IRS Installment Agreement User Fees in 2026: What Each Route Costs

An IRS installment agreement has a setup fee. Most people pay it without thinking about it. They should think about it, because the same plan, for the same balance, can cost $29 or $178 depending on two choices you make in the first five minutes: how you apply and how you pay.

Here is the current schedule, where it comes from, and the small rules about how the fee is collected that trip people up.

The current schedule

The Internal Revenue Manual publishes the fees the IRS actually charges. IRM 5.14.1.2, revised July 20, 2026, lists updated rates effective July 5, 2026, and the IRS payment plans page, last reviewed August 13, 2026, matches them. For a new long-term installment agreement:

• Online payment agreement, direct debit: $29.
• Online payment agreement, any other payment method: $69.
• By phone, mail or in person, direct debit: $107.
• By phone, mail or in person, any other payment method: $178. A payroll deduction agreement is charged at this regular rate.
• Low-income taxpayers: $0 with direct debit; $43 otherwise, which may be reimbursed when the agreement is completed.
• Short-term plans of 180 days or less: no fee.

The only origination fee that changed on July 5, 2026 was the online direct debit fee, which rose from $22 to $29; the online low-income revision fee also moved from $10 to $6. The other origination fees are unchanged since July 1, 2024. To get the online rates, you must actually set the plan up through the online payment agreement system; IRM 5.14.1.2 is explicit about that.

Revisions and reinstatements

Changing an existing plan, or reinstating one after a default, carries its own fee. The IRS payment plans page lists $6 to revise online and $89 by phone, mail or in person. Low-income taxpayers pay $6 online or $43 by other methods, either of which may be reimbursed if conditions are met. Changes to an existing direct debit agreement, such as new bank information, are listed at $0. The IRM notes the reinstatement fee in the default notice context too: if a defaulted plan is reinstated, a user fee is charged.

There are situations where the IRS waives the revision fee. The campus procedures in IRM 5.19.1 waive it when a plan defaulted because of an IRS error, when a new liability can be absorbed within two additional payments, when the account is below the IRS's internal deferral level, and when a new liability of $200 or less is added. If your plan defaulted because the IRS misapplied a payment, the fee should not be charged; ask. More on reinstatement in reinstating a defaulted payment plan.

Where the fees come from

The legal authority for the fee is the general federal user fee statute, 31 U.S.C. 9701, which IRM 5.14.1.2 cites along with OMB Circular A-25. The amounts are set by regulation: 26 CFR 300.1 for entering into an agreement and 26 CFR 300.2 for restructuring or reinstating one.

Read the regulation and you will find higher numbers than the IRS charges. Section 300.1, applicable since January 1, 2017, sets the fee for an installment agreement at $225, $107 for direct debit, $149 for an online agreement, $31 for an online direct debit agreement, and $43 for a low-income taxpayer. Section 300.2 sets the restructuring or reinstatement fee at $89, or $43 for low-income taxpayers.

The IRS currently charges less than those regulatory figures for regular and online plans, and in 2018 Congress capped the fees. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 added IRC 6159(f)(1), which says an installment agreement fee may not exceed the amount in effect on February 9, 2018, the date of enactment. That cap applies to agreements entered on or after April 10, 2018.

How the fee has moved

The IRM keeps a history, and it shows how much the route has always mattered:

• January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2016: $120 regular, $52 direct debit, $43 low-income, $50 to reinstate.
• January 1, 2017 through April 9, 2018: $225 regular, $107 direct debit, $149 online, $31 online direct debit, $89 to reinstate.
• April 10, 2018 through June 30, 2024: the same manual fees, the online regular fee dropping to $130 for agreements on or after January 9, 2022, and the low-income waiver and reimbursement added.
• July 1, 2024 forward: $178 regular, $69 online, $22 online direct debit, with $107 for manual direct debit unchanged.
• July 5, 2026 forward: online direct debit rises to $29.

How the fee is collected

Nobody sends you a separate bill. IRM 5.14.1.2 tells employees to advise taxpayers that the fee is due with the first payment, in the amount of the agreed monthly payment or the fee, whichever is greater. If your monthly payment is $50 and the fee is $178, your first payment needs to be at least $178.

Behind the scenes, IRM 5.19.1.6.4.6 describes what the IRS calls the user fee sweep. Every payment initially posts to the tax. Weekly, beginning four weeks after a payment posts, a program sweeps active agreements coded as fee due and moves the fee amount from the tax account to the user fee account. If there is not enough to cover the whole fee, nothing is taken that week; no partial amount moves. The IRM states that if the sweep takes the fee across multiple payments, your agreement remains in good standing as long as you make the required monthly payments.

The fee is generally not refundable, even if you pay the balance in full before your first reminder notice arrives. The exception is the low-income reimbursement rule in IRC 6159(f)(2). See the low-income fee waiver.

Businesses and revenue officer cases pay manual rates

The online rates are only available to plans set up through the online payment agreement system, and that system is limited to individuals. A business that is still operating cannot apply online; the IRS directs businesses to 800-829-4933. A case assigned to a revenue officer also cannot be set up online, because IRM 5.14.1.2 notes that Field Collection accounts in status 26 cannot use the online payment agreement or the individual online account. In both situations, the plan is set up manually and the manual rates apply: $107 with direct debit, $178 otherwise.

The low-income reduction does not help businesses either. IRM 5.14.1.2 states that low-income status for user fee purposes applies only to individuals, not partnerships or corporations. For a business, the only lever on the fee is direct debit, and it is worth $71.

If the plan defaults and has to be reinstated through a revenue officer or by phone, the $89 reinstatement fee applies to businesses too. A business plan that stays current never pays it.

For an individual, the online system is also the cheapest place to fix a plan later. Revising or reinstating online costs $6, against $89 by phone, mail or in person, so if your plan is eligible for online changes, make them there.

How to pay the least

If you are an individual with an assessed balance of $50,000 or less and all your returns are filed, apply online and choose direct debit. That is $29 instead of $178, and the direct debit choice brings other benefits: no checks to mail, no reminders to miss, and in some cases eligibility for withdrawal of a filed lien notice. See direct debit installment agreements.

If you cannot apply online, choose direct debit anyway; the phone fee drops from $178 to $107. If you qualify as low-income, direct debit takes the fee to zero.

And keep perspective. A $150 fee difference matters. A payment that does not clear the balance before the collection statute runs out, or a default in year two, matters far more. Get the plan right first, then get it cheap. The payment plan calculator shows the setup fees alongside the payment.