CP90 and CP91. Final notice before a federal payment levy.

On the paper

Find the code, the date printed on the notice, the tax periods, and the amount. On a CP91, also find the Social Security benefit the notice identifies. On a CP90, keep the certified mail envelope with the notice.

Look for the hearing paragraph. A CP90 carries the right to a Collection Due Process hearing, and the IRS points to Form 12153 for the request. A CP91 names a Social Security benefit and follows a final notice that came earlier, which may have been a CP90, an LT11, or a Letter 1058. For a CP91, that earlier notice is the one to find, because the hearing request runs from its date.

Find the date printed on your notice or letter. The paper notice and the current official IRS instructions control, even where this page differs.

CP90, the final notice from a federal payment match

The IRS page for CP90, checked September 23, 2026, says the IRS intends to levy certain assets for unpaid taxes and is informing you of your right to a Collection Due Process hearing, and it points to Form 12153 for the request. That page does not name the program behind the notice. The IRS levy programs toolkit does: it lists CP90 as the Federal Payment Levy Program's pre-levy notice for individuals, and CP297 as the version for businesses.

Under that program the IRS sends a file of delinquent accounts to the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which matches it against federal payments due. When a match is found, the IRS page on the program says the IRS sends CP90 if another final notice has not already been issued. The payments that page lists are federal employee retirement annuities, payments to federal contractors and vendors, federal employee travel advances and reimbursements, certain Social Security benefits, some federal salaries, Medicare provider and supplier payments, Railroad Retirement Board benefits, and military retirement.

The same page says that if the IRS does not hear from you within 30 days from the date of the final notice, it will transmit the levy electronically to the Bureau, for every payment type except certain Social Security benefits. The Bureau may then reduce each levied payment by 15 percent, or by the tax owed if that is less. Some contractor and vendor payments, and Medicare provider payments, are levied at up to 100 percent. The levy continues until the taxes are paid in full or other arrangements are made.

The Internal Revenue Manual states that CP90 is mailed certified with a return receipt, and that on a joint income tax balance both spouses receive CP90 even when the payment match is on only one of them. A related code, CP90C, is a different notice: the IRS sends it after a levy on a federal contractor, which the law allows before any hearing.

CP91, the Social Security notice that follows

The IRS page for CP91, checked September 23, 2026, says the IRS intends to levy up to 15% of your Social Security benefits for unpaid taxes. The IRS page on Social Security benefits in the program calls it the Final Notice Before Levy on Social Security Benefits and explains the order: before benefits are included in the program, the IRS sends a final notice of intent to levy with appeal rights if one has not already been issued, and CP91 is an additional notice that follows it.

The benefits reached are Title II old-age and survivors benefits, levied at 15 percent. That page states that the IRS stopped systemically levying Social Security disability insurance benefits through the program as of October 5, 2015, and that lump-sum death benefits, benefits paid to children, Supplemental Security Income, and payments with partial withholding to repay a debt owed to Social Security are not levied through it. It also says the program excludes certain taxpayers whose income falls at or below levels based on the Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines.

CP91 is not a second hearing notice. It does not appear on the IRS Appeals list of letters and notices offering an appeal opportunity, checked September 23, 2026. The Internal Revenue Manual describes CP91 as giving an additional 30 days after the hearing-notice period to resolve the balance, identifying the specific Social Security benefit by its claimant and beneficiary account numbers, and pointing to the Collection Appeals Program or, where no earlier Collection Due Process or equivalent hearing covered the periods, an equivalent hearing.

The Internal Revenue Manual also states that CP91 is mailed by regular mail, and that on a joint balance the spouse whose benefit matched receives the CP91 with a copy to the other spouse.

How CP90 and CP91 differ from LT11, Letter 1058, and CP504

LT11, Letter 1058, and CP90 are the same legal step issued by different parts of the IRS. The IRS levy programs toolkit lists LT11 as the Automated Collection System's final notice, the Internal Revenue Manual describes Letter 1058 as the field collection version, and CP90 comes from the federal payment match. CP504 comes earlier and does not carry Collection Due Process rights; IRS Appeals describes the final notice with hearing rights as the next step after it.

