Category: Individual

There is a particular feeling that comes with seeing Internal Revenue Service on an envelope, and it is usually worse than whatever is inside. A lot of people search for what it might be before they open it. This is written for that moment.

Two things are true at once: most IRS letters are routine, and the letter still needs opening today.

First, is it actually from the IRS?

Worth checking, because impersonation is common and the fake ones are designed to frighten you into paying quickly. The IRS is unusually clear about how it does and does not make contact.

On its own guidance the IRS says: “We normally contact you the first time by mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.” Mail first is the norm, not the exception.

It also says it emails only when you have opted in, and sends text messages only when you have opted in. On social media it is blunter: “A social media direct message is never from us.”

So a letter in the post is the expected way for this to begin. An out of the blue text, DM or email is not.

The IRS also lists demanding payment immediately as a warning sign that contact is a scam. A real notice gives you a deadline and options. It does not insist you pay in the next ten minutes.

One more, because it worries people: the IRS says “Unannounced visits are rare. We generally send a letter before we visit.” Somebody turning up with no warning and no letter having arrived first is a reason for suspicion.

What the envelope tells you, and what it does not

Less than you would hope.

The city in the return address is where it was processed, not what it is about. People search for the city they see on the envelope trying to work out what is coming. It is not a useful signal. The same city handles many different kinds of correspondence, and the thing that identifies your letter is printed inside it.

The class of postage tells you nothing either. Ordinary notices arrive by ordinary post. A few specific types are sent by certified mail, but the absence of certification is not reassurance and its presence is not a disaster.

There is no way to work out what is inside without opening it, and every extra day costs you options.

Open it, then find the number on the right

Every notice carries a number that identifies exactly which letter it is. The IRS puts it in a predictable place: “You can find the CP or LTR number on the right corner of the letter.”

That number is the single most useful thing on the page. It tells you, and tells us, what the letter is, what it is asking for, and what your options are. Find it before you read anything else.

We have written separately about where to find the notice number and what the prefixes mean.

Why the IRS usually writes

The IRS’s own list of reasons for sending correspondence is shorter and calmer than most people expect:

• You have a balance due
• Your refund has changed
• They have a question about your return
• They need to verify your identity
• They changed or corrected your return
• Processing your return is delayed

Notice that two of those are about your refund and one is a straightforward question. Not every envelope is a bill.

What to do next, in order

1. Find the deadline. It is printed on the letter. Almost every option you have shrinks once it passes.
2. Do not pay it just because it asks. A notice states what the IRS currently believes. That is not always the same as what is correct, and paying is not the same as agreeing.
3. Do not ignore it. A letter that could have been answered with one document becomes a bill that is much harder to unwind.
4. Keep the envelope. The postmark occasionally matters.

If the letter does not appear when you look up its number, or if anything about it looks wrong, the IRS asks you to call 800-829-1040 rather than act on it.

When it is worth getting help

Plenty of notices are answerable in an afternoon with one document. Some are not, and the ones worth handing over are the ones proposing a change to your return, questioning your identity, or arriving after you have already replied once.

Bring the letter, unopened envelope included, before you respond. It is easier to answer a notice properly the first time than to reopen one that has been answered badly.

Somebody holding an IRS letter usually wants one thing first: to know which letter it is. There are hundreds of them and they range from a corrected figure to a serious proposal to change your return.

There is a number that answers it, and the IRS prints it in the same place every time.

It is on the right

In the IRS’s own words: “You can find the CP or LTR number on the right corner of the letter.”

That is the identifier. Not the amount, not the date, not the office it came from. If you are going to write one thing down before doing anything else, write that.

CP and LTR

You will see one of two prefixes.

CP is a computer generated notice. The IRS’s systems produced it automatically because something on your account met a condition: a balance, a changed refund, a delay, a mismatch between what was filed and what a third party reported.

LTR is a letter, generally produced in the course of something a person is handling.

Neither prefix tells you how serious the contents are. A CP notice can be trivial or significant. The number after it is what narrows it down.

Look the number up, not the city

A lot of people search for the city printed on the envelope instead, trying to work out what is coming.

It will not tell you. The city is where the letter was processed, not what it concerns. The same processing location handles many unrelated kinds of correspondence, and two people holding letters postmarked from the same city can be dealing with completely different things.

The number is specific. The city is not.

Once you have the number, the IRS has a search on its own site for looking it up. And if the letter does not appear there, or if anything about it seems off, the IRS asks you to call 800-829-1040 rather than respond to it.

What people mean by an access code

This comes up often enough to be worth naming. People search for an access code on an IRS letter, and usually one of two things is meant.

Most of the time it is the notice number described above: the thing you need in order to look the letter up. That is the number in the right corner.

Sometimes it is a code printed on a letter asking you to confirm your identity, used once to complete that specific process. Those letters say plainly what the code is for and where to use it.

Either way the instruction is the same: use it only on the route the letter itself describes, and only after you are satisfied the letter is genuine. A code is exactly the sort of thing an impersonation attempt wants you to hand over.

Before you respond

Two things worth doing once you have the number.

Check the deadline. It is on the letter, and most of your options depend on it.

Check whether it is right. A notice is what the IRS currently believes about your account. Where a notice proposes a change to your return, agreeing by default is a decision, not a formality.

If you are not sure which of those you are looking at, bring it in. Reading a notice number and knowing what it actually means are two different jobs, and the second one is quick when you do it every week.

If you have lost a letter, suspect one went missing, or simply want to see what the IRS has on your account without waiting for the post, there is an online account that shows a good deal of it.

What the account shows

The IRS individual online account includes the ability to “View digital notices from the IRS”, which is the part most people are looking for.

It also carries a fair amount that is useful when you are trying to work out what is going on:

• Balances owed, broken down by tax year
• Up to five years of payment history, including estimated tax payments
• Key return information including your adjusted gross income, plus transcripts
• The status of a refund or an amended return
• Information return documents such as Forms W-2 and certain 1099s
• Audit status, currently for certain audits conducted by mail

That last group is worth knowing about for a different reason. If you are missing a W-2 or a 1099 and cannot get a replacement from whoever issued it, the account is one way to see what was reported about you.

What it takes to set up

Identity verification, and it is not a formality. The IRS says: “If you’re a new user, have your photo identification ready.”

Set aside a quiet fifteen minutes rather than attempting it on a phone between other things. People abandon it halfway more often than they fail it.

What it does not replace

Three things worth being clear about.

It is not a substitute for reading the letter. The paper notice carries the deadline and the response instructions for your specific situation.

Not everything appears there. The account shows digital notices, and it is safer to treat it as a useful second view of your account rather than a complete archive of every piece of paper ever sent.

It does not tell you what to do. Seeing a balance and understanding why it exists are different things, and the second one is where the money usually is.

One warning about getting there

Go to the IRS site directly. Do not arrive at it through a link in an email or a text message.

The IRS says it emails only when you have opted in, sends text messages only when you have opted in, and that “A social media direct message is never from us.” An unexpected message with a link to sign in and verify your identity is the exact shape of an impersonation attempt, and an account like this one is what it is trying to reach.

If what you find does not make sense

A balance you do not recognise, a return marked as delayed with no explanation, or a notice you never received are all worth a conversation before you act on them. Bring what the account shows and any letters you do have.