LP59 Notice: The IRS Has Not Received Your Response to a Levy

What LP59 means

The IRS page for this notice says it “tells you we previously sent you a notice of levy to collect money from the taxpayer named in the notice but haven’t received a response.” The Internal Revenue Manual (IRM), the IRS’s staff rulebook, titles LP59 “Please Contact Us About the Taxpayer Levy” and uses it to follow up on a levy that drew no answer (IRM 5.19.4.4.8).

You got the levy because you may hold money or property that belongs to the taxpayer, such as wages you owe an employee or a balance in an account. Under IRC 6332(a), a person who holds property subject to a levy must surrender it to the IRS on demand.

How to send the levy payment

The IRS page lists the steps. Pay the amount you owe within 30 days of the date printed on LP59. Make the check or money order payable to “United States Treasury.”

On the check or money order itself, not on a detachable stub, write the taxpayer’s name, identifying number or numbers, the kind of tax, the tax periods shown on Part 1 of the levy notice, and the words “LEVY PROCEEDS.”

Complete Part 3 on the back of the levy notice the IRS sent you earlier, and mail it with your payment in the enclosed envelope. The IRS page also says to give the taxpayer Part 2 of the levy notice within 2 days and to keep Part 2 for your records.

If you owe the taxpayer nothing or already paid

If you already paid the levied amount in full, or you have no obligation to the taxpayer named on LP59, the IRS page says to complete and mail Form 15104, Status of the Taxpayer Levy, within 30 days of the date printed on LP59.

Detach the stub at the end of LP59 and mail it with the form in the enclosed envelope, to the address on the stub. If the levy reached property that belongs to you, not the taxpayer, the IRS page points to Publication 4528, which explains how to make a wrongful levy claim under IRC 6343(b).

What happens if you do not respond

The IRS page says that if the IRS doesn’t hear from you within 30 days, you may be personally liable for the tax the taxpayer owes or the amount you owe the taxpayer, whichever is less. IRC 6332(d)(1) sets that cap and adds costs and interest.

On top of that, IRC 6332(d)(2) adds a penalty equal to 50 percent of the amount the IRS can recover from you when you fail to surrender the property without reasonable cause. The IRS page lists the same penalty.

What people mistake LP59 for

Some recipients think silence is safe when they owe the taxpayer nothing. It is not. The IRS page asks you to tell the IRS so, in writing, within 30 days.

Others pay the money to the taxpayer instead. IRC 6332(a) directs it to the IRS, and under IRC 6332(e) only a surrender to the IRS discharges you, so paying the taxpayer can leave you owing the same money twice.

For practitioners: what to check first

Check whether the levy reached the client at all. IRM 5.19.4.4.9 tells IRS staff to reissue the levy, not send LP59, when the levy source says it never got the levy. Before LP59 goes out, the same section has staff confirm the taxpayer got the advance third-party contact notice the law requires, such as an LT40.

Then check the numbers. IRM 5.19.4.4.9 sends LP59 only for a federal employee or when the IRS has confirmed the source holds levied funds, and the IRC 6332(d)(1) cap turns on the smaller of what the client held and the tax on the levy, so document what the client held when the levy arrived.

For an employer, the IRS page says a levy on salary or wages applies until the IRS gets the full tax or sends a release of levy. LP68 is the IRS letter that says the IRS released the levy.

Common Questions