CP34 Notice: Your Post-Release Collection Pause Has Ended

What a CP34 tells you

The IRS CP34 page says the notice tells you “the pause on collection activity during your incarceration and for 180 days after your release has ended.” It also reminds you of an unpaid balance on one of your tax accounts.

The balance includes the original tax, interest, and any penalties from outside the pause. The IRS keeps charging interest and those penalties until you pay in full.

The IRS gives this pause to two groups. Its hostage page defines a hostage as a U.S. national held against their will by a group not connected to a government, to force someone else to act. A wrongful detainee is a U.S. national whom the State Department finds a foreign government holds unjustly.

How the pause worked

IRM 5.19.1.5.12 says the State Department and the FBI send the IRS a list of people they declare hostages or wrongful detainees. The IRS marks each of those accounts with a hostage indicator, “HSTG.” That marker blocks enforcement notices while it stays on the account.

At release, IRM 5.19.1.5.12.1 tells IRS staff to remove the marker and, if you owe, to enter a TC 470 that holds collection for 180 days. When that hold ends, staff reverse it with a TC 471 and the account returns to normal processing. The CP34 tells you that moment has come.

What happened to your penalties

The same IRM section tells staff, after the hold ends, to “abate all penalties from the date the captivity started through the end of the suspension period.” The CP34 page puts it this way: the IRS did not charge penalties while you were captive or for 180 days after your release.

Penalties from outside that window can still apply. The CP34 page names the failure to pay penalty and the failure to deposit penalty. For those, you can ask the IRS to remove or lower them for reasonable cause. Our penalty abatement analyzer walks through how the IRS weighs that request.

Interest works differently. The CP34 page says the IRS charges interest on any balance until you pay it in full. Neither IRS page says the IRS removed interest for the pause.

What to do by the date on your notice

Pay the balance if you can. The CP34 page says interest and penalties stop growing once you pay in full, and that you can pay online and get instant confirmation.

If you cannot pay it all, pay as much as you can now. Then pick a next step the IRS page lists: a payment plan, an offer in compromise, or a temporary collection delay if you face financial hardship. Our payment plan estimator shows which IRS plan likely fits what you owe.

Expect the IRS to keep your refunds. The CP34 page says that if you owe for another tax year, the IRS applies any refund to that balance until you pay it off, even with a payment plan.

If you had a payment plan or a lien before

A payment plan you set up before your captivity may still stand, or it may need an update. The CP34 page points you to IRS.gov/Account to see your balance and plan, and to the Online Payment Agreement tool at IRS.gov/OPA to reinstate or revise it. If the plan defaulted while someone held you, the same tool may let you reinstate it or start a new one.

A Notice of Federal Tax Lien filed before your captivity may still stand too. The CP34 page says the IRS releases the lien once you pay the balance in full.

What people mistake a CP34 for

Many people read it as a new bill. It is not. It is the old balance, now open for collection again.

Others fear the IRS will add penalties for their time in captivity. The IRM tells staff to remove penalties for that time and for the hold after release. Check the notice: if it shows a penalty for those dates, call the number on it.

Some people worry the notice is a scam. If it looks suspicious, the IRS notice-lookup page says to call 800-829-1040. You can also call the IRS Hostage Program line at 800-908-0368. If you think someone used your identity, the CP34 page tells you to report it at IRS.gov/IdentityTheft and file Form 14039, the Identity Theft Affidavit, if you need to. Our guide to IRS phone numbers lists other lines the IRS publishes.

Common Questions