Income mismatch & return changes
Your refund was applied to a tax balance from another year instead of being sent to you. This notice shows the refund, the debt it paid, and what's left of each.
Routine
Your refund was applied to a tax balance from another year instead of being sent to you. This notice shows the refund, the debt it paid, and what's left of each.
Why you got it: An overpayment and an unpaid balance existed at the same time; 26 U.S.C. 6402 tells the IRS to settle the old one first.
Not a new charge — it's a receipt for a transfer the law requires. The real question it raises is whether the OLD balance it paid was actually right.
Your first move: Check the old year's balance on a transcript. If that balance was already paid, discharged, or past its 10-year collection date, you may be owed the money back — that's the fight worth having.
The clock on this letter: No response deadline on this notice.
The offset already happened. Disputes target the underlying balance for the other year, through that year's process.
If both numbers are right, this is just a receipt.
Paid twice? Past the 10-year date? Wrong year? Each has a fix — through that year's account.
Questions: the number on the notice, with both years' transcripts in front of you.
'Pay a fee to release your held refund' attached to a CP49 story is a scam — the money already moved; the IRS explains it free.
Nothing further happens because of this notice — but a wrong old balance stays 'paid' with your money.
Where this sits on the ladder: This letter stands on its own track — see the collection ladder for the enforcement road.
One payment. No subscription. Yours to keep — every notice, every letter, every script.