IRS CDP hearing: Protect your collection appeal rights

In 1998 Congress decided that the IRS had been seizing property with too little oversight, and it created a right that did not exist before: the right, before the IRS levies or after it files a lien, to sit down with someone who does not work for the collection division and argue that the IRS should do something else.

The right is called Collection Due Process (CDP), and the hearing is held by the Independent Office of Appeals. It can let you propose an installment agreement, offer or hardship status. A timely levy CDP request generally stops levy for the covered taxes and periods, subject to statutory exceptions; lien hearings do not create the same unconditional statutory levy bar. A timely CDP determination can be reviewed by the United States Tax Court under the separate court-filing rules below.

People can read the large words “intent to levy” and miss the hearing opportunity offered by the same letter. This chapter is about recognizing that opportunity and protecting the applicable deadline, not assuming that every notice or taxpayer has the same collection protections.

When you get the right

Two events trigger it.

The first is a levy CDP notice, such as LT11, Letter 1058 or CP90. For a levy CDP notice such as LT11, Letter 1058 or CP90, the request period is 30 days from the date of the notice. Follow the printed hearing deadline; do not count from when you opened the envelope. A prior CDP notice for the tax and period may already have provided the hearing opportunity. Certain statutory exceptions permit a hearing after levy; do not assume every automated levy qualifies for a post-levy exception.

The second is the Notice of Federal Tax Lien filing, communicated by Letter 3172.

For Letter 3172, the IRS must notify you within five business days after filing the Notice of Federal Tax Lien. The 30-day lien CDP request period begins after that five-business-day period. Use the hearing deadline printed on Letter 3172, not its letter date plus 30 days. The lien is already filed; requesting a hearing does not itself remove it.

You are generally limited to one lien hearing and one levy hearing for each tax assessment within a tax period. If a notice covers multiple periods, identify all periods you are appealing. Separate notices may have separate deadlines; check each notice rather than assuming a new notice restarts a prior hearing opportunity.

Use current Form 12153, identify the notice, taxes and periods, explain why you disagree or propose a collection alternative, and sign the request. Include a copy of the notice. Send it to the hearing-request address on the notice, not the payment address. If you want to fax it, call the number on the notice to confirm the correct fax destination and instructions. Keep a copy and proof of timely submission. Calling the IRS or discussing a payment plan does not replace a timely hearing request. For an equivalent hearing, check the Equivalent Hearing box in item 2 of the current form.

What the hearing is

It is not a courtroom. It is usually a telephone conference between you, or your representative, and an Appeals employee called a Settlement Officer. Before the conference the officer will send you a letter scheduling it and asking for documents: a completed financial statement if you want a collection alternative, any unfiled returns, and your position in writing. You will typically have two to four weeks to provide them.

At the conference, the officer is required by law to do three things. Verify that the IRS followed the required procedures: that the tax was properly assessed, that the notices were sent, that the collection period is open. Consider the issues you raise. And balance the government's need for efficient collection against your legitimate concern that the collection action be no more intrusive than necessary.

That third requirement is the heart of it. The question the officer is answering is not "does this person owe the money" but "is levying this person's wages the right thing to do given everything else available." If you walk in with a completed financial statement and a reasonable proposal, the answer is usually no, and the officer has the authority to say so.

What you can raise

Collection alternatives. An installment agreement, an Offer in Compromise, Currently Not Collectible status, a partial payment agreement. This is what most hearings are about. You propose it, the officer evaluates it using the same rules the collection division would, and if it fits, the officer can accept it or direct collection to process it. You need to be in filing compliance for the officer to consider an alternative, and the officer will give you a deadline to get there if you are not.

The appropriateness of the collection action. That the levy would cause hardship. That the lien was filed prematurely or should be withdrawn. That the IRS failed to follow its procedures.

Spousal defenses. Innocent spouse relief can be raised in a CDP hearing. Sarah did this. Her Form 8857 was already pending when the final notice arrived, and raising it in the hearing meant the levy stayed suspended while the relief request was decided.

The underlying liability, in limited circumstances. Whether you can dispute the existence or amount of the debt in CDP depends on the deficiency-notice and prior-opportunity rules. Tell Appeals whether you actually received a statutory notice of deficiency and whether you previously had another opportunity to dispute the liability. Do not equate a notice merely being sent with every receipt requirement being satisfied. A self-reported balance does not by itself answer every prior-opportunity question. current Form 12153 and instructions explains the available issues; individual history matters.

