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Using a Collection Due Process Hearing to Stop a Wage Levy

The LT11 or Letter 1058 gives you 30 days to request a hearing that freezes levy action. Miss it and you still have a one-year equivalent hearing, with fewer protections.

By Darrin T. Mish, AttorneyPublished October 9, 2026General information, not legal advice

Of all the notices the IRS sends before a wage levy, one carries real power: the notice of your right to a Collection Due Process hearing. Respond on time and the levy action covered by the hearing is suspended while the hearing and any court review are pending. Miss the window and you lose that automatic protection.

The notice

IRC 6330(a) bars any levy unless the IRS has notified you in writing of your right to a hearing at least 30 days before the first levy for the tax period. The notice is required once per tax period. For most people, it arrives as an LT11 from the Automated Collection System or a Letter 1058 from a revenue officer. Both are referenced in IRM 5.11.1.

The notice must be given in person, left at your home or business, or sent by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, to your last known address.

The request: Form 12153, within 30 days

IRC 6330(b)(1) requires the request to be in writing and to state the grounds. Treasury Regulation 301.6330-1 encourages taxpayers to use Form 12153, Request for a Collection Due Process Hearing, so the request is readily identified and forwarded to Appeals.

The deadline is the 30-day period in IRC 6330(a)(3)(B). Do not cut it close. Send the form by a method that proves the date.

What a timely request does

IRC 6330(e)(1) says that if a hearing is requested, the levy actions that are the subject of the hearing are suspended while the hearing, and appeals from it, are pending. The collection statute is suspended for the same period. The hearing is held by the IRS Independent Office of Appeals, with an officer who had no prior involvement in the unpaid tax under IRC 6330(b)(3).

If you request a hearing before any levy is served on your wages, the IRS should not levy those periods while the hearing is pending. IRM 5.11.2.3.1 lists a levy issued while a taxpayer’s CDP hearing is pending as an example of a levy that violates the Code and must be released.

What you can raise

IRC 6330(c)(2) lets you raise any relevant issue relating to the unpaid tax or the proposed levy, including:

  • spousal defenses,
  • challenges to the appropriateness of collection actions, and
  • offers of collection alternatives, including posting a bond, substituting other assets, an installment agreement or an offer in compromise.

You can challenge the underlying liability itself only if you did not receive a statutory notice of deficiency for it or did not otherwise have an opportunity to dispute it, under IRC 6330(c)(2)(B).

Appeals must also verify that the IRS followed the law and administrative procedures, and must weigh whether the proposed levy balances efficient collection against your legitimate concern that collection be no more intrusive than necessary. That is IRC 6330(c)(3). For a wage levy, that balancing test is where you explain what taking everything above the Publication 1494 amount would do to your household.

Tax Court review

After the hearing, Appeals issues a Notice of Determination. IRC 6330(d)(1) lets you petition the Tax Court within 30 days of the determination. That judicial review is one of the main differences between a CDP hearing and every other collection appeal.

IRC 6330(e)(2) does allow levy to proceed during a court appeal if the underlying liability is not at issue and the court finds the IRS has shown good cause. That is the exception, not the rule.

Missed the 30 days? The equivalent hearing

If you did not request a hearing within 30 days, Treasury Regulation 301.6330-1(i) allows an equivalent hearing. You must request it in writing within the one-year period beginning the day after the date of the CDP notice. Appeals considers the same issues it would have in a CDP hearing.

But the protections are weaker:

  • Collection is not required to be suspended during an equivalent hearing; the decision is case by case.
  • The collection statute is not suspended.
  • Appeals issues a Decision Letter instead of a Notice of Determination, and the regulation says IRC 6330 does not authorize Tax Court review of that decision, apart from certain spousal relief issues.

IRM 5.1.9 summarizes it the same way: a CDP hearing and an equivalent hearing are substantially the same, but there is no judicial review of an equivalent hearing.

Should you request a hearing or just call?

Both, often. A CDP request protects your rights while you work on a resolution with Collection. IRM 5.1.9 notes that a taxpayer who reaches a satisfactory resolution after filing a CDP request can withdraw it, but that withdrawing gives up CDP rights for those periods, including judicial review. The decision belongs to you. Do not withdraw until the resolution is actually in place.

A CDP hearing is not the only appeal

If your CDP window has passed, the Collection Appeals Program is available for levies that have been or will be taken, generally with no deadline. It moves faster but has no Tax Court review.

For the full sequence of notices and where the CDP notice falls, see how a debt becomes a wage levy.

An example

Denise receives a Letter 1058 dated June 2 covering two tax years. She mails Form 12153 by certified mail on June 20, checking the levy box and stating that she wants an installment agreement and that a full wage levy would leave her unable to pay rent. Because her request is timely, IRC 6330(e)(1) suspends levy action on those two years while the hearing is pending.

At the hearing, she provides a financial statement and proposes a monthly payment. Appeals weighs the proposal under IRC 6330(c)(3) and issues a Notice of Determination approving an installment agreement. No wage levy is ever served. Compare that with her coworker who ignored the same letter: his paycheck was levied in August, and he spent the fall working on a release through an installment agreement after the fact.

If Denise had disagreed with Appeals, she would have had 30 days to petition the Tax Court under IRC 6330(d)(1).

What to put on Form 12153 for a wage levy case

  1. Check the box for a proposed levy.
  2. List each tax period on the notice.
  3. State your grounds in plain words. If you want an installment agreement, say so. If you cannot pay, say you are requesting Currently Not Collectible status. If the levy would cause hardship, say that.
  4. Attach or be ready to send a financial statement. Appeals cannot approve a collection alternative without one in most cases.
  5. Sign and date it and keep proof of when you sent it.
Thirty days on the CDP notice is the cheapest protection you will ever get against a wage levy. Use it.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to request a CDP hearing before a wage levy?

Thirty days from the CDP notice, usually an LT11 or Letter 1058, under IRC 6330(a). The request must be in writing and state your grounds; Form 12153 is the recommended form.

Does a CDP hearing request stop a levy?

Yes. Under IRC 6330(e)(1), a timely request suspends the levy actions that are the subject of the hearing while the hearing and any appeals are pending, subject to the good-cause exception in IRC 6330(e)(2) during court review.

What if I missed the 30-day deadline?

You can request an equivalent hearing in writing within one year after the date of the CDP notice under Treasury Regulation 301.6330-1(i). Collection is not automatically suspended, the collection statute keeps running, and there is no Tax Court review of the decision.

Can I take a CDP decision to court?

Yes. IRC 6330(d)(1) allows a petition to the Tax Court within 30 days of the Notice of Determination from a timely CDP hearing.