An IRS letter, answered on time.
Many IRS notices are proposals with a deadline, not final bills. I read the notice against your return, tell you whether the IRS is right, and send the response before the window closes.
The deadline is the part that costs money.
The IRS is usually willing to fix a wrong notice. What it won't do is wait. A CP2000 ignored for 30 days becomes a Notice of Deficiency, and a Notice of Deficiency ignored for 90 days becomes an assessed tax. At that point the one place to dispute it without paying first, the Tax Court, is closed. Here is what the common letters mean and how long you have.
CP2000
The IRS got a 1099, W-2, or brokerage form that doesn't match your return and is proposing more tax.
Respond within 30 days of the notice date (60 if you live outside the U.S.). Silence gets you a Statutory Notice of Deficiency.
CP14
A balance due. Usually the first bill after a return is processed.
Pay by the date on the notice. Interest and the failure-to-pay penalty keep running until the balance is zero.
Letter 5071C
The IRS wants to confirm you filed the return before it releases the refund.
Nothing moves until you verify. The refund sits until then.
Notice of Deficiency
The 90-day letter (CP3219A or Letter 3219). The IRS's final word before it assesses the tax.
90 days to petition the Tax Court, 150 if addressed outside the U.S. The IRS can't extend it.
LT11 or Letter 1058
Final notice of intent to levy: wages, bank accounts, or other assets are next.
30 days to request a Collection Due Process hearing on Form 12153. Miss it and you lose the right to Tax Court review.
From the first letter to the last.
Most cases close with one well-documented response. The ones that don't need someone who knows which form stops which clock.
Notice response
I check the notice line by line against your return and the source documents. When the IRS is right, you sign and pay. When it's wrong, I write the response with the documents that prove it, which is how a CP2000 for a stock sale with no basis on the 1099 usually goes away.
Penalty relief
For 2025 returns and later, the IRS's new Automatic Exemption from Penalty skips the failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties if your prior three years were clean. For older years, or when the transition misses you, I request relief directly: First Time Abate where it still applies, reasonable cause where it doesn't, and Form 843 when the penalty is already paid.
Balance due and payment plans
If the tax is owed, the goal is to stop the notices from escalating. I set up the installment agreement, sequence the payments around what you can actually afford, and make sure the penalty relief request goes in before the money does.
Levy and collection appeals
A final notice of intent to levy starts a 30-day clock that can't be extended. I file Form 12153 for the Collection Due Process hearing, which pauses the levy and gets your case in front of the IRS Independent Office of Appeals.
Refund holds and identity letters
A Letter 5071C or a refund stuck in review usually needs one correct answer, not a stack of paperwork. I tell you which it is and how long it typically takes from there.
Representation on Form 2848
Enrolled Agents have unlimited practice rights before the IRS, the same as CPAs and attorneys. With a signed Form 2848, the IRS talks to me, not you, and I handle the calls, the letters, and the follow-up.
Some notices are just right.
If the CP2000 is about a 1099 you forgot and the math checks out, signing the response and paying is the cheapest answer. I'll tell you that on the call rather than bill you to agree with the IRS.
Where I earn the fee is the notice that's wrong, the penalty that shouldn't stand, and the collection letter that needs an answer this month. If you want the background first, start with what to do with a CP2000, what a CP14 means, or how to answer a Letter 5071C.
Please don't email the notice. Upload it through the secure portal so your Social Security number stays out of an inbox.
Answer it before the window closes.
Book a call with the notice in front of you. I'll tell you what it means, whether the IRS is right, and what to send back.