What you cannot raise. Arguments that the income tax is unconstitutional, that you are not a "person" under the Code, that wages are not income, and the rest of the catalog the IRS calls frivolous. Raising them gets your hearing request treated as frivolous, which means no hearing, and can carry a $5,000 penalty. If someone has sold you a theory about why you do not owe taxes, this is not the place to test it. There is no place to test it.

What it does while it is pending

A timely levy CDP request generally prohibits levy for the covered taxes and periods during the CDP process. Statutory exceptions include jeopardy, state-refund, disqualified employment tax and federal contractor levies; these can carry post-levy hearing rights. The IRS normally does not levy during the lien-hearing request period and related CDP process, but a lien hearing is not an unconditional statutory bar to levy. A timely CDP request suspends the collection limitation period until the determination becomes final or you withdraw the request in writing. A hearing request does not itself remove a filed lien or automatically release an existing levy; request release separately if appropriate.

The collection statute is suspended for the same period. For most people this is a fair trade: the levy stops and you get a decision. For someone like Robert, close to his deadlines, it is a cost to weigh. When Robert's lien notice arrived after his CNC determination, he had the right to a hearing and did not request it. He had nothing to propose that CNC status had not already given him, the lien was correctly filed under the IRS's rules, and a hearing would have added months to his clocks. Not requesting a hearing was the right decision for him, and I mention it because the right to a hearing is a tool, not an obligation.

How it ends

The Settlement Officer issues a Notice of Determination explaining the CDP decision. If an agreement is reached, the decision records it. If the proposed collection action is sustained, do not assume that means levy can immediately resume: the applicable levy prohibition and collection-statute suspension generally continue until the determination is final, including timely judicial review, subject to statutory exceptions. Read the determination and its petition instructions promptly. An equivalent hearing ordinarily ends with a Decision Letter, not the same statutory right to Tax Court review.

For review of a CDP Notice of Determination, petition the U.S. Tax Court within 30 days of the mailing of the determination, not 30 days after opening it. Use the deadline and instructions on the determination. This is separate from a deficiency case, which generally has 90 days from mailing, or 150 days if the deficiency notice is addressed to a person outside the United States. Do not use the deficiency period for a CDP petition.

File with the Court, not with IRS Appeals or the collector. You can file electronically through DAWSON or use the Court's permitted paper-filing procedures. Electronic petitions generally must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the filing deadline; starting an upload does not establish timely receipt. For paper filings, a timely USPS postmark or an IRS-designated private delivery service can matter; not every courier product qualifies. Keep the filing confirmation or appropriate postmarked receipt. The Court explains weekend and District of Columbia holiday rules. Its current filing fee is $60, with a waiver application for those unable to pay. Follow the privacy instructions: redact identifiers from the petition and attached notice, and put taxpayer identification numbers only on the separate designated form. See Tax Court guidance for starting a case.

Missing the CDP court deadline is serious, but not automatically beyond remedy in every case. In Boechler v. Commissioner, the Supreme Court held that the 30-day CDP petition deadline is nonjurisdictional and subject to equitable tolling. The Court did not give everyone an extension or hold that the taxpayer automatically qualified. Extraordinary circumstances and diligence require individual analysis; seek a tax attorney or Low Income Taxpayer Clinic immediately, and do not assume the same rule applies to deficiency petitions.

Tax Court review is not an automatic opportunity to reopen every liability issue or rebuild the case after ignoring Appeals' information requests. Raise your issues and submit relevant evidence during the hearing. IRS Publication 1660, Collection Appeal Rights, page 2, warns that issues and evidence omitted there may not be available in court. Seek representation for questions about the applicable review standard or evidentiary limits.

The practical point is that the hearing itself, not the court, is where the case is decided. Treat the conference as the main event. Submit everything the officer asks for, on time. Propose something specific. Be the taxpayer whose file is complete, because that taxpayer gets the alternative.

The equivalent hearing

If you miss the CDP deadline, an equivalent-hearing request must be postmarked on or before the end of one year from the date of the levy CDP notice, or one year plus five business days from the lien filing date for a lien notice—not one year from Letter 3172’s date. An equivalent hearing does not legally prohibit levy, suspend the collection limitation period, or provide the same right to Tax Court review.

An equivalent hearing can address the same kinds of collection issues, but it does not create the statutory prohibition on levy, suspend the collection limitation period, or provide the ordinary right to petition the Tax Court from a CDP determination. Appeals ordinarily issues a Decision Letter rather than a Notice of Determination. A dispute about whether the IRS wrongly treated a timely CDP request as late needs prompt individual advice; do not assume a Decision Letter creates the usual CDP court-filing rights.

