Got a letter from the IRS?
It isn’t an emergency. It’s a deadline. Find yours to see what it usually means and what to do next.
Common IRS letters.
CP2000 Your return doesn’t match what others reported
Employers, banks or others reported income or payments that don’t match your return, so the IRS proposes a change to your tax. It isn’t a bill, and your tax could go up, go down or stay the same.
How long you have. Reply by the date on the notice. If you don’t, the IRS may send another notice and a bill.
IRS: Understanding your CP2000 series notice (opens in a new tab)CP3219A A formal notice that the IRS plans to change your tax
Information from others, like your employer or bank, doesn’t match your return, so the IRS proposes a change to your tax. It isn’t a bill or an audit, and it explains how to challenge the change in U.S. Tax Court.
How long you have. The IRS gives you a 90-day response period. To go to U.S. Tax Court, file your petition by the date on the notice. The court can’t take a late petition, and talking with the IRS doesn’t extend that date.
IRS: Understanding your CP3219A notice (opens in a new tab)CP14 You have a balance due
The IRS says you owe money on unpaid taxes. The notice shows how much and how to pay it.
How long you have. Pay by the due date on the notice. After that date, interest builds on what’s unpaid, and if you can’t pay it all, a late payment penalty applies.
IRS: Understanding your CP14 notice (opens in a new tab)CP501 A reminder that you still owe
The IRS hasn’t received your payment, or a reply to its earlier notice, for a balance on one of your tax accounts.
How long you have. Pay by the due date on the notice. Without a payment, a payment plan or a call, the IRS can file a notice of federal tax lien. Interest and more penalties may be added too.
IRS: Understanding your CP501 notice (opens in a new tab)CP503 A second reminder that you still owe
The IRS hasn’t heard from you, and a balance is still unpaid on one of your tax accounts.
How long you have. Pay the full balance by the due date on the notice to avoid more penalties and interest. Without a payment, a payment plan or a call, the IRS may file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien.
IRS: Understanding your CP503 notice (opens in a new tab)CP504 The IRS intends to collect by levy
This is the IRS’s Notice of Intent to Levy on a balance that’s still unpaid. A levy means the IRS takes money or property to cover it. It can start with your state tax refund. Before it takes other property, like wages or bank accounts, the IRS may send a notice that gives you the right to a hearing.
How long you have. The IRS asks you to pay immediately, or to call the number on the notice as soon as possible.
IRS: Understanding your CP504 notice (opens in a new tab)LT11 / 1058 A final notice before a levy, with your right to a hearing
The IRS hasn’t received payment for overdue taxes and intends to levy, which means taking property such as wages or money in a bank account. The letter also explains your right to a hearing.
How long you have. Contact the IRS right away. If you disagree, you have 30 days from the date of the letter to ask for a Collection Due Process hearing.
IRS: Understanding your LT11 notice or Letter 1058 (opens in a new tab)CP161 A balance due on a tax account
The IRS shows an unpaid balance on a tax account, such as a business’s payroll taxes. The notice explains how the IRS worked out the amount.
How long you have. If you think the IRS made a mistake, contact it within 10 days of the notice date. Pay by the date on the notice. After that, interest grows on the unpaid balance.
IRS: Understanding your CP161 notice (opens in a new tab)CP2100 A payee’s name or ID number doesn’t match IRS records
On a 1099 or other information return you filed, a payee’s name and taxpayer ID number (TIN) are missing or don’t match IRS records. You may need to start backup withholding, which means holding back part of future payments to them for the IRS.
How long you have. If a TIN is missing or obviously wrong, the IRS says to start backup withholding right away. If it doesn’t match and the payee doesn’t answer your “B” notice, start within 30 business days of getting the CP2100.
IRS: Understanding your CP2100 or CP2100A notice (opens in a new tab)CP59 The IRS has no record of your return
The IRS has no record that you filed a personal tax return for the year on the notice.
How long you have. The IRS asks you to file right away, or to explain why you don’t need to. If you owe, penalties and interest keep adding up until you file and pay.
IRS: Understanding your CP59 notice (opens in a new tab)CP12 The IRS corrected your return
The IRS corrected one or more mistakes on your return. Because of that, your refund changed, or you now have one.
How long you have. If you agree, you don’t need to reply. If you disagree, contact the IRS by the date on the notice. After that date, you lose the formal right to have the changes reversed and to appeal to the U.S. Tax Court.
