IRS Letter 2645C Notice: We Need More Time (Interim Letter)
A Letter 2645C is an IRS stall letter: it acknowledges they received your correspondence, return, or response and says they need more time — usually 60 days — to work on it. It asks nothing of you and requires no response.
Deadline calculator
The Letter 2645C clock runs from the date printed on the notice — not the day you opened it.
Estimate only, based on the standard 60-day Letter 2645C window. Your notice controls — always use the specific date printed on it.
What a Letter 2645C actually means
This is the letter that confuses people precisely because it asks for nothing. You (or your preparer) sent the IRS something — an audit response, an amended return, a penalty-abatement request, identity verification — and the 2645C is the receipt plus a request for patience. Some taxpayers receive two or three in a row on the same issue as the IRS re-ups its own deadline.
The one real use it has: confirmation that your correspondence arrived and is in a queue. What it doesn't tell you is where in the queue. If the underlying issue is time-sensitive — a levy pending, a refund you need, a deadline the IRS itself set — the 2645C doesn't pause any of that, and following up through your online account, transcripts, or the Taxpayer Advocate Service remains fair game.
How to recognize a real Letter 2645C
It's one of the IRS's interim letters. Under the Internal Revenue Manual, IRS correspondence staff must send one within 30 days of receiving your correspondence if they can't give a final answer by then. It's a procedural acknowledgment, not a decision.
- It acknowledges something you or your representative sent and says the IRS needs more time. It asks for no documents, signature, or payment.
- It gives a date or time frame for a final answer. IRS procedures require every interim letter to say when you can expect resolution, and since 2018 the default has been 60 days rather than 45.
- IRS procedures also call for interim letters to give a contact: a name, phone number, and employee identification number. Use that contact rather than the general help line.
- If the promised date passes, the next letter is usually a 2644C (Second Interim Response). The manual requires that letter to state the specific reason for the delay.
What to do, step by step
- 1Match the letter to what you sent — the tax year and topic on the 2645C tell you which of your submissions it's acknowledging.
- 2Calendar the 60 days, then check status through your IRS online account or transcripts rather than waiting passively.
- 3Keep every copy of what you originally sent; if the response window lapses with no action, you'll resend with proof.
- 4If real harm is accruing while you wait — a levy, a frozen refund causing hardship — contact the Taxpayer Advocate Service; interim letters don't block TAS involvement.
- 5If a second or third 2645C arrives, escalate rather than re-waiting: a call to the number on the letter with your dates and documents at hand often shakes a file loose.
Illustrative example
Example: an interim letter after a penalty-relief request
Teresa (an illustrative taxpayer, not a real client) mailed a request in June to remove a $410 late-payment penalty, explaining a hospitalization. In mid-July she got a Letter 2645C saying the IRS needed more time and expected to respond within 60 days.
She didn't resend anything. She wrote the promised date on her calendar, kept her certified-mail receipt and a copy of her request together, and checked her account transcript in September.
When the date passed with no answer, a Letter 2644C arrived with a reason for the delay and a new date. Shortly after that date, the abatement posted. Had a levy or other harm been building while she waited, contacting the Taxpayer Advocate Service would have been a reasonable next step. An interim letter doesn't stop collection deadlines.
Names and numbers are made up to show how this notice typically plays out.
Mistakes that make a Letter 2645C worse
- Sending the same documents again in response. The 2645C doesn't ask for anything, and duplicates can start a second case that has to be merged with the first.
- Treating it as a decision. It's a receipt plus a promised date. The answer comes in a later letter.
- Letting other IRS deadlines pass while you wait. Interim letters don't pause separate deadlines, such as one for a balance due or a notice of deficiency.
- Throwing it away. The promised date is your benchmark if you need to follow up or ask the Taxpayer Advocate Service for help later.
What happens if you ignore a Letter 2645C
Nothing bad happens, because there's nothing to answer. But if the promised date passes without a final response, IRS procedures call for a follow-up interim letter (2644C) that explains the delay. Missing both letters is a sign to check your transcript and call the contact on the letter.
Often comes before a Letter 2645C
Common questions
Do I need to respond to Letter 2645C?+
No. It's an acknowledgment and a delay notice, not a request. The only action worth taking is tracking: note the 60-day window and check your IRS account or transcripts for movement rather than assuming the IRS will write again on time.
Why did I get a 2645C when I never sent the IRS anything?+
Usually because something went in under your account anyway: a preparer or representative responded for you, a state agency or the IRS itself generated an inquiry, or your e-filed return got routed into a review stream that triggers correspondence handling. If you genuinely can't match it to anything, pull your account transcript — it shows what the IRS logged — and call the number on the letter if it still doesn't add up.
The 60 days passed and nothing happened. Now what?+
Common, unfortunately — some issues collect multiple interim letters. Check transcripts for activity first, then call the number on the letter with your submission dates. If the delay is causing financial hardship or you're past normal processing times, the Taxpayer Advocate Service exists for exactly this.
Checked against IRS primary sources — see how we source these guides. You can verify any notice directly at IRS.gov. The dates and instructions printed on your specific notice always control.
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