Notice Of Deficiency From The IRS!
The CP 531 letter is a notice that is sent to tax payers informing them that they owe additional money for a certain tax period. It is important for you to respond to the IRS within the deadline specified by them. If you have received the CP 531 letter from the Internal Revenue Service then you need to reply within ninety days. Generally, the case with other letters sent by the IRS, the recipient will be asked to respond to them within thirty days, to protect their appeal rights. This Notice of Deficiency gives the recipient ninety days to submit his or her petition to the Tax Court. Without issuing this notice, the IRS cannot legally assess a tax from their examination.
If you have received the CP 531 but you failed to submit your petition within ninety days, the Tax Court will not hear the case. This is something that you may not wish to happen, because considering your legal options, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Tax Court and the U.S. District Court, the Tax Court does not make it obligatory for the recipient for pay the supposed tax liability first. This is the least expensive way to fight the liability. I have filed tax court petitions just to get the case heard by appeals (after the appeals deadline passed). This is another reason to hire an experienced professional when you have issues with the IRS to handle. Please call us at 713-774-4467 and we can help.
If you let the 90 days pass then you will have no choice but to pay the tax liability before you can seek for a refund.
The CP 531 notice is also referred to as the 90-Day Letter or the statutory notice of deficiency. When you receive this letter, this means that the commissioner has determined that you owe an outstanding amount to the IRS and this letter is usually sent by a registered or certified mail.
The Commissioner has the power to issue this notice to the tax payers as per IRC section 6212(a). In case you do not agree with the contents of the letter, you can always file a petition to the Tax Court as explained above.. Remember that the petition will have to be filed within ninety days of the date of issue of the letter.
These are the cases when the CP 531 Notice of Deficiency may be issued:
- The tax payer makes a request to have the letter issued for the purpose of sending a petition to the Tax Court.
- The tax payer fails to file an official protest in response to a 30-day letter or if he or she does not respond to the 30-day letter.
- When it is clear that the statute of limitations is going to expire and an extension can not be obtained. Sometimes it’s desirable to purposely request this. If the IRS doesn’t sent it, then they can’t properly assess the liability referred to in the letter.
- If you are considering hiring us, call Joe Mastriano, CPA 713-774-4467.
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