The IRS has begun sending notices of intent to levy to taxpayers with outstanding balances, signaling a shift in its work to restart collection notices after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several tax professionals have recently begun to see an influx of LT11 notices, which the IRS sends to taxpayers with unpaid taxes to notify them that the agency intends to levy to collect the amount if it isn’t paid in 30 days. The letters also notify taxpayers of their right to appeal.
Alyssa Maloof Whatley of the Law Offices of Alyssa Maloof Whatley said the levy notices are the first she has seen since before the pandemic, during which the IRS halted many of its automated collection processes.
“It’s a pretty big shift in the IRS’s stance of what they were doing in collections,” Whatley said.
The IRS announced in January that it would slowly resume its automated collection reminder notices, and an agency official in May said taxpayers should expect to see more reminder notices as the IRS collection machine returns to normal.
Whatley shared a client’s redacted LT11 with Tax Notes. The August 12 notice warns the taxpayer that if payment isn’t received in 30 days, the agency will take steps to seize property, including wages, bank accounts, or personal assets, or will file a notice of federal tax lien. The notice also outlines options for payment and reminds the taxpayer that they can appeal within 30 days.
Tax attorney James R. Yandle, several of whose clients have also received LT11s, likened other collection reminder notices to “junior varsity” notices that weren’t actionable by the IRS.
“LT11 is the varsity notice,” Yandle said.
Both Yandle and Whatley said that while they knew the levy notices might start arriving soon, they were surprised that they arrived before the November elections and not at the beginning of 2025.
Yandle also wondered how the IRS will proceed with the levies on taxpayers who don’t pay up. “The IRS has to collect, but they don’t have to blindside people,” he said.
Jonathan Donenfeld of JLD Tax and Accounting LLC, who said dozens of his clients have received levy notices over the last few weeks, pointed out that the IRS has held off on sending them unless an agent is assigned to the taxpayer’s case.
The latest batch of notices represents a significant increase in the number of people receiving them, Donenfeld added.