Collection Alternative Router

Answer once — get the Guaranteed IA, Simple Payment Plan, Non-Streamlined IA, CNC, PPIA, or OIC determination this account routes to, with the IRM or IRC citation governing every branch it passed through, not just the final answer.

How this compares to the IRS's own tools

The IRS's own Interactive Tax Assistant (irs.gov/help/ita) does not include a topic covering collection alternatives at all — confirmed by reading its current topic list directly before writing this page; it answers questions like filing status and estimated-payment requirements, not installment agreement, CNC, or OIC selection. The IRS's separate Offer in Compromise Pre-Qualifier (irs.treasury.gov/oic_pre_qualifier) is scoped to one alternative: its own irs.gov description says it helps a taxpayer "confirm you're eligible and prepare a preliminary proposal" for an OIC specifically — it does not compare an OIC against an installment agreement or CNC, and it does not show the authority behind its result. This tool routes across all of these alternatives in one pass and shows the IRM or IRC citation at every branch — a difference in scope and transparency, not a claim that no other tool exists to help with any single one of these programs on its own.

Balance & compliance

Taxpayer type

Gates the installment agreement checks — a Guaranteed Installment Agreement (IRC §6159(c)) is available to individual accounts only.

Aggregate unpaid balance

The unpaid balance of assessment — tax plus assessed interest and penalties as shown on CC SUMRY.

Has the taxpayer filed all required returns?

Is the taxpayer current on estimated tax / federal tax deposit obligations for this year?

Has the taxpayer entered into an installment agreement within the preceding 5 years?

CSED date

Strongly recommended. Without a CSED, this tool cannot test whether the account can full-pay before the statute runs — the fact that separates a Non-Streamlined Installment Agreement from a Partial Payment IA or CNC — and will route as if it cannot.

Household & collection standards

Feeds the CNC Hardship test (IRM 5.16.1.2.9) — income against IRS Collection Financial Standards — which this tool always runs, since it determines several of the routes below, not just a CNC-specific outcome.

Entity type for the hardship test

A different, more granular question than "Taxpayer type" above — Hardship CNC (IRM 5.16.1.2.9) reaches only the first four types listed here.

Gross monthly income

Household size

Ages of household members

State

County

Census region

Metro area (optional)

Vehicles

Assets

Used for both the CNC net-equity test and the Offer in Compromise Reasonable Collection Potential calculation — one asset list, not two.

Offer in Compromise

If an OIC applies, how would it be paid?

Changes the future-income multiplier in the Reasonable Collection Potential formula (IRM 5.8.5) — ×12 for lump sum, ×24 for periodic.