Code 161: abatement of failure to file.
From IRS Document 6209, the IRS's processing codes manual.
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Document 6209 says
Credit. Used on individual (IMF) accounts.
Abatement of Failure to File
The full Document 6209 entry, as printed
Credit (NPJ) I/B Abatement of Failure to File 47, 54 Abates previously posted Failure to File (FTF) Penalty (TC 160/TC 166) assessment in whole or in part. PenaltyPenalty Penalty is not recomputed by computer.
After code 161
Not enough shared timelines with this code yet. The block fills in once 30 people with code 161 share theirs from the result page.
Crowd figures, not IRS data. They describe what happened to others, not a promise.
Questions people ask
What does code 161 mean on my IRS transcript?
Document 6209 calls it "Abatement of Failure to File".
Sources
Checked against these sources on October 30, 2026.