothing."

The firm has also published a free do-it-yourself guide for taxpayers who prefer to file on their own, including the IRS's own electronic-filing option for individuals with an IRS Online Account.

**Who may qualify:** individuals, self-employed taxpayers, and owners of S-corporations and partnerships who **paid** federal penalties or interest tied to a deadline in the January 2020–July 2023 window. Refund claims apply only to amounts actually paid, not to unpaid balances.

Taxpayers and firms can learn more or begin a claim at **https://rwbtax.us/claims/** and read the free guide at **https://rwbtax.us/claims/guide/**.