What is a Collection Due Process hearing, and when must you ask for one?

A Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing is your right to have the IRS Independent Office of Appeals review a federal tax lien filing or a proposed levy. You must ask within 30 days: for a levy, within 30 days of the date on the final notice of intent to levy; for a lien, by the date shown on the lien notice. A timely request on Form 12153 generally stops levies, pauses the IRS's 10-year collection clock, and preserves your right to take the outcome to the U.S. Tax Court.

It is one of the most valuable protections in the collection process, and the deadline is easy to miss because it arrives inside an ordinary-looking letter. Kathryn Meyer's page on IRS collections and enforcement describes where this hearing sits among the other collection steps.

Which notices give you the right to a hearing?

IRS Publication 1660 lists the notices that carry CDP rights:

• Notice of Federal Tax Lien Filing and Your Right to a Hearing under IRC 6320;
• Final Notice, Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing;
• Notice of Jeopardy Levy and Right of Appeal;
• Notice of Levy on Your State Tax Refund, Notice of Your Right to a Hearing; and
• Post Levy Collection Due Process Notice.

You are entitled to one hearing for a lien notice and one for a levy notice for each tax period. The law requires the levy notice only once for each period, at least 30 days before the first levy (section 6330(a)).

How is the 30-day deadline counted?

An equivalent hearing is the same hearing with three things missing: it does not stop levies, it does not pause the collection clock, and you cannot go to court if you disagree with the result. Publication 1660 adds a warning worth repeating: calling the collection office that sent the notice does not extend the 30 days for a written request.

What does a timely request do?

• Stops levies for those taxes. No levy is allowed during the 30 days after a levy notice or while a timely hearing is pending, unless an exception applies.
• Pauses the collection clock. Under section 6330(e), the 10-year collection period is suspended while the hearing and any appeals are pending, and it cannot end sooner than 90 days after the final determination. How the clock works is explained in how long the IRS has to collect a tax debt.
• Keeps the courthouse door open. Only a timely CDP hearing leads to Tax Court review.

It does not stop everything. Form 12153 notes that a levy hearing request does not prevent the IRS from filing a notice of federal tax lien. And section 6330(f) lets the IRS levy first, and offer the hearing within a reasonable time afterward, when collection is in jeopardy, when it levies a state tax refund, when it serves a federal contractor levy, or for certain repeat employment tax levies.

What can you raise at the hearing?

Under section 6330(c), the Appeals officer must verify that the IRS met every legal and administrative requirement, and must weigh whether the proposed action balances efficient collection against your concern that it be no more intrusive than necessary. You may raise any relevant issue, including:

• Collection alternatives: an installment agreement, an offer in compromise, a bond, substitute assets, or a pause because you currently cannot pay.
• Lien options: withdrawal, subordination, discharge or release, covered in whether a federal tax lien can be released or withdrawn.
• Spousal defenses, such as innocent spouse relief, which also requires Form 8857.
• Hardship, payments not credited, and penalty relief for reasonable cause.
• The tax itself, but only if you did not receive a notice of deficiency for it and did not otherwise have an opportunity to dispute it (section 6330(c)(2)(B)). A person who received a proposed trust fund recovery penalty letter, for example, generally had that opportunity.

You cannot reopen an issue that was raised and considered at an earlier hearing or court case in which you meaningfully took part, and the IRS will deny requests that raise only frivolous arguments. The hearing must be held by an Appeals officer with no prior involvement in the unpaid tax, unless you waive that.

How do you ask, and what should you send?

1. Complete Form 12153, or a written request with the same information, and send it to the address on the notice with a copy of the notice.
2. List every tax and period on the notice that you want reviewed, and check both boxes if you received lien and levy notices.
3. State your reasons and the alternative you want. If you are proposing a payment arrangement, the form recommends attaching Form 433-A or 433-B with your financial information.
4. Keep a copy and proof of the mailing date.

The conference may be held by telephone or correspondence, or face to face if you qualify. Publication 1660 stresses one point that shapes everything afterward: raise every issue and submit all your evidence at the Appeals hearing, because the Tax Court may not let you raise new issues and may limit the evidence to what Appeals saw.

What happens after Appeals decides?

Appeals issues a determination letter. Under section 6330(d)(1), you may petition the Tax Court within 30 days of the determination. In Boechler, P.C. v. Commissioner (2022), the Supreme Court held that this 30-day limit is not jurisdictional and can be equitably tolled, but that is a narrow safety valve, not a reason to file late. Appeals also keeps jurisdiction over its determination, so you can return if the collection function does not carry it out or your circumstances change.

