Has anyone been leveled a large fine from the IRS for late filing when you had zero tax liability?

My 2024 was dumpster fire. Husband had a major accident in January, and was off work almost 6 months. A couple months after he went back, I had my own, very serious accident in August with a major head injury. We both work full time jobs and have a very small equine agricultural support business. We did our best just to keep things going. I’d taken documents to our accountant several times during the year. I hadn’t heard anything from them and called in Feb 2025. Found out my accountant had left the firm and went on his own. The old firm had all my documents. I picked them up and transferred to my accountant. He filed for an extension. We had no tax liability, and would be getting a refund. The accountant needed some additional information, which took me awhile to get, and apparently my return was filed after the extension deadline passed, which I wasn’t aware of until months after I got my tax return check. The letter said I owed $1,400+ in fine for late filing. The accountant sent several letters and never got a reply, I sent 1 letter detailing the extenuating circumstances, heard nothing but the notices stopped coming. I checked the IRS website and there were zero monies owed. I figured it was dropped. I figured wrong. Almost a year after my letter I get another letter from collections saying I now owe $1,500+. Has anyone gotten out of a fine like this? It makes sense if I owed them tax payments. I didn’t. I’m really struggling with the economy right now and would like some advice. Do I just sell a kidney and pay it? Or is there any other way?