CP90 or LT11: Final Levy Notice and Collection Due Process Rights

This notice can be a statutory rights document.

A qualifying final levy notice under IRC §6330 can open a Collection Due Process hearing period. Treat the actual notice and its stated response date as controlling.

The hearing request has its own deadline.

The statutory CDP period is generally 30 days from the qualifying levy notice. A phone call, payment discussion, installment-agreement negotiation, or other informal contact does not by itself preserve the hearing deadline.

Form 12153 is the standard request mechanism.

A timely CDP request can place collection issues before IRS Appeals. Depending on the facts, the hearing can address whether collection requirements were met, appropriate collection alternatives, and certain challenges to the underlying liability where the taxpayer did not previously receive a statutory notice of deficiency or otherwise have a prior opportunity to dispute it.

Timely CDP and an equivalent hearing are not the same.

A late request may, under current regulations and Form 12153 procedures, qualify for an equivalent hearing. But an equivalent hearing does not carry all the statutory consequences of a timely CDP request, including the same collection-statute suspension and judicial-review framework.

Do not let negotiations consume the statutory period.

If the taxpayer wants CDP rights preserved, submit the request through the required procedure before the applicable deadline even if discussions with the IRS are continuing.

The PRISM principle

CP90/LT11 is not just a warning to pay. It can be a statutory rights document.