LT27 Notice: The IRS Has Not Received Your Online Payment Plan Application

What LT27 means

The IRS page for this notice says the IRS still hasn’t received your online payment agreement (OPA) application and needs your response by the date on your notice. If it gets no response, the page says, your account goes back to collections.

An online payment agreement is the IRS tool for applying for a payment plan on the internet. The Internal Revenue Manual (IRM), the IRS’s staff rulebook, titles LT27 “Reminder to Complete Online Payment Agreement (OPA)” (IRM Exhibit 5.19.5-2).

How to finish the payment plan application

The IRS page gives two ways. The first is online: complete your application with the IRS online payment agreement tool.

If you can’t use the online tool, the page says to mail two paper forms, an installment agreement request and a collection information statement, with any required supporting documents. Send them to the address in the “Additional information” section of your notice. Common Questions below link both forms.

Before you apply, our payment plan calculator estimates the monthly amount you might pay under a plan.

If you no longer want a payment plan

The IRS page lists three other paths. You can pay the balance in full straight from your bank at no cost. You can ask the IRS to temporarily delay collection if paying would cause financial hardship. Or you can look at an offer in compromise, a request to settle your tax debt for less than you owe, which comes with an IRS pre-qualifier tool.

The page marks the last two, the collection delay and the offer in compromise, as options for individual taxpayers only.

What happens if you do not finish the application

The IRS page says your account goes back to collections after the date on the notice. Its Common Questions add that the IRS can then take enforcement action, such as seizing your wages, other income or property.

The date on the notice is the deadline that matters. Mark it, and finish the application online or on paper before it passes.

What people mistake LT27 for

Some people read LT27 as a sign the IRS turned down their payment plan. It is not. The IRS page says the IRS still has not received your online application, so the IRS has no complete application yet to approve or deny.

Others mix it up with LT24. LT24 means the IRS has your payment plan proposal and needs more information to finish it. LT27 means the IRS does not have a completed online application from you, even if you started one.

And some assume a phone call with the IRS set up the plan. If you got LT27, the plan is not in place until you finish the application.

For practitioners: what to check first

Find out how the case reached LT27. IRM 5.19.1.6.8.3.2, which covers follow-up on online payment agreement referrals, has IRS staff send LT27 when a proposed online agreement lacks the information to set it up and an outcall fails. Ask the client whether they started an online application, and when.

Then pick the route. Online, the client applies through the IRS tool; on paper, the IRS page calls for the collection information statement and supporting documents, so gather pay, expense and asset records well before the notice date.

Check the fee and low-income relief. The IRS page says the setup fee depends on the agreement type and comes out of the first payment, and that a low-income taxpayer may qualify for a reduced fee that the IRS can waive or reimburse.

Common Questions