Wolters Kluwer, the company behind tax software platform CCH, told practitioners that those who missed the Sept. 15 filing date due to a widespread service outage will not be penalized by the IRS, said CPA Practice Advisor.

The outage earlier in the month prevented many users from e-filing their individual third- quarter estimated payments, partnership and S Corporation tax returns on a six-month extension, and fiscal year June 30 partnership and S-corporation tax returns before the Sept. 15 deadline. Other users were technically able to file but found their forms had corrupted data. These practitioners instead e-filed the returns the next day, on the 16th, when service was restored.

Wolters Kluwer told users that it has been in contact with the IRS, which is now aware of the situation and has agreed that the nature of the disruption with the electronic filing system provides "reasonable cause" for any returns due on Sept. 15, but filed on Sept. 16 due to this issue. Accordingly, those returns would be considered filed timely except for the running of interest on any tax payments that were due on Sept. 15.

No further action should be required, but the company said that if a client gets a late notice from the IRS anyway, that taxpayer should send an email request to abatement@cch.com with the CPA firm name/Abatement in the subject line; a representative will write back.