Today the IRS announced that interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning July 1, 2008, will drop by one percentage point. The new rates are as follows:
Five (5) percent for overpayments [four (4) percent in the case of a corporation];
Five (5) percent for underpayments;
Seven (7) percent for large corporate underpayments
Two and one-half (2.5) percent for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding
$10,000.
The Internal Revenue Code states that the interest rate is determined every quarter. Usually, for taxpayers that aren’t corporations, the overpayment and underpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus 3 percentage points. If the case involves a corporation, the underpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus 3 percentage points but the overpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus 2 percentage points. The rate for large corporate underpayments is the federal short-term rate plus 5 percentage points. The rate on the portion of a corporate overpayment of tax exceeding $10,000 for a taxable period is the federal short-term rate plus one-half (0.5) of a percentage point.
The interest rates announced today are computed from the federal short-term rate based on daily compounding determined during April 2008.