IRS Notice CP59: the IRS has no record of your return
The IRS has no record of a prior-year personal return. It wants the return, or an explanation of why none is due. It is the first letter in a sequence that ends with the IRS preparing the return itself, from only the income it knows about.
THE CLOCK — RESPOND NOW; THE REFUND WINDOW IS CLOSING TOO
The CP59 asks you to file immediately or explain why you do not need to. If the IRS still has no return, it sends CP518, a final reminder that says it may determine your tax for you. Separately, a refund for a year that was never filed is generally lost if the return is not filed within 3 years of its due date.
What the notice asks for
The CP59 says the IRS has no record that you filed your prior-year personal tax return, and asks you to file it immediately or explain why you do not need to.
If you disagree, the IRS says to complete Form 15103 and mail, fax or upload it through your IRS Online Account. If you filed within the last eight weeks, the IRS says you do not need to do anything. If you did not file, or it has been longer than eight weeks, it asks for a signed and dated copy of the return, and suggests checking that the return was not rejected.
If you received an Identity Protection PIN, it has to be on the return you send.
Did you actually file?
A surprising number of CP59s go to people who believe they filed. The return was rejected electronically and nobody noticed, it went to the wrong address, it was filed under a different name or number, or a preparer never submitted it. Checking takes less time than arguing.
The IRS itself suggests checking that the name, Social Security number and tax year on the notice match the return you think you filed.
HOW TO CHECK
- Your e-file acceptance confirmation, if the return was filed electronically, not just the software's record of transmitting it
- A tax account transcript for the year, which shows whether a return was processed
- A verification of non-filing letter, which states the IRS has no record of a processed return as of the request date
- The wage and income transcript, which shows what the IRS knows about your income for that year
- A copy of the return and proof of mailing, if you mailed it
The IRS says a verification of non-filing letter does not say whether you were required to file. It only says no return was processed.
What follows if nothing is filed
If the IRS still has no return, it sends CP518, which it describes as your final reminder that it has no record of the return. The CP518 asks for the return with Form 15103, or Form 15103 alone to explain why none is due, and says that if the IRS does not hear from you it may determine your tax for you.
That determination is the substitute return. The IRS prepares it from the income reported to it by employers, banks and others, and sends it as a proposal on CP2566. It includes the income it knows about and not the expenses, basis or credits it does not, which is why a substitute return usually overstates the tax.
A proposal left unanswered becomes a notice of deficiency, then an assessment, then the collection notices. Each step is harder to unwind than the one before it.
Filing the return
The IRS says it can accept returns for the last two years electronically, through an e-file provider that offers it. Older returns are mailed to the address on the notice.
If you are owed a refund for that year, there is a deadline. The IRS says a refund of withholding or estimated tax must be claimed within three years of the return due date, and the same rule applies to credits such as the Earned Income Credit. It also holds refunds for other years where a return is past due.
If you owe and cannot pay, file anyway. The IRS says so itself on the final reminder. Monthly, the failure-to-file penalty in the statute is ten times the failure-to-pay penalty, and the collection alternatives, from installment agreements to offers, depend on the returns being filed first.
Where this comes from
The statutes behind this page, so you can check any of it rather than take it on trust.
- IRC §6020(b)
- If a required return is not filed, the IRS may make one from its own information. That is the substitute return this sequence leads to.
- IRC §6501(c)(3)
- Where no return is filed, tax may be assessed at any time. The usual assessment period never starts.
- IRC §6511(a)
- The period for claiming a refund. The IRS summarizes it for unfiled years as within 3 years of the return due date.
- IRC §6651(a)(1)
- The failure-to-file penalty, which runs from the due date until the return is filed.
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.
Notice CP2566
With no return on file, the IRS has calculated your tax, penalty and interest from what employers, banks and others reported. It is a proposal. You can file your own return instead, and for most people that is the single largest reduction available.
Unfiled tax returns
Almost every serious collection case has unfiled periods behind it. Nothing else can be resolved until they are in — and the returns the IRS prepares in your place are, by design, the worst possible version of your tax position.
IRS transcripts explained
The IRS offers five kinds of transcript, free. Each answers a different question, and most tax problems need two of them: the account transcript for what is owed and the wage and income transcript for what the IRS knows you earned.
Catching up unfiled returns
Most tax problems start here, and no resolution is approved until the returns are in. The work is records first, returns second, and it serves the IRS and the Department of Revenue from the same file.
Questions about notice cp59.
- What should I do if I already filed?
- If you filed within the last eight weeks, the IRS says you need do nothing. Otherwise, send a signed and dated copy of the return, or explain on Form 15103 that you already filed. A transcript or an e-file acceptance confirms whether it was processed.
- What if I didn't have to file that year?
- Explain that on Form 15103, which the IRS says you can mail, fax or upload through your Online Account. Filing requirements depend on income, filing status and other facts for that year, so check them before replying.
- What comes after a CP59?
- If the IRS still has no return, it sends CP518, a final reminder that says it may determine your tax for you. That determination is a substitute return, sent as a proposal on CP2566, and it leads to a notice of deficiency if unanswered.
- Can I still get a refund for that year?
- Possibly, if you file in time. The IRS says a refund of withholding or estimated tax must be claimed within three years of the return due date, and the same limit applies to credits such as the Earned Income Credit.
- Can I e-file an old return?
- The IRS says it accepts returns for the last two years electronically, through a provider that offers the service. Older returns are mailed, to the address on the notice if you received one.
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.