IRS Letter 1058: Final notice of intent to levy and your hearing rights

Letter 1058, Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing, is the notice the IRS must send before it can levy most of your property — wages, bank accounts, retirement accounts, business receivables and other assets. It's issued under Internal Revenue Code section 6330. The IRS sends a nearly identical notice, LT11, from its Automated Collection System; Letter 1058 is more often issued by a revenue officer or in other collection streams. Legally they carry the same rights.

By the time you receive Letter 1058, you've usually already received balance-due notices such as CP14, CP501, CP503 and CP504. Unlike CP504, Letter 1058 gives you a formal right to an independent hearing.

30 days from the date printed on the letter. That's the window to request a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing with the IRS Independent Office of Appeals using Form 12153. The deadline is strict: it runs from the letter date, not the date you opened it.

If you miss the 30 days, you can still request an equivalent hearing within one year of the letter date. An equivalent hearing covers the same issues, but it doesn't automatically stop levies and you can't take the result to Tax Court. Missing both deadlines means your remaining options are a direct request to collection or the Collection Appeals Program.

Scammers copy IRS letters, so check before you call anyone. Log in to your IRS Online Account and confirm the balance and notices match, or request an account transcript. Real IRS letters list your taxpayer rights, the tax periods and amounts, and a notice number. Only call phone numbers you find on IRS.gov — never a number printed only on a letter you're unsure about. The IRS doesn't demand payment by gift card, wire transfer to a person, or cryptocurrency.

After the 30 days pass without a hearing request, the IRS can levy. Common next steps are a wage levy (sent to your employer and continuing until released), a bank levy (your bank freezes funds for 21 days, then sends them to the IRS), and levies on retirement accounts, accounts receivable or other assets. The failure-to-pay penalty also rises from 0.5% to 1% a month 10 days after a notice of intent to levy. See wage garnishment and bank levy for how those work.

1. Confirm the balance in your IRS Online Account or a transcript.
2. Decide what you want from the IRS. Most people ask for a payment plan, Currently Not Collectible status or an Offer in Compromise. You can also challenge the liability if you never had a prior chance to dispute it, or ask for penalty relief.
3. File Form 12153 within 30 days. Check the boxes for the collection alternatives you want and explain why. Send it to the address on the letter and keep proof of mailing.
4. Prepare your financial information. Appeals will usually ask for Form 433-A or 433-F with documents so it can evaluate alternatives.
5. Stay compliant. File any missing returns and keep current-year payments up, or Appeals may not approve an alternative.

If you can resolve it faster, you can also call the number on the letter (after verifying it on IRS.gov) to set up a plan directly — but filing Form 12153 preserves your hearing rights.

In a CDP hearing you can raise: collection alternatives; whether the IRS followed the law and procedures; appropriateness of the levy; spousal defenses such as innocent spouse relief; and the underlying tax itself if you didn't receive a statutory notice of deficiency or otherwise have a prior opportunity to dispute it. If you disagree with Appeals' determination after a timely CDP hearing, you generally can petition the U.S. Tax Court. Read more in collection due process hearings.

Use the calculator on this page to see which are a likely fit.

• Owe $50,000 or less: you can often set up a Simple Payment Plan online even at this stage.
• Owe more: expect a financial statement; see installment agreement eligibility.
• Can't pay basic expenses: request Currently Not Collectible status.
• Can't pay in full before the collection statute ends: consider a partial-payment agreement or an Offer in Compromise.