What the calculator applies
- Coverage. Since July 2, 2010 the dishonored-check penalty reaches "any 'instrument in payment, by any commercially acceptable means,'" and the manual lists "EFTPS payments and deposits," electronic funds transfers, direct debit installment payments, same-day wires and card payments (IRM 20.1.10.7(2), Nov. 18, 2019). A returned Form 945 or Form 1042 deposit is inside it.
- Tiers. "2% of payment if ≥ $1,250; $25 if $25 to $1,249.99; the payment amount if $5 to $24.99" (IRM 20.1.10.7.1(1)). Three notes and a reminder in that subsection are redacted in the public manual; the calculator does not guess at them. For an amount under $5 the extracted text states no rule, and the tool says so.
- How it posts. Campus accounting assesses it as TC 280 (manual) or TC 286 (systemic), triggered by the dishonored-payment transaction codes 611, 621, 641, 651, 661, 671, 681, 691 and 721 (IRM 20.1.10.7.2(1)). It is not a Form 8278 penalty and does not carry a PRN in the 500 or 600 series.
- Relief. "Oral testimony to that effect will not be accepted. The first time abate (FTA) administrative waiver does not apply." "A bank letter is required if the reason is bank error" (IRM 20.1.10.7.3, Aug. 20, 2024). Reason codes: bank error PRC 017; EFTPS or Treasury Financial Agent error PRC 032, supported by a TFA incident report; a stop payment mis-coded as dishonored PRC 045 or 017; erroneous IRS advice PRC 044 (IRM 20.1.10.7.4, Oct. 12, 2022). The IRS may also abate with no written request when it can determine the penalty "should not have been assessed in the first place" (a website misunderstanding, an IRS data-entry error, duplicate transactions, an unsuccessful Direct Pay).
- Letters. An information request comes on Letter 608-C; a denial comes on Letter 854-C (IRM 20.1.10.7.3).
The deposit is still late
IRM 20.1.10.7 is about the returned instrument, not the deposit obligation it was meant to satisfy. Nothing in it treats a dishonored EFTPS transaction as a deposit made, so the liability it was meant to cover is undeposited until good funds arrive, and the failure-to-deposit tiers under IRC 6656 run on that from the original due date. That penalty is a different computation with different relief (First Time Abate does apply to it) and is handled by the Form 945 deposit penalty calculator and the Form 1042 deposit penalty calculator.
What it does not do
It does not compute interest, the failure-to-deposit penalty, or any penalty on a paper check; the manual notes that checks converted through RS-PCC remain "paper checks" and are systemically penalized (IRM 20.1.10.7.5). Figures are estimates; the assessment on your notice controls.