For a CP90 or CP91 reader, sequence is what matters. Section 6330(a)(1) requires the hearing notice only once for each tax period, and the regulations tie the one Collection Due Process hearing to the first pre-levy or post-levy notice for that period. The IRS sends CP90 only if another final notice has not already been issued, and the Internal Revenue Manual states that the program's levy may follow an earlier LT11 or Letter 1058 instead. It also states that a hearing notice generated by the automated levy programs, such as CP90, meets the section 6330 notice requirement for the assessment, so a CP90 can precede a levy on other property for those periods, not only on the federal payment that matched.

Where this notice comes from

The IRS started the Federal Payment Levy Program in July 2000 with the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The Internal Revenue Manual describes both notices as generated systemically by the IRS Master File from the payment match, and it states that CP91 is not to be issued manually.

The statute behind the program is 26 U.S.C. section 6331(h). It makes a levy on specified payments continuous from the date it is first made until it is released, and it defines specified payments to include any federal payment other than one for which eligibility is based on the payee's income or assets. The IRS lists Supplemental Security Income among the payments the program does not levy.

The program also leaves some accounts out. The IRS page on the program says federal payments are not included when the taxpayer is in bankruptcy, has applied for innocent spouse or injured spouse relief, has made alternative arrangements to pay, or has been determined by the IRS to be in a hardship situation.

The automated program is not the only route to Social Security benefits. The Internal Revenue Manual states that CP91 is generated for the program only and is not required before a paper levy on Social Security benefits under section 6331(a).

General next steps

1. Read the code and the tax periods on the notice, and look for any earlier final notice, such as an LT11 or Letter 1058, that lists the same periods.
2. If you hold a CP90 and want a hearing, complete Form 12153, send it with a copy of the notice to the hearing address printed on the CP90, and keep proof of the mailing date.
3. If you hold a CP91, call the number printed on it about payment arrangements within the period it states, and have the records of any payment, agreement, or hardship on the account in front of you.

Timing

IRS Appeals, on its page of letters and notices offering an appeal opportunity checked September 23, 2026, says to send Form 12153 for a CP90 to the address on the levy notice within 30 days from the date of the letter, and 26 C.F.R. section 301.6330-1 runs the request period as the 30 days beginning the day after the date of the notice. The IRS page on Social Security benefits in the program, checked the same day, gives 30 days from the date of a CP91 to make payment arrangements before the 15 percent deduction begins. The date printed on the notice controls; do not calculate a deadline from this page.

What CP90 and CP91 does not mean

Neither a CP90 nor a CP91 means money has already been taken. CP90 is the hearing notice section 6330 requires before a levy on the periods it lists, and CP91 announces a Social Security deduction that has not yet begun. Neither notice is a decision by the Social Security Administration or by the agency that pays you; the IRS issues the levy and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service carries it out.

What this page cannot tell you

This page cannot tell you which federal payment matched your account, whether an earlier final notice already started the hearing period for your tax years, or whether a payment is excluded from the program in your circumstances.

IRS Appeals

This letter may offer a Collection Due Process hearing with the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. Read IRS Appeals.

How do I respond to an IRS collection notice?

Read the paper notice first. Identify the letter code, the assessed balance, and any date printed on it. Read How do I respond to an IRS collection notice?.

IRS collections

This letter involves an unpaid IRS balance or a collection action. Read IRS collections.

IRS levy

This letter involves a levy or a notice of intent to levy. Read IRS levy.

LT11 and Letter 1058

LT11 and Letter 1058 are final notices of intent to levy issued by other parts of the IRS, and the LT11 page explains what a Collection Due Process hearing decides. Read LT11 and Letter 1058.

Form 12153

A Collection Due Process or equivalent hearing is requested on Form 12153, sent to the hearing address printed on the notice rather than the payment address. Read Form 12153.

