Collection
From the first balance-due notice to levy: payment plans, offers in compromise, currently not collectible status, collection information statements, collection due process rights, liens, levies, the collection statute and the trust fund recovery penalty.
The IRS collection process, from the first bill to levy
The notice stream, ACS versus a revenue officer, the enforcement tools, and the points where a practitioner can pause collection.
IRS installment agreements: guaranteed, simple, non-simple and partial pay
The agreement types, what makes a request pending, user fees in effect from July 5, 2026, and what happens on rejection or default.
Streamlined installment agreements are now simple payment plans: the $50,000 rules
What changed when streamlined and in-business express agreements became simple payment plans, and the criteria in the July 21, 2026 IRM.
Partial payment installment agreements: equity, waivers and the two-year review
When the IRS will take payments that will not full pay before the CSED, what it does about equity, and how the biennial review works.
Currently not collectible status: hardship, closing codes and reactivation
The hardship standard, what the IRS verifies, the closing code income triggers, and what happens to liens, refunds and the statute while an account sits in CNC.
Collection information statements: Forms 433-A, 433-B and 433-F
Choosing between Forms 433-A, 433-B and 433-F, when a financial statement is not required, and how revenue officers verify one.
IRS Collection Financial Standards: the allowable living expenses effective June 29, 2026
The 2026 national and local standard amounts and the IRM 5.15.1 rules that decide what a client is allowed.
The collection statute expiration date (CSED) and what suspends it
The 10-year rule, each suspension (IA, offer, CDP, bankruptcy, time abroad, innocent spouse), waivers, judgments and what IRM 5.1.19 says about computing it.
When a revenue officer is assigned: contact rules, the first interview and deadlines
How Field Collection makes first contact, what the initial interview covers, and the IRM rules on representatives, deadlines and field visits.
Private debt collection: when the IRS assigns an account to a private agency
Which accounts the law sends to private collection agencies, the excluded taxpayers, the CP40 notice, and how to get an account returned to the IRS.
Passport certification for seriously delinquent tax debt (IRC 7345)
Who gets certified to the State Department, which debts are excluded, and how to get a certification reversed quickly when a client has travel booked.
Offers in compromise: the three grounds and how the IRS evaluates an offer
The legal grounds for an offer, what goes in the package, what the IRS can and cannot do while it is pending, and the difference between a return and a rejection.
Reasonable collection potential: how the IRS computes an offer amount
Asset equity at quick sale value, future income over 12 or 24 months, dissipated assets and the expense rules that drive the minimum acceptable offer.
Effective tax administration offers: when the IRS settles a debt the taxpayer could pay
The ETA offer for taxpayers who can pay in full but should not have to: economic hardship, public policy and equity grounds, and the special circumstances variant.
Doubt as to liability offers on Form 656-L
Form 656-L for disputing the tax itself after other remedies are gone: who qualifies, what to attach, the statute waivers, and how the IRS investigates.
Collection due process hearings: Form 12153 and the 30-day window
The lien and levy hearing rights under IRC 6320 and 6330: deadlines, what stops while the hearing is pending, the issues you can raise and the route to Tax Court.
Equivalent hearings: the one-year window after a missed CDP deadline
The Appeals hearing available for up to a year after a missed CDP deadline: same issues, but no Tax Court review, no automatic levy stop and no statute suspension.
Federal tax liens: filing, release, withdrawal, discharge and subordination
When the statutory lien arises, when the IRS files a notice, and how release, withdrawal, discharge, subordination and non-attachment each work.
IRS levies and wage garnishment: notices, release and return of property
Pre-levy notices, bank and wage levies, the IRC 6343 release grounds, economic hardship releases, and returning levied property to taxpayers and third parties.
The trust fund recovery penalty (IRC 6672): responsibility, willfulness and Letter 1153
Who the IRS treats as a responsible person, what willfulness requires, how the investigation runs, and the Letter 1153 appeal window before assessment.
Innocent spouse, separation of liability and equitable relief (Form 8857)
Relief from joint and several liability under IRC 6015(b), (c) and (f): eligibility, deadlines, the factors the IRS weighs and the 90-day Tax Court window.
Bankruptcy and tax debts: what is dischargeable and what the IRS does
The automatic stay, priority and dischargeable taxes, the three-year, two-year and 240-day rules, liens that survive discharge, and how bankruptcy interacts with offers and agreements.
Refund offsets and the injured spouse allocation (Form 8379): tax offsets, Treasury Offset Program debts, deadlines and how the IRS splits a joint refund
Tax offsets under IRC 6402(a), TOP offsets for child support, student loans and state debts, the transcript codes, the Form 8379 deadline and allocation method, and when an offset bypass refund is possible.
Transferee liability under IRC 6901: when the IRS can collect a taxpayer's debt from the people who received the taxpayer's property, what it must prove, the statute, and the defenses
What IRC 6901 does and does not do, the at-law and in-equity theories, the five elements the IRS documents, the notice of liability procedure, the one-year statute extension, Forms 870-T and 2045, and the defenses the IRM recognizes.
Forms, tools and templates
Form 433-A
The eight-page financial statement revenue officers use for individuals: what each section asks, what the IRS checks, and when a shorter or OIC version applies.
Form 433-B
The business financial statement a revenue officer uses for corporations, partnerships and LLCs: each section, the IRM verification steps and the usual problems.
Form 433-F
The two-page financial statement ACS and the campuses use for individuals, when revenue officers accept it, and how each section is completed.
Form 656
The offer in compromise form in the April 2026 Form 656-B booklet: each section, the fee and payment rules, where to mail it and how COIC decides processability.
Form 9465 (installment agreement)
The September 2020 Form 9465 with its July 2024 instructions, the July 2026 IRM changes to user fees and Simple Payment Plans, and how a request becomes pending.
Form 12153 (CDP hearing)
How to complete the July 2022 Form 12153, when a request is timely or merely processable, and what the IRM tells Collection and Appeals to do with it.
Form 12277
The application to withdraw a filed NFTL: the four statutory grounds, the direct debit IA criteria, withdrawal after release, and how Collection Advisory decides.
Form 14135
The application to sell or transfer property free of the federal tax lien: the IRC 6325(b) grounds, required documents, timing, payment and Advisory's review.
OIC RCP calculator
Builds the minimum doubt-as-to-collectibility offer the way Form 433-A (OIC) does: asset equity at quick-sale value plus 12 or 24 months of remaining income.
Installment agreement checker
Tests the balance against the payment plan thresholds the IRS publishes in IRM 5.14.5 and on IRS.gov, and estimates the monthly payment with interest and penalty.
CDP deadline calculator
Counts the 30-day CDP window and the one-year equivalent hearing window from a levy notice or lien filing, with weekend and holiday rules and the Tax Court deadline.