The IRS is collecting. Where are you on the clock?
A balance-due account moves through a fixed sequence: the first bill (CP14), two reminder notices (CP501 and CP503), the CP504 that warns a levy is coming and already lets the IRS levy a state tax refund, the LT11 or Letter 1058 that actually gives Collection Due Process rights, and then a levy itself. Every notice in that sequence has its own deadline, and missing one narrows what you can still do about the next.
The Collection Statute Expiration Date is the outer boundary on all of it — the IRS generally has ten years from assessment to collect, tolled by events, including your own OIC, installment or CDP request, so size every alternative against what is left. Once you know where an account sits in the sequence and how much clock remains, there are four ways to actually intervene: an installment agreement, Currently Not Collectible status, an Offer in Compromise, or a Collection Due Process appeal.
Start with the tool
- CSED Calculator
Calculate the Collection Statute Expiration Date on any IRS liability, with every tolling event shown.
Calculators
- How Long Does the IRS Have to Audit a Return?
Find the assessment statute expiration date (ASED) for a return: three years, six years or no limit, with each rule cited to the Code.
- Collection Alternative Router
Route a case across Guaranteed IA, Simple Payment Plan, Non-Simple IA, PPIA, CNC, and OIC in one pass, with the IRM/IRC citation shown at every branch.
- IA Payment Calculator
Size a Simple Payment Plan, Guaranteed, or Simple Payment Plan (Business Trust Fund) installment agreement per IRM 5.14.
- CNC Eligibility Calculator
Check Hardship Currently Not Collectible eligibility per IRM 5.16.1.2.9 — income vs. allowable expenses and net asset equity.
- OIC Pre-Qualifier
Run the IRS reasonable-collection-potential formula to test offer-in-compromise viability.
- Form 433 Auto-Populator
Turn a pasted Wage & Income Transcript into a populated Form 433 disposable-income estimate under the IRS Collection Financial Standards.
- Appeal Channel Router
Route a dispute to Collection Due Process, the Equivalent Hearing, the Collection Appeals Program, an Offer in Compromise rejection appeal, or Audit Reconsideration in one pass, with the deadline and the IRC/IRM citation shown at every branch.
- IRS Private Debt Collection: Check Your Account
Got a private collection agency letter or call? See whether IRC §6306 lets the IRS send the account to an agency, which exclusions apply, and how to verify before you pay.
Notices
Transaction codes
For the taxpayer
Reading
Deep Dive: The Complete IRS Collections Timeline
Cheat Sheet #9: Stale Account Levy
FreeFirst Principles: Myth — an offer in compromise is about…
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