A CP504 is the IRS’s Notice of Intent to Levy under IRC § 6331(d) — after 30 days, the IRS can seize your state tax refund. It is one step below the final notice, and it is the letter that should end any strategy built on waiting. Despite the alarming language, the CP504 alone does not yet let the IRS levy your wages or bank accounts — that requires one more notice. But it means that notice is coming.
By Sam Brotman, JD, LLM, MBA · Last updated August 2026
Your deadline
30 days from the notice date. After that, the IRS may take your state refund and will typically issue the final notice — an LT11 or Letter 1058 — which starts the clock on actual wage and bank levies.
What happens if you ignore it
Your state refund is taken, the federal tax lien may be filed against you publicly, and the final notice issues. Once that happens you are 30 days from enforceable levies, and your remaining protections run through a Collection Due Process hearing rather than a phone call. Every option you have at CP504 still exists later — it just costs more and moves slower.
Your options
Resolve the balance now: installment agreement, currently-not-collectible status, or an Offer in Compromise if your Reasonable Collection Potential supports one. If the underlying assessment is wrong, this is the stage to challenge it — audit reconsideration and penalty abatement remain available. The goal at CP504 is simple: never receive the final notice.
What we do
We take over contact with the IRS the day we are engaged, verify the assessment, and put a resolution in motion before the final notice issues. When the balance is significant, we prepare the Collection Due Process posture in advance — so if the LT11 arrives anyway, the hearing request is filed on time, every time.
Holding this notice now? Book a free 15-minute call or call (619) 378-3138. We will tell you exactly where you are in the collection process and what your options are before you spend anything. Our IRS collections attorney team handles these matters statewide.