Tax Resolution
IRS notices and letters,
and the clock each one starts.
The IRS does not send one letter. It sends a sequence, and the sequence is the useful part: it tells you precisely how much time you have and which options are still open.
The short answer
What does an IRS notice mean?
An IRS notice is a numbered letter that states a specific finding about a specific tax year and, in most cases, starts a deadline. The number in the top right corner is the part that matters. A CP14 is a first bill and is not urgent. An LT11 or Letter 1058 is a Final Notice of Intent to Levy and gives you thirty days before the IRS may take money. A Letter 3219 Notice of Deficiency gives ninety days to petition the Tax Court, and that deadline cannot be extended for any reason at all.
Find the notice number, find the date, and count forward. Almost every avoidable bad outcome in federal tax collection comes from a deadline that passed rather than from an argument that failed.
The collection sequence, in order
For an unpaid balance, notices arrive in a predictable order. Each one is a stage, and the options available to you narrow as it advances.
| Notice | What it is | Clock it starts | Urgency |
|---|---|---|---|
| CP14 | The first bill. Tax assessed, balance due, interest and penalties beginning to run. | 21 days to pay before further penalty accrual notices | Act, but no emergency |
| CP501 / CP502 | Reminder that the balance remains unpaid. | Roughly 5 weeks between notices | Low |
| CP503 | Second reminder, firmer language, no new legal effect. | Roughly 5 weeks | Low, but the sequence is now moving |
| CP504 | Notice of Intent to Levy. Permits seizure of state tax refunds and signals what is next. Often mistaken for the final notice. | 30 days | High. Respond before the next one |
| LT11 / Letter 1058 / CP90 | Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing. The one that authorises bank levies and wage garnishment. | 30 days to request a Collection Due Process hearing | Critical |
| CP90 / CP297 | Final notice variants issued to individuals and businesses respectively. | 30 days | Critical |
| Letter 3172 | Notice of Federal Tax Lien Filing. The lien is already public at this point. | 30 days to request a CDP hearing on the lien | High |
Examination and adjustment notices
A different family of notices concerns what you reported rather than what you owe. These are not collection letters, and answering them correctly is often the difference between a small correction and a large assessment.
CP2000
An automated underreporter notice. The IRS matched a third-party form, a 1099, a W-2, a K-1, a brokerage 1099-B, against your return and found a difference. A CP2000 is a proposal, not a bill. It very frequently overstates the tax, because the matching system sees gross proceeds from a stock sale without the cost basis, or a 1099-NEC without the business expenses that offset it. You have thirty days to respond with the missing side of the picture.
Letter 566 / CP75
The opening of a correspondence audit, usually of a credit such as the Earned Income Tax Credit or a specific deduction. Narrow in scope, and best kept that way. Audit representation is covered here.
Letter 3219, Notice of Deficiency
The statutory notice, often called the ninety-day letter. It is the IRS formally asserting a deficiency, and it is your only opportunity to challenge the assessment in Tax Court before paying it. Ninety days, no extensions, no exceptions. After it passes the tax is assessed and your only remaining routes are to pay and sue for refund, or to move into collection alternatives.
What to do when a notice arrives
- Do not pay it reflexively. Notices are sometimes wrong, and a payment made to stop a letter can be difficult to reallocate later.
- Record the notice number and the date. Both are in the top right. Everything that follows depends on these two facts.
- Do not call the number on the letter before you know your position. Anything you say to a revenue officer becomes part of the record, and a well-meant statement about your income or assets is difficult to retract.
- Pull the transcript. The notice shows one year and one issue. The account transcript shows every year, every assessment, every payment, and the collection statute date. That is the real picture.
- Answer within the window. Even a request for more time, made in writing before the deadline, is worth far more than a complete answer sent afterwards.
How we handle a notice case
With a Form 2848 in place we become the recipient of your IRS correspondence and the party the IRS talks to. We pull the full transcript set, work out what the notice is actually responding to, and answer it in the form the IRS expects, which for most disputes is a written response with documentation rather than a phone call. Where the notice is a final notice, we file the Collection Due Process request inside the thirty days, which pauses collection while Appeals considers the matter.
If the balance is correct and simply unpayable, the notice stops being a dispute and becomes a collection alternative question. That path is set out here. If the penalties are the bulk of the balance, which is common, abatement may remove more of it than any payment plan will.
Notice FAQ
Questions about IRS notices.
What happens if I ignore an IRS notice?
The sequence continues without you. Notices escalate from a balance-due bill to a Final Notice of Intent to Levy, and after thirty days from that final notice the IRS may levy bank accounts, garnish wages, and seize refunds without going to court. Ignoring the earlier notices costs you options rather than triggering an immediate seizure, but it costs you the free ones first.
How do I know an IRS notice is genuine?
The IRS initiates contact by mail, not by phone call, text message or email, and it never demands payment by gift card or wire transfer. A genuine notice carries a notice number in the top right corner, such as CP14 or LT11, references specific tax years, and directs payment to the United States Treasury. If a letter demands immediate payment by unusual means or threatens arrest, it is a scam.
Which IRS notice is the urgent one?
The LT11, Letter 1058, or CP90, all of which are versions of the Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing. That letter starts a thirty-day period in which you can request a Collection Due Process hearing, which pauses collection and gives you access to Appeals. Miss it and the IRS may levy, and the appeal route narrows sharply.
Can I disagree with a notice?
Yes, and the route depends on the notice. A CP2000 proposing additional tax from unreported income can be answered by responding with your evidence within thirty days. A Notice of Deficiency, Letter 3219, gives ninety days to petition the United States Tax Court and that deadline cannot be extended for any reason. A collection notice is challenged through Collection Due Process or the Collection Appeals Program.
The notice says I owe money I already paid. What now?
This is common and usually a posting problem: a payment applied to the wrong year, an estimated payment credited to a spouse, or a return processed before a payment cleared. It is resolved by pulling the account transcript and showing where the money went, not by paying twice. Do not send a second payment to make a notice stop.
Keep Reading
If the notice has already become something else.
Before the Deadline
Send us the notice.
We'll tell you what it starts.
A notice number and a date are enough for us to tell you how much time you have and whether it needs a same-week response. That conversation costs nothing and takes about fifteen minutes.