Pay penalty now or later?

[FrauStachowski]

I am filing amendments for 2020 and 2021 and have to snail-mail both (online filing wasn't even an option for 2020 and the 2021 amendment was rejected with no reason given and no other choice but to then print and mail it in). I owe penalties due to over-contributing to my Roth IRA for both years for both my spouse and myself. I live overseas and while I have a US bank account I have no paper checks so I cannot attach a check payment to mail in with the returns. My question: should I pay the penalies online now before the amendments are received/processed by the IRS or wait until they send me a letter? The last time I paid online they didn't apply the payment to what we owed and I am STILL trying to get someone on the phone to find the payment and apply it properly. WAH! I am concerned that that will happen yet again. However, I'm pretty sure that even if I do pay now they are going to send me a bill for the interest due on the penalties and I want to stop those from accruing asap. Hence the question, pay now online or wait? Thanks so much!

[Bsch4477 · Accepted solution]

Pay now to stop interest from accruing. 

https://www.irs.gov/payments