Do not rely on a voluntary collection hold during an equivalent hearing. It does not give you the levy prohibition, collection-statute suspension or Tax Court review rights of a timely CDP hearing. Protect the printed CDP deadline whenever possible.

In Michael's composite example, the LT11 was fourteen months old when the bank levy arrived, beyond the ordinary levy CDP and equivalent-hearing request windows. His representative had to consider other remedies. That example is not a ruling that every late taxpayer has no remaining procedural argument. The two newer years later carried their own notices and deadlines; he requested hearings for those years and presented the installment agreement already negotiated. Check each tax period separately rather than assuming one old notice decides every year.

The faster alternative: the Collection Appeals Program

For a specific dispute that does not need a full hearing, there is a second process. The Collection Appeals Program, requested on Form 9423, lets you challenge a lien filing, a levy, a seizure, or the rejection, modification, or termination of an installment agreement.

CAP can move quickly, but its deadline depends on the action and collection channel. In a revenue-officer lien or levy case, request a conference with the Collection manager first. If unresolved, notify the revenue officer or manager within two business days after the conference that you want CAP review, and have Form 9423 postmarked within three business days after the conference to prevent collection from resuming. Two days is the notification step, not the Form 9423 postmark deadline.

If a manager or designee does not contact you within two business days of your conference request, contact Collection again or submit Form 9423 explaining that in Block 15; the form should be received or postmarked within four business days of the conference request. After an actual seizure, appeal to the Collection manager within 10 business days after the Notice of Seizure is given or left at your home or business. In automated cases, follow the telephone appeal procedure; do not assume the revenue-officer filing process applies unchanged.

Installment-agreement decisions have separate CAP procedures. A rejection generally has a 30-day appeal period from the rejection letter; proposed termination generally has 30 days from that notice, and an additional 30 days follows actual termination if you did not already appeal. A manager conference is recommended, not required, for those agreement appeals. The notice and IRS Publication 1660, Collection Appeal Rights, pages 3–4, give the applicable procedure, including modifications. CAP itself does not provide judicial review of its decision or a forum to dispute the underlying tax liability.

Use it when: a levy was issued that you believe violated procedure and you are outside the CDP window; an installment agreement was rejected or terminated and you want a second look; a lien withdrawal, discharge, or subordination request was denied. Do not use it as a substitute for a timely CDP request on a final notice, because it gives you less.

Michael used it, briefly, when the partial release of his bank levy was initially denied by the first representative he reached. The manager conference, which he requested by phone, resolved it the same day and he never filed the form. That is also a common outcome: asking for the manager and naming the appeal right often resolves the dispute before the appeal is filed.

Filling out Form 12153

Since the form is the gateway, a few notes on it.

Identify every tax and period you are appealing. Include the notice copy; current Form 12153 says you need not complete its tax-information section if you attach the notice being appealed.

Check both lien and levy boxes if you are appealing both notices. Check each notice’s CDP deadline separately. If one request is late, check the Equivalent Hearing box and confirm that action’s applicable equivalent-hearing window: one year from the levy CDP notice date, or one year plus five business days from the lien filing date.

Under the reasons for the hearing, check the collection alternatives you want to discuss. Select “I am currently unable to pay due to financial hardship” if it applies, and identify a proposed collection alternative in item 9 as appropriate. Check "innocent spouse" if it applies. In the explanation space, write two or three sentences: that a levy would cause hardship because of specific facts, that you are proposing a specific alternative, and that you are gathering documentation. You do not need to argue your case on the form. You need to preserve the issues.

Sign and date it. If a representative is filing for you, attach Form 2848, the power of attorney.

Send it to the address on the notice that triggered it, not to a general IRS address. Keep proof of mailing.

Sarah's hearing

Sarah's final notice arrived while her innocent spouse request was pending. She filed Form 12153 on day nineteen, checked the innocent spouse box and the installment agreement box, and wrote three sentences. The conference was five months later. By then the IRS had granted separation of liability on the understatement. The Settlement Officer confirmed the relief determination, noted her remaining liability of about $1,900, accepted her offer to pay it within ninety days, and issued a determination closing the matter. The levy that had been threatened never happened.

The hearing did not win Sarah's case. Form 8857 did. What the hearing did was make sure that during the year it took the IRS to decide the relief request, nobody took her paycheck. That is what the right is for.

For the business owner, everything in this chapter still applies, but faster and with higher stakes, because the tax involved was never the business's money in the first place. David's chapter is next.

Hearing timing and procedures: IRS Publication 1660, pages 1–2 and Form 12153 and instructions, source-checked October 30, 2026. See Chapter 16 for the lien, levy and equivalent-hearing distinctions.