IRS: Understanding your CP12 notice (opens in a new tab)5071C The IRS needs to confirm it was you who filed
A tax return was filed under your Social Security number or ITIN, and the IRS needs you to verify your identity and the return. If you didn’t file it, you may be a victim of identity theft.
How long you have. Follow the steps on the notice. The IRS keeps processing the return once you verify it.
IRS: Understanding your CP5071 series notice (opens in a new tab)
The letters and the situations.
If yours isn’t here, ask. Most IRS problems are a version of one of these.
- CP2000 and CP14 noticesOne says your numbers don’t match what was reported, the other says you owe. Both have deadlines and both are often wrong.
- Audits and examinationsCorrespondence, office or field. We answer for you and send only what was asked for.
- Unfiled returnsYears you never filed, plus the substitute returns the IRS filed for you, which almost always overstate the bill.
- Payment plansInstallment agreements sized to what you can pay, and currently-not-collectible status when you can’t pay anything.
- Penalty reliefFirst-time abatement if you qualify, and reasonable cause when something real happened.
- Levies and liensWage garnishment, a bank levy or a lien. These have short clocks, so bring them the day they arrive.
Transcripts first.
- The free call. Bring the letter. Fifteen minutes to find out what it is, the deadline, and what it will cost to handle.
- Form 2848 and transcripts. You sign the power of attorney; the IRS talks to us instead of you, and we see the real numbers.
- File, then resolve. Missing years get filed first. Then we work the option your numbers support until the account is settled.
Who represents you.
- Jorge ListeEnrolled Agent (EA) · Enrolled to practice before the IRS · IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent (CAA)
Enrolled Agents get their credential from the IRS and can represent you in audits, collections and appeals. Look him up in the IRS directory (opens in a new tab).
The questions people ask on the first call.
Do tax resolution services really work?
The legitimate ones do, in the sense that a representative can get the IRS to stop collection while a case is open, put you on a payment plan you can afford, ask for penalty relief and make sure the IRS is working from correct numbers. What does not work is the version sold on late-night radio, where a company takes a large fee up front and promises to wipe out the debt. The FTC has sued firms over exactly that. Ask any firm what they will do first, and if the answer is not "pull your transcripts", keep looking.
How much will the IRS usually settle for?
There is no usual number, and anyone who gives you one before looking at your finances is guessing. An Offer in Compromise is calculated from what the IRS believes it could collect from you: your income minus allowable living expenses, plus the equity in what you own. If that figure covers the debt before the collection period runs out, the offer gets rejected and you are looking at a payment plan instead.
What is Form 2848?
It is the power of attorney that lets a representative act for you with the IRS. Once it is on file, the IRS talks to your representative instead of calling you, and we can pull your account transcripts to see exactly what the IRS has on record. It covers only the tax years and matters you list on it, and you can revoke it whenever you want.
Can the IRS take money straight out of my paycheck or bank account?
Yes, but not without warning. A levy or wage garnishment comes after a series of notices, and the last one gives you 30 days and the right to a hearing. That deadline is the one that matters, so if a letter mentions a final notice of intent to levy, deal with it that week rather than that month.
I have not filed in years. Should I file before calling anyone?
Call first. The order matters, and the IRS may have already filed substitutes for some years, which almost always overstate what you owe. We pull the transcripts, see which years are actually missing, and file those. Nobody can negotiate anything until the unfiled years are in.
Will talking to you make the IRS look at me more closely?
No. Filing a power of attorney is routine and happens tens of thousands of times a year. It does not flag your account or trigger a review.
Why does "tax relief" have a bad name?
Search "tax relief" and you get an FTC page about companies that were sued, an IRS scam warning, and a row of ads promising to settle your debt for pennies on the dollar. The model is to charge a few thousand dollars up front, file one form, and stop returning calls. So here is what we will not say to you: we will not quote a settlement figure before seeing your transcripts, we will not tell you the IRS will forgive most of what you owe, and we will not describe an Offer in Compromise as likely, because for most people it is not.
Will I qualify for an Offer in Compromise?
Probably not, and that is fine. An Offer in Compromise settles a tax debt for less than the full amount when the IRS works out that it could not collect more: your income minus allowable living expenses, plus the equity in what you own, over the time it has left to collect. Having a large balance does not qualify you; being genuinely unable to pay it does. If you do not qualify, an installment agreement or currently-not-collectible status is usually the honest answer.
Bring the letter to the call.
Free, fifteen minutes. We read the notice with you, and you get a clear price before any work starts.