IRS CP90 / CP297 Notice: Final Notice — Intent to Seize Your Assets
A CP90 is the IRS's final notice that it intends to seize (levy) your property or rights to property — such as wages, bank accounts, and federal payments including Social Security — and like the LT11, it starts a strict 30-day window to request a Collection Due Process hearing.
Deadline calculator
The CP90 / CP297 clock runs from the date printed on the notice — not the day you opened it.
Estimate only, based on the standard 30-day CP90 / CP297 window. Your notice controls — always use the specific date printed on it.
What a CP90 / CP297 actually means
CP90 is a general final levy notice, not limited to one kind of income. Once the hearing window passes, the IRS can levy wages, bank accounts, and other assets, and can also levy federal payments — including up to 15% of Social Security benefits through the Federal Payment Levy Program (the notice specific to Social Security benefits is the CP91). Retirees on fixed incomes often receive it because benefits are an easy levy target.
The same CDP appeal rights apply as with an LT11: a timely Form 12153 generally pauses levy action and gets your case in front of appeals, where hardship status or a payment plan can protect your benefits.
How to recognize a real CP90 / CP297
IRS Collection sends the CP90 as a formal Collection Due Process (CDP) notice under Internal Revenue Code section 6330, after earlier bills went unpaid. It is also one of the two final notices (with CP297) the IRS uses when its Federal Payment Levy Program, run with Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service, matches you to a federal payment it can levy.
- The notice number appears in the box at the top right ("Notice CP90"), along with the notice date, your Social Security number, and a caller ID.
- The headline reads "Intent to seize your assets and notice of your right to a hearing," followed by "Amount due immediately" and a dollar figure.
- The first page gives a specific date, in bold, by which you can request a Collection Due Process hearing. That date is your real deadline, so go by the printed date rather than counting days yourself.
- It comes with Form 12153 (Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing), Publication 594 (The IRS Collection Process), and Publication 1660 (Collection Appeal Rights).
- A "Your billing details" table lists each tax period and form number with the amount owed, plus interest and penalties. Spouses on a joint account each get their own copy, and the IRS notes the amount should only be paid once.
What to do, step by step
- 1Act within the 30-day window — file Form 12153 to preserve appeal rights and pause levies.
- 2If the levy would cause hardship (it often does on fixed incomes), document income and essential expenses — Currently Not Collectible status stops collection entirely.
- 3Consider an installment agreement or Offer in Compromise as the settlement path.
- 4Get help: benefit levies are very winnable cases when handled inside the window.
Illustrative example
Example: A retiree's CP90 and a hearing request filed in time
Illustrative scenario: Harold, 68, owes $7,400 from a year when he took an early IRA withdrawal and had no tax withheld. He ignored a few bills, and on March 3 a CP90 arrives saying the IRS intends to levy and giving April 2 as the last day to request a hearing. The list of property it could levy includes Social Security benefits, and his benefit is most of his income.
On March 10, Harold fills out the enclosed Form 12153, checks the collection alternatives he wants (an installment agreement, or a finding that he can't pay right now), and mails it by certified mail to the address on the notice. He keeps the receipt. He also makes a list of his monthly income and fixed expenses so he is ready when Appeals calls.
Because he asked for the hearing before the printed date, he keeps his right to go to Tax Court if he disagrees with what Appeals decides, and his case is reviewed before any levy. Appeals agrees to a $150-a-month payment plan. If Harold had waited until May, he could still have asked for an "equivalent hearing" (allowed up to one year after the notice), but that version gives no right to go to Tax Court afterward.
Names and numbers are made up to show how this notice typically plays out.
Mistakes that make a CP90 / CP297 worse
- Treating the CP90 as only a Social Security threat. The notice itself lists wages, bank accounts, business assets, your car and home, state tax refunds, and Social Security benefits as property that can be levied.
- Calling the IRS and assuming that preserves your hearing rights. Only a filed Form 12153 by the date on the notice gets you a full CDP hearing with the right to go to Tax Court afterward.
- Letting the 10-day mark pass without a plan. The notice explains that if you don't pay within 10 days of a notice of intent to levy, the late-payment penalty rises from 1/2% to 1% per month.
- Paying twice on a joint account. Each spouse gets a separate copy of the CP90, and the IRS says to pay the amount due only once.
- Ignoring the passport warning on large balances. The notice explains that seriously delinquent tax debt can be certified to the State Department, which can lead to a passport being denied or revoked.
What happens if you ignore a CP90 / CP297
Once the hearing-request date on the notice passes, the IRS can levy. Under the Federal Payment Levy Program, if the IRS doesn't hear from you within 30 days of the final notice, it sends the levy electronically to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. That levy can take up to 15% of each Social Security payment, or up to 100% of federal contractor or vendor payments, and it continues until it is released. You can still request an equivalent hearing within one year of the notice, but you lose the right to take Appeals' decision to Tax Court.
Often comes before a CP90 / CP297
Common questions
Can the IRS really garnish Social Security?+
Yes — up to 15% of monthly benefits through the Federal Payment Levy Program, after a CP90/CP297 final notice. Hardship (CNC) status or a payment plan prevents or releases it.
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. Official IRS explanation: Understanding your CP90 notice (IRS).
- IRS: Understanding your CP90 notice
- IRS sample Notice CP90 (PDF)
- IRS: Federal Payment Levy Program
- Taxpayer Advocate Service: Notice of Intent to Levy
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