IRS announced on Aug. 21 that it has temporarily suspended the mailing of three notices-the CP-501, the CP-503 and the CP-504-that go to taxpayers who have a balance due on their taxes. (e-News for Tax Professionals 2020-34)
“Although the IRS continues to make significant reductions in the backlog of unopened mail that developed while most IRS operations were closed due to COVID-19, this temporary adjustment to processing is intended to lessen any possible confusion that might be associated with delays in processing correspondence received from taxpayers,” the agency said.
Such confusion might result among taxpayers who previously received a balance due notice (CP-14) and mailed a payment to IRS but the payment may still be unopened, IRS said. The three notices are follow-up notices that are automatically sent to taxpayers who do not respond to the CP-14. “These automatic follow-up notices will be temporarily stopped until the backlog of mail is reduced,” the agency said, adding that “IRS will continue to assess the mail inventory to determine the appropriate time to resume the follow-up notices.” IRS encouraged those who have received but not yet responded to a CP-14 balance due notice to promptly respond.
“In addition, the IRS has previously announced that these payments in the unopened mail will be posted and credited on the date the IRS received them – rather than the date the agency opened and processed them,” the agency said.
The IRS statement is available here.
