CP90, Final Notice of Intent to Levy

A CP90 is the Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing. It is the last notice the IRS sends before it can take wages, bank accounts and other property, and it is the only notice in the collection sequence that carries a right to a hearing with court review. The 30 days it gives you are the most valuable in the whole process.

What changes with a CP90

Earlier notices, including the CP504, warned that a levy was coming. The CP90 is the notice section 6330 requires before the IRS may levy. Thirty days after it is sent, the IRS can serve levies on your employer, your bank, your customers, and on Social Security benefits, without any further notice.

The collection due process hearing

Within 30 days of the notice date you can request a collection due process hearing on Form 12153. A timely request stops the levy while the hearing is pending, suspends the collection statute for the same period, and gives you a review by the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. If Appeals decides against you, you can petition the Tax Court.

The hearing is not limited to whether the levy is procedurally correct. You can propose an installment agreement or an offer in compromise, raise spousal defenses, and, if you never had an earlier chance to dispute the tax, challenge the underlying liability itself. That is why a CDP request is often the first move even when the balance is real.

If the 30 days have passed

You can still ask for an equivalent hearing within one year of the notice. Appeals considers the same issues, but the request does not stop the levy and the decision cannot be taken to court. The difference between the two is the difference between a right and a request, so the 30-day deadline is worth meeting.

What to do in the first week

1. Note the notice date and calendar the 30-day deadline. Mailing date, not receipt, controls.
2. Confirm the balance and the years. Notices sometimes include periods that were already paid or are under review.
3. Decide what you will propose at the hearing: full payment, an installment agreement, an offer, or hardship status.
4. File Form 12153 by certified mail, and keep the receipt.

See the IRS collections overview for what a levy looks like if one does issue, and how it is released.