The problem
Clients bring in IRS notices for late filing or late payment penalties and want them removed, and each relief request takes a careful letter. If you write 4 a month at 75 minutes each, that's 5 hours a month of an enrolled agent's time.
What the AI does
The preparer writes the facts in plain notes without the client's name, Social Security number, address or account numbers: which penalty, which tax year, what happened and when, and the client's compliance history. ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini turns the notes into a clear, polite draft asking for first-time abatement or reasonable cause relief, laid out by date. The preparer checks every fact and date against the notice and the client's records, adds the client's details in the firm's own software, and decides how to send it. IRS Circular 230 makes the practitioner responsible for the accuracy of anything submitted to the IRS.
A worked example
An enrolled agent in Albuquerque runs a small tax office with one assistant and handles about 4 penalty relief requests a month, mostly late filing penalties after a client's illness or a lost payment. She uses an AI assistant for the first draft and keeps a set of past letters as examples.
Before
75 minutes a letter for 4 letters: 5 hours a month
After
About 30 minutes a letter: 2 hours a month
What it's worth
About $150£113€134A$217C$212 a month saved, against a free to $20£15€18A$29C$28 cost. That's 3 hours (5 less 2) at an assumed $50£38€45A$72C$71 an hour for the enrolled agent's time. The free plans can draft letters like these; paid plans are about $20£15€18A$29C$28 a month for one person.
How to set it up
- Write the facts as dated notes, leaving out the client's name, SSN, address, notice numbers and account details.
- Paste the notes into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask for a short, polite letter requesting first-time abatement or reasonable cause relief, with the facts in date order.
- Check every date, amount and statement against the notice and the client's own records, and cut anything you can't support.
- Add the client's details in your own software, attach the supporting documents and have the client confirm the facts are true.
- File a Form 2848 if you'll represent the client; a preparer without representation rights has the client sign and send the letter instead.
What goes wrong
- An AI draft can add a reason or detail the client never gave. Circular 230 bars submitting false or misleading information to the IRS, so every fact needs support.
- Pasting a client's identifying details into a consumer AI plan is a disclosure risk under Internal Revenue Code section 7216 and your security plan. Keep the notes anonymous.
- For many first-time abatement requests, a phone call to the IRS may be quicker than a letter. Pick the route before writing.
- Check the response deadline on the notice and record it in your own due-date list first; the draft is no reminder.