IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy (LT11, Letter 1058, CP90): The 30 Days That Decide Everything

What the final notice is and why you received it

This is the notice section 6330 of the Internal Revenue Code requires before a levy, telling you that you have a right to a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing, and you received it because the balance survived the CP14 bill, the reminders and the CP504. It says three things: the IRS has to send the notice by certified mail to your last known address, you have 30 days to ask for a hearing before an appeals officer with no part in the collection decision, and while a timely request is pending the IRS cannot levy the periods listed on the notice. The version tells you who holds the file: Letter 1058 means a revenue officer, a named IRS employee with authority to levy and file liens, and our revenue officer assigned page covers what that changes.

The 30-day deadline and what happens if nothing is done

You have 30 days from the date on the notice to file Form 12153, and if the 30 days pass with no request and no resolution, the IRS can issue levies without another letter. Form 668-W can then go to your employer, and under section 6331(e) a wage levy is continuous, taking every paycheck above the exempt amount in Publication 1494 until it is released. Form 668-A can go to your bank, which under section 6332(c) holds the funds on deposit that day for 21 days and then sends them to the IRS. Receivables, retirement accounts and state refunds are also within reach; the mechanics are on our IRS bank levy and wage levy page. Under section 6651(d) the failure-to-pay penalty also doubles to 1 percent per month once a notice of intent to levy has gone ten days unanswered.

What to do in the first 30 days

The first 30 days are for getting Form 12153 on file, with a collection alternative attached, before the date on the notice. In order:

1. Count 30 days from the notice date and treat the day before as the deadline, because the request has to be postmarked in time.
2. Match the notice to your records and transcripts, and note which periods are on it, because the hearing covers only those.
3. File any unfiled returns; Appeals will not approve a payment plan, hardship status or an offer while a return is missing.
4. Decide what you will propose: an installment agreement, an offer or currently not collectible status, with a financial statement behind it.
5. File Form 12153 at the address or fax number on the notice and keep proof of the date, because a timely request stops levy action on the listed periods under section 6330(e).

Your options at the hearing and outside it

The hearing is where you present a collection alternative, and the alternatives are the same six the IRS offers on any balance, plus challenges only a CDP hearing allows.

• Pay in full. Paying by the date on the notice ends the matter.
• Short-term payment plan. Up to 180 days to pay in full; it does not stop the 30-day clock, so file Form 12153 as well.
• Installment agreement. Monthly payments under section 6159, with streamlined terms and no financial statement for individuals owing $50,000 or less, generally up to 72 months; above that, the IRS wants a Form 433 financial statement. A pending request bars levy under section 6331(k), and so do the 30 days after a rejection.
• Currently not collectible status. When any payment would leave you without basic living expenses, collection stops while interest runs and the ten-year statute under section 6502 keeps running.
• Offer in compromise. A settlement for less than the balance under section 7122, on Form 656, accepted when the offer meets what the IRS could collect from your assets and future income; a pending offer also bars levy.
• Penalty abatement. First-time abatement for a clean three-year history, or reasonable cause under section 6651(a) for events outside your control; Appeals can consider either at the hearing.

Then the rights that exist only because this is a CDP hearing: that the IRS skipped a step in its own procedures, that a spousal defense under section 6015 applies, or that the levy is more intrusive than necessary. Appeals closes with a Notice of Determination, and you have 30 days to petition the United States Tax Court; the Collection Appeals Program on Form 9423 is the narrower route, a quick review of one action with no court at the end.

What Brotman Law does with a final notice, step by step

We file the hearing request inside the 30 days, take over contact with ACS or the revenue officer, and use the months the hearing buys to put a resolution on file that Appeals will approve.

