Get Publication 594 (Rev. May 2002). What You Should Know About The IRS Collection Process

If you don't pay your tax in full when you file your tax return, you'll receive a bill for the amount you owe. This bill starts the collection process, which continues until your account is satisfied or until the IRS may no longer legally collect the tax; for example, when the time or period for collection expires.

In some cases, the IRS can take more than 10 years to collect tax debts. This happens when an event causes the clock to stop ticking on the statute of limitations and the deadline gets extended. This is called tolling the statute of limitations.

Resumption of collection notices begins in 2024 The pause in collection mailings affected only follow-up reminder mailings. The IRS did not suspend the mailing of the first, or initial, balance due notices for taxpayers such as the CP14 and CP161 notices.

The IRS may levy (seize) assets such as wages, bank accounts, Social Security benefits, and retirement income. The IRS also may seize your property (including your car, boat, or real estate) and sell the property to satisfy the tax debt.

A CDP hearing is an opportunity to discuss alternatives to enforced collection and permits you to dispute the amount you owe if you have not had a prior opportunity to do so.

The law requires the IRS to use private agencies to collect certain outstanding, inactive tax debts. Effective September 23, 2021, when the IRS assigns your account to a private collection agency, one of these three agencies will contact you on the government's behalf: CBE Group Inc. Coast Professional, Inc.

If taxes are not paid timely, and the IRS is not notified why the taxes cannot be paid, the law requires that enforcement action be taken, which could include the following: Issuing a notice of levy on salary and other income, bank accounts or property (legally seize property to satisfy the tax debt)

Publication 594. This publication provides a general description of the IRS collection process. The collection process is a series of actions that the IRS can take to collect the taxes you owe if you don't voluntarily pay them.