If the levy has already happened, see how to get a bank or wage levy released. A pending CDP hearing on a levy is also one of the situations in which the IRS does not certify a debt for passport action, explained in whether unpaid taxes can cost you your passport.

What changes the answer

• Which notice you have. Only the five notices Publication 1660 lists carry CDP rights; other collection actions may be appealed under the Collection Appeals Program (CAP) instead. The two routes are compared side by side in Collection Due Process or the Collection Appeals Program.
• Timing. Inside 30 days you get a full hearing with levy protection, a paused clock and Tax Court review; after that, only an equivalent hearing within one year.
• Whether you could dispute the tax before. The amount owed is open only if you received no notice of deficiency and had no other opportunity to contest it.
• Prior hearings. An issue raised and considered in an earlier hearing or court case in which you meaningfully took part cannot be reopened.
• Jeopardy and similar levies. Under section 6330(f), some levies come first and the hearing afterward.
• Your financial picture. Collection alternatives are judged on current financial information, which is why Form 12153 recommends attaching Form 433-A or 433-B.

For example: a levy notice and a payment plan

For example, imagine a taxpayer who receives a Final Notice of Intent to Levy dated March 1 for two tax years. She mails Form 12153 on March 20, checking the levy box, listing both years, and stating that she wants an installment agreement; she attaches Form 433-A with her income and expenses. Because the request is timely, levies on those years stop while the hearing is pending, and the collection clock pauses. At the hearing, the Appeals officer considers her proposal against the IRS's requirements. If she disagrees with the determination, she has 30 days to petition the Tax Court, which will generally look only at what she put before Appeals. Had she called the collection office instead and missed the written deadline, she would have been left with an equivalent hearing and no court review. This is a hypothetical, not a real case.

Common mistakes with CDP hearings

• Calling instead of writing. A phone call does not extend the 30 days for a written request.
• Leaving out a period. Each tax and period you want reviewed must be listed.
• Holding back evidence for court. The Tax Court may limit the record to what Appeals saw.
• Arguing only that the tax is unfair. Frivolous arguments are denied, and the amount owed is open only in limited cases.
• Missing the 30 days after the determination. Tolling after Boechler is an exception, not a plan.

What to do this week

1. Find the date on the lien or levy notice and work out the last day to request a hearing.
2. Complete Form 12153, listing every tax and period, and check the lien and levy boxes that apply.
3. Decide which alternative you will propose and prepare Form 433-A or 433-B with documents.
4. Send the request by a method that proves the mailing date, with a copy of the notice.
5. If you missed the 30 days, request an equivalent hearing within the one-year window, and consider CAP for other actions.

Frequently asked questions

Who can represent you at a CDP hearing?

Publication 1660 lists attorneys, certified public accountants and enrolled agents, and also immediate family members and, for a business, regular full-time employees, general partners or bona fide officers. A Low Income Taxpayer Clinic may represent you if you qualify.

Can you ask for a hearing on both a lien and a levy?

Yes. You are entitled to one hearing for a lien notice and one for a levy notice for each period, and the form lets you request both.

Does a hearing request stop a lien from being filed?

No. Form 12153 notes that a levy hearing request does not prevent the filing of a notice of federal tax lien.

Can a payment plan be approved through the hearing?

Yes, an installment agreement is one of the alternatives Appeals can consider; the options are compared in IRS payment plan options.

Can hardship status come out of the hearing?

Yes, a pause because you cannot pay is one of the listed alternatives; see what currently not collectible status means.

What does the Tax Court review?

The Appeals determination, generally on the record made at the hearing. The standards the court applies are explained in how the Tax Court reviews a Collection Due Process decision. More on Tax Court practice is under tax litigation.

Getting help inside the 30 days

The hearing request is short, but what you raise in it, and the evidence you put before Appeals, can decide what a court may later consider. Kathryn Meyer spent more than two decades in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel and represents taxpayers in collection matters and in the Tax Court. If you have a lien or levy notice, contact the firm or call (571) 560-8674 while the 30 days are still open.

Sources

• 26 U.S.C. 6330, Notice and opportunity for hearing before levy
• 26 U.S.C. 6320, Notice and opportunity for hearing upon filing of notice of lien
• IRS Form 12153, Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing
• IRS Publication 1660, Collection Appeal Rights
• Boechler, P.C. v. Commissioner, No. 20-1472 (U.S. Apr. 21, 2022)