Skip to main content
NoticeKey

IRS notice, decoded

LT11: Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing

This letter carries a 30-day Collection Due Process hearing deadline — the single most important date in IRS collections. If you're holding one, check the printed date first, then decode it now.

What it is

The IRS's final warning before it can levy — seize wages, bank accounts, and other property — for an unpaid balance. It comes paired with the single most important right in the collection process: 30 days to request a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing, which pauses levy action while an independent office reviews your case.

Why you got it

Sent by IRS Automated Collection when the full reminder ladder has run without payment, a payment plan, or a resolved dispute.

The deadline structure

You have 30 days from the date on the letter to request a Collection Due Process hearing using Form 12153. The letter prints this deadline. Requesting the hearing on time generally stops levy action until the hearing concludes, and preserves your right to go to U.S. Tax Court afterward.

THE CDP DEADLINE PRINTED ON YOUR LETTER IS THE ONE DATE THAT MATTERS MOST. Missing it forfeits the strongest protection; a later 'equivalent hearing' (within 1 year) lacks the Tax Court right and doesn't stop levy.

How to respond

  • File Form 12153 (Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing) to the hearing-request address on the letter — the form's own instructions say the hearing address, not the payment address — within 30 days
  • Pay online at irs.gov/payments, or set up a payment plan at irs.gov/opa — an accepted installment agreement generally prevents levy
  • Call the number printed on the letter — but a phone call alone does not preserve CDP rights; the Form 12153 filing does

What ignoring it leads to

After the 30 days pass, the IRS can levy: garnish wages and other income, take money from bank accounts, and seize Social Security benefits, state tax refunds, and other property including business and personal assets (even your car or home). It may also file a federal tax lien, and seriously delinquent tax debt can lead the State Department to deny, revoke, or refuse to renew your passport. This is the last rung — there is no next warning letter.

Next letter if nothing changes: Levy action (no further warning letter)

Where you are on the IRS collection ladder

Balance-due letters escalate in a fixed order. Responding at any rung — paying, setting up a plan, or disputing — stops the climb.

  1. 1
    CP14

    First bill

  2. 2
    CP501

    First reminder

  3. 3
    CP503

    Second reminder

  4. 4
    CP504

    Intent to levy (state refund)

  5. 5
    LT11 / LETTER 1058 / CP90You are here

    FINAL notice — hearing rights

First: make sure this letter is really from the IRS

  • A real final notice of intent to levy arrives by U.S. mail (often certified mail) — the IRS does not first announce a levy by phone call, text, email, or social media
  • Urgent calls or texts claiming the IRS is about to seize your bank account 'unless you pay right now' are the classic IRS impersonation scam — a genuine notice is a paper letter listing your name, the tax years, and the amounts
  • The IRS will NEVER ask for payment by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or payment app — checks are payable only to 'United States Treasury', and online payments start only at irs.gov/payments
  • The IRS will not threaten arrest, deportation, or license revocation over the phone
  • To check the letter independently, view your account at irs.gov or call the IRS at 800-829-1040 — use a number you look up yourself, never one from a call, text, or email

Mistakes people make with a LT11

  • Calling the IRS but never filing Form 12153 — only the written hearing request preserves CDP rights and the Tax Court path
  • Assuming it's just another reminder because the earlier letters 'never amounted to anything' — this is the letter that changes what the IRS is legally allowed to do
  • Missing that a timely payment-plan request can also generally hold off levy even without a hearing

Official sources

Our summary paraphrases these sources. Last verified: BUILD-DATE 2026-06-09 + cross-ref 2026-07-11 (Claude Fable 5; live-fetched: irs.gov LT11/1058 page, CDP FAQs, Form 12153 PDF rev 7-2022, sample LT11E letter PDF, law.cornell.edu §6330, TAS Letter 11) — 30-day CDP and 1-year equivalent-hearing windows confirmed unchanged; added passport + Social Security levy consequences, hearing-address nuance, §6330/CDP-FAQ/sample sources, scamCheck; human re-verify before launch. Your printed notice always controls.

NoticeKey is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the IRS or any state tax agency.

Holding a LT11 right now?

Paste it in and get your specific deadlines, amounts, and options — free, read once, never stored.

Decode my LT11 — free