Balance due & the collection ladder
A 'Notice of Intent to Levy' — the IRS says pay immediately or it can levy (take) your state tax refund, and it is now searching for other assets. Issued under 26 U.S.C. 6331(d).
Serious
A 'Notice of Intent to Levy' — the IRS says pay immediately or it can levy (take) your state tax refund, and it is now searching for other assets. Issued under 26 U.S.C. 6331(d).
Why you got it: The balance survived CP14, CP501, and CP503 with no payment, plan, or resolution.
It is NOT the final levy notice, and it does NOT carry the 30-day Collection Due Process hearing right. That right arrives only with LT11 / Letter 1058 (or CP90). The expensive mistake is treating CP504 as the last step — or as nothing.
Your first move: Pay, get a payment plan approved, or call the number on the notice now. Do not wait for a 'final' letter to take it seriously — but know the hearing right has not started yet.
The clock on this letter: No hearing clock runs on this notice — act anyway.
CP504 has no 30-day CDP window (that right attaches to LT11 / Letter 1058 / CP90 under 26 U.S.C. 6330). The IRS can levy a state tax refund after this notice; other property generally requires the later final notice with hearing rights first.
Either one takes the account out of the levy track.
Ask Appeals to review the proposed collection action before it happens.
If the balance is real but unpayable, hardship status pauses enforced collection while the 10-year clock keeps running.
Pay online immediately or call the toll-free number on the notice. If you already paid or have a plan, still call — the IRS says so itself — so the account reflects it.
Real CP504s come by mail and appear in your online account. The IRS does not announce a levy by text message.
Your state tax refund can be taken. A federal tax lien can be filed publicly. Then comes the final notice of intent to levy — after which wages, bank accounts, and other property are on the table.
Where this sits on the ladder: LT11 →
One payment. No subscription. Yours to keep — every notice, every letter, every script.