Income mismatch & return changes
A proposed change to your tax return: the IRS's computers matched your return against third-party reports, found a gap, and computed the extra tax, penalties, and interest they say follows. The average proposed balance runs around $5,400.
Serious
A proposed change to your tax return: the IRS's computers matched your return against third-party reports, found a gap, and computed the extra tax, penalties, and interest they say follows. The average proposed balance runs around $5,400.
Why you got it: Unreported or mismatched income is the classic trigger: a forgotten 1099, gig or platform income, stock sales reported without their cost basis (which makes the whole sale price look like profit).
It is NOT a bill — the IRS says so in its own FAQ ('Is this a bill? No'). Nothing is assessed yet. It becomes real only if you agree, or ignore it long enough for it to harden into a notice of deficiency (CP3219A) and then an assessment.
Your first move: Don't pay it and don't trash it. Get your wage-and-income transcript, check every line of the proposal against your records, and answer by the printed response date — agree, partly agree, or disagree, with documents for anything you contest.
Every clock runs from this date — not from the day the letter reached you.
Sign the response form; the assessment and a bill (CP14) follow.
Concede what's true, document what's not — basis records, corrected forms, proof of reporting.
A documented disagreement keeps the proposal from becoming an assessment.
Use the included response form; send by the IRS document-upload tool, fax, or mail to the address on the notice. Keep the full packet you sent.
The single most-imitated IRS letter. Verify it in your IRS online account, and pay nothing until you've verified every line — a real CP2000 needs a response, not a payment.
CP3219A (statutory notice of deficiency) follows, starting a 90-day Tax Court clock. After that, the tax is assessed and collection begins — with the 20% accuracy-related penalty often included.
Where this sits on the ladder: CP3219A → CP14 →
One payment. No subscription. Yours to keep — every notice, every letter, every script.