Kwong Tax Penalty Claims After July 10, 2026: Check Your Own Refund Clock

The widely cited July 10 date is in the past

It is 25 September 2026. A page telling you that you have “less than 48 hours” to mail a protective Form 843 by 10 July 2026 is wrong today. Under the Court of Federal Claims’ Kwong reasoning, certain COVID-period tax deadlines were treated as postponed through 10 July 2023. For a refund claim governed by a three-year period measured from that date, the filing date would indeed have been 10 July 2026. That is a common and now past scenario. It is not a universal expiration date for everyone who paid a penalty.

The IRS’s refund-claim procedures explain the general later of three years after filing or two years after payment rule under section 6511, along with limits on how much can be refunded. If the later payment date controls, a claim may still be timely after July 2026. Only the taxpayer’s return, payment and assessment records can settle that question. Do not rely on the old page’s statement that everyone who missed July 10 has permanently lost every possible claim.

What the court decided, and what it did not

In *Kwong v. United States*, the Court of Federal Claims read the version of IRC section 7508A(d) applicable to the COVID disaster period as mandating a long postponement of specified deadlines. The court’s reasoning could support challenges to some penalties and interest that had been assessed as though those deadlines had not moved. It did not issue a personal refund order for every taxpayer or hold that every COVID-era penalty was invalid regardless of tax year, payment date and claim procedure.

The government appealed. An August 2026 Court of Federal Claims order in a related case explicitly treats the Kwong appeal as pending and says the outcome could affect another taxpayer’s claim. That means a protective claim rests on unsettled litigation. Neither filing it nor receiving an IRS acknowledgement proves that money is owed or that the appeal will end in the taxpayer’s favour.

Two deadline examples show why your payment date matters

Take an affected return whose relevant due date is treated as 10 July 2023 under the court’s reasoning. Three years from that date is 10 July 2026. If the penalties were paid earlier, that three-year date may be the controlling later period. By 25 September 2026, that example date is already 77 days past.

Now assume the same kind of contested penalty was not paid until 1 July 2025. Two years after that payment is 1 July 2027, which is 279 days after 25 September 2026. Under the stated assumptions, that later two-year period could still be open. There are legal questions about the validity of the claim and amount that remain separate from this date arithmetic. A tax professional should review the full section 6511 lookback and payment record before anyone files late or assumes a refund.

The examples are not personal filing deadlines for readers. They show why the phrase “file by 10 July 2026 or get $0 forever” is unsafe. Different tax periods, return filing dates, penalty payments and prior claims can change the result.

The IRS has a special Form 843 route for Kwong

The IRS’s dedicated Kwong filing page says certain individual taxpayers with an IRS Online Account can submit Form 843 electronically for claims related to fully paid interest and penalties citing Kwong. This is a specific electronic route, not a general statement that every Form 843 can be e-filed. The old version of this guide told readers both that online submission was impossible and, in its FAQ, that online submission was allowed. The IRS special page resolves that contradiction.

For a business or an individual choosing paper for a claim within the IRS page’s defined scope, the IRS gives a specific paper Form 843 route and an Ogden, Utah address. It says to write “Kwong vs. United States” across the top. A claim for a different tax or reason may have another mailing destination; follow the current Form 843 instructions for that claim. Do not send every Form 843 to Ogden because a blog printed one address.

The IRS manual on protective claims says a valid protective claim need not state a particular dollar amount. It must identify the year or years, describe the contingency and be clear enough to tell the IRS the essential nature of the claim. That is different from writing a made-up “estimated $100” simply to fill a box. Preserve copies of the form, supporting records and whatever proof of submission the chosen official method provides.

Check what was actually charged and paid

Start with the IRS account transcript for each relevant tax period. Identify the tax, the exact penalty or interest assessment, and the date and amount of each payment. A penalty shown as assessed but not paid is a different issue from a refund of a paid amount. Check whether another relief route or previous claim already applies before duplicating paperwork. The IRS’s Form 843 page explains the general purpose of the form.

As an illustration, on $10,000 of unpaid tax for five months when both ordinary failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties apply, the IRS’s failure-to-file and failure-to-pay rates can produce $2,250 and $250 respectively, $2,500 in this simplified combined-penalty example. That is arithmetic for a possible contested assessment, not a Kwong refund estimate. Whether any portion was improperly assessed, paid, timely claimed or affected by other relief must be established from the taxpayer’s account and law.

The meaningful next step after 10 July is to check the taxpayer’s own section 6511 dates and the status of any claim already sent. If the two-year payment route might still be open, use the current IRS filing page and obtain qualified tax advice promptly. If the controlling period expired, do not assume an email, an online form or a blog can revive it. The litigation may change the legal outcome, but it cannot turn a speculative refund into cash today.