Final Notice of Intent to Levy: the 30 days that matter most
The notice that authorizes levies on wages and bank accounts, and the one that carries a 30-day appeal right worth more than almost anything else in the collection process.
THE CLOCK — 30 DAYS FROM THE DATE ON THE LETTER
A hearing request filed within 30 days suspends levy action, suspends the collection statute while it is pending, and preserves review by the United States Tax Court. Filed on day 31, it becomes an equivalent hearing, which has none of those three effects.
Why this notice is different
Everything before this letter is a bill with increasingly firm wording. This is the letter that unlocks enforcement: after 30 days the IRS may levy wages, bank accounts, receivables, retirement accounts and other property without returning to you first.
It is issued under several numbers depending on which function produced it — LT11 and Letter 1058 are the most common, with CP90 and CP297 appearing in automated collection. The identifying feature is not the number but the phrase about your right to a hearing.
That phrase is there because section 6330 requires the IRS to offer you an independent review before it takes property. The review is the point of the notice, and it is available once.
What a timely hearing request does
Three things follow from filing Form 12153 within the 30 days, and each is substantial.
Levy action stops while the matter is with the Independent Office of Appeals. The ten-year collection period is suspended for the same span, which cuts both ways and is discussed below. And if the determination goes against you, you may petition the Tax Court within 30 days of it — meaning a judge outside the IRS can review whether the collection action was appropriate.
The hearing is also the forum where a collection alternative is considered on the record. Appeals must weigh whether the proposed enforcement balances the need to collect efficiently against the intrusiveness of the action, which is a genuine standard and not a formality.
What may and may not be raised
You may raise collection alternatives — an installment agreement, an offer in compromise, currently not collectible status, or the argument that a levy is more intrusive than necessary. You may raise spousal defenses. You may raise procedural failures, including whether the assessment was properly made.
You may challenge the underlying liability itself only if you did not receive a notice of deficiency for it and have not otherwise had an opportunity to dispute it. Where a deficiency notice was issued and ignored, that door is closed here and audit reconsideration becomes the route instead.
Arguments that taxes are unconstitutional or voluntary are treated as frivolous, carry their own penalty, and cost you the hearing.
WHAT TO HAVE READY BEFORE REQUESTING
- The notice itself, with its date — the 30 days run from that date, not from receipt
- Every unfiled return brought current, since no alternative is approved without filing compliance
- A completed financial statement if you intend to propose an alternative
- A specific proposal, not a request for time — Appeals decides on what is in front of it
- Proof of estimated payments or deposits for the current period
The cost of a timely request, and of missing it
Suspending the collection statute is not free. The ten-year clock stops while the hearing is pending, which extends the period during which the debt can be collected. Where a balance is genuinely close to expiring, that arithmetic deserves attention before a request is filed on reflex.
Missing the 30 days is worse in almost every case. What remains is an equivalent hearing, available within one year, which Appeals will conduct — but it does not stop levy action, does not suspend the collection period, and produces no decision the Tax Court can review.
The practical rule is that this envelope should be opened the day it arrives. Almost every other deadline in the collection process has a workaround. This one does not.
Where this comes from
The statutes behind this page, so you can check any of it rather than take it on trust.
- IRC §6330
- Notice and opportunity for a hearing before levy. Establishes the 30-day window and the right to judicial review of the determination.
- IRC §6331(a) and (d)
- The levy power itself, and the requirement of 30 days' notice before it is exercised.
- IRC §6502
- The ten-year collection period, which is suspended while a timely hearing request is pending.
This page explains what the IRS or the Massachusetts Department of Revenue does and cites the statute. It is not advice about your situation, which depends on facts none of this knows. Tell us what your letter says and what date is on it. Please do not send Social Security numbers or tax documents through the form.
Collection due process
An independent review of a proposed levy or a filed lien, with judicial review behind it. It is the strongest procedural right in collection, and it is available in a 30-day window that most people miss.
Wage garnishment
Unlike a bank levy, a wage levy does not happen once. It attaches to your employer and stays attached, taking everything above a statutory exempt amount from every payment, until it is released.
Bank levy
The bank freezes the balance and holds it for 21 days before sending it to the IRS. That holding period exists so mistakes can be corrected, and it is the whole of the opportunity.
Currently not collectible
Where paying anything would leave you unable to meet basic living expenses, the IRS suspends active collection. Nothing is forgiven and the balance keeps accruing — but the collection period keeps running too, and for some accounts that is the entire strategy.
Questions about final notice of intent to levy.
- How do I know whether my letter is the final notice?
- It says so, in the title, and it refers to your right to a hearing. LT11, Letter 1058, CP90 and CP297 all carry that language. A CP504 does not, and is not the final notice despite its urgent wording.
- Do the 30 days run from when I received the letter?
- From the date on the letter. Mail delay does not extend the period, which is why a letter found late is an emergency rather than an inconvenience.
- What happens if I request a hearing and then cannot agree with Appeals?
- Appeals issues a Notice of Determination. You then have 30 days to petition the Tax Court for review of it. That right exists only where the original request was made within the 30 days.
- Can I request a hearing just to buy time?
- A request must state a reason, and Appeals decides on what is proposed. A request with nothing behind it uses up the one hearing available for that period, suspends the collection statute while it runs, and leaves you in the same position afterward.
- I missed the 30 days. Is anything left?
- An equivalent hearing within one year gets the case in front of Appeals, and a workable proposal can still be accepted there. What is gone is the automatic hold on levy action and the ability to have the outcome reviewed by a court.
- Will the IRS levy on day 31?
- It may. Whether it does depends on the case, and there is no reliable pattern to rely on. The safe assumption is that the authority exists from that point and the timing is not yours to control.
Tell us what the letter says and what date is on it.
Scope and price in writing before anything starts. Where what you need is something we do not do, you will be told that instead.
Please don't send Social Security numbers or tax documents through this form.