Balance due & the collection ladder
The Final Notice of Intent to Levy — and the notice of your right to a hearing. This is the letter that starts the most important 30 days in the whole collection ladder.
Last stop
The Final Notice of Intent to Levy — and the notice of your right to a hearing. This is the letter that starts the most important 30 days in the whole collection ladder.
Why you got it: A balance went unpaid through the reminder ladder, and the IRS (through its Automated Collection System) is proposing to take property.
It is not the levy itself. But once its 30 days run out without a hearing request, the IRS can levy wages and bank accounts without sending another warning.
Your first move: Calendar the date 30 days from the date printed on the notice. Before it passes, decide — with your eyes open — whether to request the Collection Due Process hearing on Form 12153, pay, or set up a plan. Then do it by certified mail.
Every clock runs from this date — not from the day the letter reached you.
The strongest move if you dispute the balance or need time — it pauses the levy and preserves Tax Court review.
Full payment ends it; an approved plan pauses enforced collection.
CNC or an Offer in Compromise can be proposed at the hearing or directly — bring financial facts, not hopes.
Form 12153 to the address printed on the notice, by certified mail with return receipt requested. Keep the receipt — it is your proof of the date.
LT11 arrives by mail (often certified). Verify it in your IRS online account. The IRS never demands payment on a phone call out of the blue.
The IRS can levy your wages, bank accounts, and other property, and can file a tax lien if it hasn't. You can still ask for an 'equivalent hearing' within one year — but it does not pause the levy and gives no Tax Court review.
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.