At this stage, the assessment officer signs the Summary Record of Assessment (sometimes a 23-C, but usually a RACS-006), making the assessment final. The Summary Record of Assessment shows aggregate amounts of assessed revenues by type of tax; it does not show any individual amounts, or list any names of persons. Within 60 days of the signing of the Summary Record, the I.R.S. must send a Notice and Demand for Tax. If the tax remains unpaid after 10 days from the sending of that notice, the case is moved into collections.

Generally, the only notification that the assessment has been signed is the receiving of a letter which merely states “We Changed Your Account.” Often, this notice is not even mailed out. In that case, the first notification that may be received is a CP-501 (“Important”), CP-502, CP-503, and finally, a CP-504 (“Urgent”).

A response to the “We Changed Your Account” notice can be found here. Responses used to the CP-504 (and other CP-500 series letters) are found under the Collection Stage.

A privacy act request for the supporting records to the summary record is often made at this point.

The regulation at 26 CFR § 301.6203-1 states, in part, “The summary record, through supporting records, shall provide identification of the taxpayer, the character of the liability assessed, the taxable period, if applicable, and the amount of the assessment. The amount of the assessment shall, in the case of tax shown on a return by the taxpayer, be the amount so shown, and in all other cases the amount of the assessment shall be the amount shown on the supporting list or record.”
Privacy Act Requests to obtain the “supporting records” to the Summary Record of Assessment generally are refused by the I.R.S. Disclosure office. The I.R.S. contends that a transcript of account (such as an IMF) is sufficient to provide evidence of the identification of the taxpayer, the liability, etc. They do so by falsely equating “supporting records” with “anything the I.R.S. can slap together that has similar information on it.” Of course, this misses the essential point: the records referred to in the regulation above support the assessment by providing the chain of evidence between a particular taxpayer’s liability and the actual assessment certificate by which the assessment of that liability was made. They show the amount of such liability being added together with the liabilities of other taxpayers to arrive at the grand totals (often in the millions and billions) which appear on the Summary Record of Assessment that they allege that you are responsible for (the partial payment of).
Typically, the I.R.S. refuses to provide any of the documentation which would link the liability with the assessment, often pretending they don’t even understand what is being asked for.
A privacy act request for the Notice and Demand for Tax usually has been made at this point (this letter makes use of codes found on the IMF — which also had to be requested again by privacy act request and received prior to making this request.).
Notice and Demand for Tax:
IRC § 6303 requires the Secretary to send a notice of assessment and demand for payment within 60 days after the making of an assessment. However, whenever we request copies of such notice and demand through the Privacy Act, the I.R.S. claims that it doesn’t retain any copies of it, because it is computer generated. Of course, most of their notices are computer generated, yet they keep copies of them in a taxpayer’s file. It seems like it is only this particular notice which they keep no copies of. In response to requests for the notice, the I.R.S. typically gives a copy of an IMF which they claim shows that the notice was sent. Unfortunately for them, the status code they cite (“MF STAT-21”), according to their own decoding manual, doesn’t mean what they claim.

The NOTICE OF DEFICIENCY (“90-day letter”):

The IRC requires the I.R.S. to send a notice of its proposed assessment by way of a Notice of Deficiency. Generally, but not always, this letter is a “Letter 3219.” A Notice of Deficiency begins a 90-day statutory period in which a person can petition Tax Court for a re-determination of the assessment. If no petition is filed with the Tax Court, then the case is sent to assessment so that the proposed assessment can be made.

Q: Why don’t many non-filers file petitions with the Tax Court? A: Because the Tax Court does not apply the law as it is written, but rather, as it has been interpreted by the Courts in the recent past. And, they are unlikely to rule differently in the near future, with the result that Tax Court determines, in virtually every instance, that the I.R.S. is correct (and not required to produce any evidence or statutory liability in this forum), and that the amounts assessed are proper.

These letters, to the Field Director of Compliance Services at the appropriate I.R.S. office, are petitions for an abatement of these erroneous assessment actions.

1. When sources of income (actual names of payers) are named on Form 866-A or elsewhere in the letter, and a written protest has already been made at the 30-day letter stage:

Petition for Abatement, non-filer received wages & salary, according to I.R.S.

Petition for Abatement, non-filer received only non-employee compensation and other income (NO wages), according to I.R.S.

2. When sources of income (actual names of payers) are named on Form 866-A or elsewhere in the letter, and no written protest was made:

Petition for Abatement, non-filer received wages & salary, according to I.R.S.

Petition for Abatement, non-filer received only non-employee compensation and other income (NO wages), according to I.R.S.

3. When NO sources of income (actual names of payers) are named on the Form 866-A or elsewhere in the letter, and a written protest has already been made at the 30-day letter stage:

Petition for Abatement, non-filer received wages & salary, according to I.R.S.

Petition for Abatement, non-filer received only non-employee compensation and other income (NO wages), according to I.R.S.

4. When NO sources of income (actual names of payers) are named on Form 866-A or elsewhere in the letter, and no written protest was made:

Petition for Abatement, non-filer received wages & salary, according to I.R.S.

Petition for Abatement, non-filer received only non-employee compensation and other income (NO wages), according to I.R.S.

A privacy act request for the authenticated (signed) documents, which identify the sources of the income used as a basis for the Notice of Deficiency, is usually made at this point. The I.R.S. has never produced any signed, sworn documents as testimony that income was actually received from any individual in response to this type of request.

Other Assessment Stage Response Letters: Are Available Here!

OR, Check the Master List of Documents!