1. Day one, Form 2848 goes in and we calendar the 30th day; the calls and letters come to us, and if a revenue officer holds the file we call that officer first.
2. We pull the transcripts for every period on the notice and confirm each was properly assessed and the notice properly mailed, since a defective notice is a levy that can be reversed.
3. We file Form 12153 with the alternative named and the reasons stated, and keep the proof of timely filing.
4. We build the financial statement against the IRS Collection Financial Standards and request penalty abatement where the facts support it.
5. We handle the hearing, usually a phone conference with the settlement officer, negotiate the resolution there, and if the determination is wrong, petition the Tax Court within its 30 days.

Do you need a lawyer for a final notice?

The short answer is, not always: a balance under roughly $50,000, with no revenue officer, no levy or lien and no business payroll tax, can usually be handled with an IRS payment plan and a Form 12153 you file yourself. Here is how. Set up an installment agreement through the IRS Online Payment Agreement tool, on Form 9465 or by phone, for a monthly amount that pays the balance within 72 months, and file Form 12153 anyway before the 30th day, naming the agreement as your alternative, so the hearing right survives a rejection.

A monthly engagement with the firm fits when a revenue officer sent Letter 1058, a levy or a lien is in play, the balance is large enough to need a full financial statement, or the debt is business payroll tax with the personal trust fund assessment under section 6672 behind it. Those files turn on what you show the IRS and when, which is what a lawyer is for.

The monthly flat fee

Many matters like this one run as a monthly flat-fee engagement: one number, agreed up front, that covers agency contact, deadlines, document responses and strategy until the matter resolves. For a final notice that means the hearing request, the financial statement, the penalty requests, the hearing itself and the agreement that comes out of it, including a levy release if one lands while we are working.

Documents to gather

The notice comes first.

• The notice, its envelope with the postmark, and every IRS letter before it.
• The returns for the periods on the notice, and any return still unfiled.
• Three months of bank statements and pay stubs, or a profit and loss statement for a business.
• Monthly figures for rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, medical costs, car payments and child support.
• Any earlier payment plan, offer or hearing request, and any notice of deficiency for those years.

What happens if I miss the 30-day deadline on an LT11?

You can still ask for an equivalent hearing on Form 12153 within one year, and Appeals will consider the same alternatives, but it does not stop levies or pause the collection statute, and its decision letter has no Tax Court review. A pending installment agreement request or offer still bars levy.

Does filing Form 12153 stop a levy?

Yes, for the periods on the request, if it is filed within 30 days of the notice date. Section 6330(e) suspends levy action while the hearing and any Tax Court case are pending, and the collection statute pauses for the same time. The exceptions are jeopardy levies, which are rare and stated on the notice, state refund levies and certain repeat employment tax cases.

What is the difference between LT11 and Letter 1058?

Who sent it. LT11 comes from ACS and Letter 1058 from a revenue officer in a local office, and both carry the same 30-day hearing right. A revenue officer acts faster and knows more about your finances, so we treat Letter 1058 as the more serious of the two.

Can I dispute the amount I owe at a CDP hearing?

Only if you did not have an earlier chance. If a notice of deficiency went to your last known address, or you already had an Appeals conference on the liability, the amount is settled and the hearing is about how it gets paid. If it never reached you, the liability is on the table.

Can the IRS levy my Social Security or my retirement account?

Yes to both. The Federal Payment Levy Program takes up to 15 percent of Social Security benefits after the final notice, and a retirement account can be levied, though the IRS treats that as a last resort. Both stop while a timely CDP request is pending.

What if a levy has already hit my bank account?

The bank holds the funds for 21 days before sending them to the IRS, and the release has to reach the bank inside that window. Section 6343 requires release for economic hardship or on an installment agreement, and the release is Form 668-D faxed to the bank.

Related pages

• IRS collections attorney, the parent page
• IRS Notice CP14
• IRS CP501 and CP503 reminder notices
• IRS Notice CP504
• IRS revenue officer assigned
• Notice of Federal Tax Lien, Letter 3172
• IRS bank levy and wage levy
• Trust fund recovery penalty, Letter 1153
• IRS passport certification, CP508C
• IRS Form 433 financial statement