IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy? Your 30-Day Hearing Right
If you are holding an IRS letter titled Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing — usually numbered LT11 or Letter 1058 — the most important thing on it is the date. Federal law gives you 30 days to ask, in writing, for a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing. A timely request generally stops the levy while the hearing and any court review are pending, gives you a forum to propose a way to resolve the balance, and preserves your right to have the United States Tax Court review what the IRS decides. Miss the 30 days and those protections narrow considerably.
What this letter is, and why it is different
A levy is a legal seizure of property to pay a tax debt. Before the IRS can levy, the Internal Revenue Code requires it to give you written notice of your right to a hearing at least 30 days before the first levy. The LT11 and Letter 1058 are that notice. The balance-due reminders that came before it were warnings; this is the letter that starts a legal clock.
The IRS’s own explanation of these letters says that if you neither pay nor respond, it can levy your wages or bank accounts up to the amount owed, and it lists among the property it can reach wages and other income, bank accounts, business assets, personal assets including a car and a home, and Social Security benefits. It may also file a public Notice of Federal Tax Lien. None of that is automatic on day 31, but the letter is the IRS telling you it is now permitted to act.
The 30-day clock and how to stop it
Under the regulations, the request must be made within the 30-day period that begins the day after the date of the notice — the date printed on the letter, not the day you opened it. The letter usually states the last day to respond. Use that date, and do not wait for it.
The request is made on Form 12153, Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing, sent to the address on the letter. The regulations require a written, signed request that identifies you, the type of tax and the periods involved, and the reasons you disagree with the proposed levy. Send it by certified mail and keep a copy and the receipt; the federal timely-mailing rules generally apply to a request that is properly addressed and sent.
What the hearing does for you
A CDP hearing is held by the IRS Independent Office of Appeals, before an officer who has had no prior involvement with the tax at issue. While the hearing and any appeal from it are pending, the levy actions that are the subject of the hearing are suspended. One trade-off to understand: the same statute also suspends the running of the limitations periods, including the IRS’s ten-year collection period, during that time.
At the hearing you may raise any relevant issue relating to the unpaid tax or the proposed levy, including:
- Spousal defenses, such as innocent spouse relief;
- Challenges to whether the collection action is appropriate;
- Collection alternatives — an installment agreement, an offer in compromise, posting a bond, or substituting other assets; and
- The existence or amount of the tax itself, but only if you did not receive a notice of deficiency for it or did not otherwise have an opportunity to dispute it. Under the regulations, a prior opportunity for a conference with Appeals generally counts as that opportunity.
An issue you already raised and had considered in an earlier hearing or proceeding in which you meaningfully participated generally cannot be raised again. Appeals must verify that the IRS met the legal and procedural requirements, consider the issues you raise, and weigh whether the proposed levy balances the need for efficient collection against your legitimate concern that it be no more intrusive than necessary.
Practically, the hearing works best when you arrive prepared: every required return filed, a current financial picture, and a specific proposal. The IRS says that if you are current on filing you can request an installment agreement. The payment-plan, offer-in-compromise, and hardship options themselves are explained in Owe the IRS and Can’t Pay?
Tax Court review of the decision
After a CDP hearing, Appeals issues a determination. You may petition the Tax Court for review within 30 days of that determination. This is the feature that most distinguishes a CDP hearing from other IRS appeals: a judge outside the IRS can review what Appeals decided.
In Boechler, P.C. v. Commissioner, 596 U.S. 199 (2022), the Supreme Court unanimously held that this 30-day petition deadline is not jurisdictional and can be equitably tolled “in appropriate cases.” That is not a grace period. The Court did not decide whether Boechler itself qualified, and tolling is the exception, not the rule. Treat the 30 days as firm. Separately, in Commissioner v. Zuch, 605 U.S. 422 (2025), the Court held that the Tax Court lacks jurisdiction in a CDP case once the IRS is no longer pursuing the levy, which means CDP review is tied to the levy itself rather than serving as a general forum for tax disputes. The petition deadline for a Notice of Deficiency is a different deadline under a different statute; see the Notice of Deficiency and the 90-day rule.
If you missed the 30 days
You may still request an equivalent hearing, using the same Form 12153, within the one-year period beginning the day after the date of the CDP notice. Appeals considers the same kinds of issues, but there are two important differences. The regulations do not require the IRS to suspend collection during an equivalent hearing, and the decision generally cannot be taken to the Tax Court.
The Collection Appeals Program (CAP) is a separate, faster process. It can be used before or after a levy, for liens, and when an installment agreement is rejected or terminated. You generally must first ask for a conference with the collection employee’s manager, then submit Form 9423. A CAP decision is binding, and you cannot take it to court. CAP is a tool for a specific collection action; it is not a substitute for a timely CDP request.
Bank and wage levies
If a levy does issue, the two most common targets work differently. A bank served with a levy may surrender deposits to the IRS only after 21 days from service of the levy. That window is time to contact the IRS immediately about any error or hardship, not time to wait. A levy on wages, by contrast, is continuous: it stays in effect from the date it is first made until the IRS releases it, reaching each paycheck rather than a single balance.
The lien notice is a separate letter with its own clock
A Notice of Federal Tax Lien comes with its own hearing notice, Letter 3172, under a parallel statute. The IRS must send it within five business days after filing the lien, and you then have a 30-day period, beginning after that five-day window, to request a CDP hearing on the lien. If you receive both a lien notice and a levy notice, each has its own deadline; calendar both.
Two boundaries are worth noting. The IRS may levy a state tax refund without first offering the pre-levy hearing; in that situation the hearing is provided within a reasonable time afterward. And a collection letter from the California Franchise Tax Board is a state matter governed by different rules; this article covers only IRS notices.
What to do now
Find the date on the letter and calendar the 30th day. Request your IRS account transcripts to confirm the balance and the tax periods listed. File any missing returns. Then decide what you will ask for at the hearing and send Form 12153 well before the deadline. A balance you believe is wrong, a spouse’s liability, or a resolution you cannot reach by phone are all reasons to have the letter reviewed early in the 30 days, while every option is still open.
For the full range of ways to resolve a balance, see Owe the IRS and Can’t Pay? Payment Plans, Offers in Compromise, and Your Other Options. If the IRS is still proposing the tax rather than collecting it, see Got a “Notice of Deficiency” From the IRS? Your 90 Days to Petition Tax Court.
Holding an LT11 or Letter 1058 and not sure what to ask for at the hearing? Ask a legal question.