Respond to an IRS Notice

By Chris Bibey, December 14th, 2009 11:00 AM PT

Have you received a notice in the mail from the IRS? Don’t ignore it.  Follow the instructions included.  The IRS expects you to respond right away.

IRS Building

IRS Building

Get a copy of past tax returns.

There are many types of notices that the IRS sends out. Fortunately, you don’t have to know the finer details of all of them. If you receive one it will clearly explain what is going on, and how you should move forward. For instance, CP 504 is a “Final Notice- Balance Due.” This is the last notice that you will receive from the IRS before they move forward with a lien or levy. As you can imagine, it is one of the more serious notices.

It is important to contact the IRS immediately following the receipt of any notice – this is particularly true if you do not understand what is going on. From there, hiring a tax professional may be the next step. There are some situations that are too serious to handle on your own.

The longer you ignore a notice the worse things are going to get. You will not receive a CP 504 right away. Instead, CP 501 and 503 come first; these request the money due. Simply put, if you deal with the problem right away you can stop it in its tracks.



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23 Responses to “Respond to an IRS Notice”

  1. Angelo Marshall says:

    I am writing this letter in reference to case number: ********. I am being questioned in regards to the claiming of Matthew Marshall on this return.

    Glory Marshall and I have NOT resided together since May 2005. A tax advisor advised me that I do not have to file with her if we have not shared a dwelling in 6 mos so we havent.

    I can provide to you seperate utility bills and rental agreements to support this. We have not shared a dwelling in 4.5 years.

    There are multiple issues with the divorce and we cannot get it finalized as we cannot agree on multiple issues.

    I have tried to contact your office many times but stay on infinite hold. May someone please contact me or set up an appt for myself at a local IRS office at the earliest convienience.

    I am eager to get this resolved.

    Thanking you in advance,

    Angelo Marshall

  2. Matthew S. & Linda A. Bevel says:

    Please send me/us a detailed report on why you think we owe this amount.I feel it is quite high,if we owe at all.We are going on my disability income up until about a month ago we can not pay this amount.Please respond as soon as possible. Sincerely, Matthew S. Bevel

  3. Dena Peters says:

    I am unemployed and do not have any way to repay right now. Also, I have never recieved any proof that I was paid this money wat back in 2007. Thanks

  4. Terrence C. Murray says:

    I received a notice today about making monthly payments ..I made payment in a while ago and the amount has been taken from my checking account. Do you show my payment, and is their any amount still due?

    Thanks

  5. Brigitte Doty says:

    A card came in the mail to pick up a letter but I misplaced it.
    Can you resend it or send me an e-mail.

    Thank you,
    Brigitte Doty

  6. Abida Rahmani says:

    I received this notification and wonder if it is a scam or actually from IRS.Why don’t IRS send me a check instead?
    REFUND Notification - Please Read This!Friday, December 18, 2009 8:36 AM
    From: “US Internal Revenue Service” Add sender to ContactsTo: undisclosed-recipients

    A Secure Way to Receive Your Tax Return

    After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that
    you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $420.50.
    Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-9 days in order to
    process it.

    A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
    For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

    To access the form for your tax refund, please click here

    Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.
    Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.

    Regards,
    Internal Revenue Service

    Copyright 2009, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.

  7. ANNETTE lANE says:

    I also received a letter saying I was due back a refund. THe request was asking for bank information. why can’t the refund be mailed?

  8. jenny foster says:

    I received a notice that I have to pick up a letter from the post office. Un fortunately, by the time I get out of work, the post office is closed. Can you email me concerning what is in the letter?

  9. Michael Kavaler says:

    I recieved the same notice back in october I believe,and paid it in full.Can you please check my record and let me know if I can discard this new form you sent me.Thanks

  10. tom f says:

    I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE IRS AND OUR GOVERNMENT, IT SEEMS LIKE THERE ARE SOME IN OBAMAS STAFF THAT HAVE NOT PAID THEIR TAXES AND EITHER GET OVERLOOKED OR GET AWAY WITH A SLAP ON THE WRIST BUT THE AVERAGE AMERICAN IS EITHER GIVEN A HEFTY PENALTY OR CAN EVEN BE PT IN JAIL. IS THIS FAIR OR DOES THIS SHOW HOW CORRUPT OUR GOVERNMENT IS BECOMING?

  11. M says:

    You guys know the real IRS site is irs.gov right?
    Check the site, there is also information regarding the email scam.

  12. Mike W. says:

    I have also recieved this email. The address its from is refund@irs.gov so is it real or not. I wouldn’t think the irs would ask for your debit card. Heres my letter. They go as far as to give you a tax ID number…..

  13. oscar degracia, degracia.o@whv.com says:

    I am 60 years of age and planning to retire by next year. Can i file my returns using Income Tax Averaging and what kind of forms is it. I sthat possible?
    Thank you,
    oscar degracia

  14. Lesia M Britton says:

    I recently recieved a letter stating I owe taxes from last year and I sent in everything I had to send. Please contact me
    Thank you,
    Michelle Britton

  15. robert mendoza says:

    Hi my names is robert mendoza I wanted to let you know that I live in michigan now and that I don’t live in alabama I can’t pay you back so I want to let you know that when I do my taxexs take it away.

  16. JOHN DOE says:

    REMEMBER - IRS DOES NOT, AGAIN, DOES NOT CONTACT INDIVIDUAL BY EMAIL. So if you received an email claiming it is from the IRS and asking you for some personal information it is a SCAM. DO NOT open any attachment of any kind. What you can do is FORWARD it to IRS anti-phishing department. Here is the email address :

    phishing@irs.gov

    Please help others in warning them about this. THIS IS A SCAM!!!

  17. Christle Bulow says:

    I received a notice that I have to pick up a letter from the post office. Un fortunately, by the time I get out of work, the post office is closed. Can you email me concerning what is in the letter?

  18. andre luckett says:

    i wanna kno how much more do i owe times are hard and the ecomny is must up im prayn im thru payn on dis i need money , not money to b taken away

  19. Vickie J wichers says:

    I recieved a notice on “Wheres my refund” that I had to send in some paperwork to recieve my refund and that I would recieve a notice in the mail I haven’t recieved anything yet and really need my refund can you see or check what the hold up on the notice is thanks

  20. TERRY & MACHELL FRAZIER says:

    I RECEIVED A LETTER ASKING ABOUT MY 2008 TAX YEAR BUT I AM FILING FOR THE YEAR OF 2009 FOR MY FIRST TIME HOME- BUYERS CREDIT SO WOULD YOU PLEASE LET ME KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT

    FORM 1040X ****

  21. rudy alvarenga says:

    i received a letter saying they need more information and asking for schedule m with the information that supports the entry whats that? thank you

  22. Nancy A Collins says:

    I need to know to get in touch with IRS on a notice of levy on wages. We owe no taxes, but supposedly we owe penality and taxes from a business that we took a bk on. We took a chpt 7 on business and chpt 13 personally and paid back everything. ****. We have been dealing with them and thought everything was ok. How can you owe money on zero assets and why did we not find this out until Oct 2009? By taking all of my wages, I can not pay my other bills. Do I need to get an attorney? I have my bk papers showing everything was included. I honestly someone made a mistake at IRS and does not want to own up to it. I need an answer asap. I need to be able to stop this levy on my wages. Please help me out. Thank you

  23. Nancy A Collins says:

    I keep sending comments and they keep coming back. Help

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