Governing statute

26 U.S.C. section 6331(h) authorizes a continuous levy on specified federal payments that attaches to up to 15 percent of each payment, or up to 100 percent of a payment due to a vendor of property, goods, or services sold or leased to the federal government or to a Medicare provider or supplier. 26 U.S.C. section 6330 requires notice and an opportunity for a Collection Due Process hearing not less than 30 days before the first levy, except for the levies section 6330(f) lists, including a federal contractor levy, where the hearing is offered within a reasonable period after the levy. Both sections were checked on uscode.house.gov on September 23, 2026. That is the authority, not advice about this notice.

Official sources

• Understanding your CP90 notice
• Understanding your CP91 notice
• Federal Payment Levy Program
• Social Security benefits eligible for the Federal Payment Levy Program
• IRS levy programs toolkit
• IRS letters and notices offering an appeal opportunity
• Form 12153, Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing
• IRS Publication 594, The IRS Collection Process
• Internal Revenue Manual 5.11.7, Automated Levy Programs
• Internal Revenue Manual 5.11.1, Background, Pre-Levy Actions, Restrictions on Levy and Post-Levy Actions
• 26 U.S.C. section 6330, notice and opportunity for hearing before levy
• 26 U.S.C. section 6331, levy and distraint
• 26 C.F.R. section 301.6330-1, notice and opportunity for hearing prior to levy

If anything on this page differs from your notice or from current IRS instructions, follow the notice and the IRS.

Common questions

• Is CP90 the same notice as LT11 or Letter 1058?

  It does the same legal job and comes from a different place. All three are the final notice 26 U.S.C. section 6330 requires before a levy, and each offers a Collection Due Process hearing. CP90 is generated when the Federal Payment Levy Program matches a federal payment to the balance, LT11 comes from the Automated Collection System, and Letter 1058 generally comes from a revenue officer. The IRS sends CP90 only if another final notice has not already been issued.

• Does a CP91 give me a new Collection Due Process hearing?

  No. Section 6330(b)(2) allows one Collection Due Process hearing for each tax period, and the regulations tie the request to the first final notice for that period. CP91 follows that final notice, and IRS Appeals does not list it among the notices offering an appeal opportunity. The Internal Revenue Manual names the Collection Appeals Program and, where no earlier Collection Due Process or equivalent hearing covered the periods, an equivalent hearing as the routes a CP91 describes. The regulations require an equivalent hearing request within the one-year period beginning the day after the date of the final notice.

• Does the Social Security levy stop on its own?

  It continues until the debt is resolved or the levy is released. Section 6331(h) makes the levy continuous from the date it is first made until it is released, and IRS Publication 594 says a levy through the program continues until the debt is fully paid, other arrangements are made, the collection period ends, or the IRS releases the levy. Publication 594 also lists the grounds on which the IRS releases a levy, including full payment, a payment plan whose terms do not allow the levy to continue, and an economic hardship that prevents meeting basic, reasonable living expenses. The IRS page for CP91 directs taxpayers to the number on the notice to resolve the tax situation.

• Is part of my Social Security protected, the way it is for other debts?

  Not in the way it is for non-tax debts. The IRS page on Social Security benefits in the program says the first $750 of monthly benefits that the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 places off limits for non-tax debts does not limit this levy, and that 15 percent is levied even if the remaining benefit is less than $750. The limits that do apply include the 15 percent cap in section 6331(h) and the exclusions the IRS describes for certain benefits and for certain lower-income taxpayers.

• Should I call the Social Security Administration about a CP91?

  The IRS page for CP91 says no: the Social Security Administration cannot stop the levy or assist in resolving the tax issue, and the number to call is the one on the notice. The IRS page on the program also asks taxpayers not to contact the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, or any other federal agency. The Bureau sends its own letter each time a federal payment is levied, and that letter directs you to the IRS for resolution.

• I sell to the federal government. How are my contract payments treated?

  Payments to federal contractors and vendors are among the payments the program levies, and section 6331(h)(3) raises the cap for a vendor of property, goods, or services sold or leased to the federal government from 15 percent to 100 percent of each specified payment. Section 6330(f) also lets the IRS serve a federal contractor levy before offering a hearing, with the hearing offered within a reasonable period after the levy. The IRS levy programs toolkit lists that post-levy notice as CP90C for individuals and CP297C for businesses. A CP90 that arrives before any levy is the ordinary pre-levy final notice.