Audits (examination)
The examination report: the IRS has finished its review, proposes specific changes (with a report, usually Form 4549), and gives you 30 days to agree, partly agree, or ask for your case to go to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals.
Serious
The examination report: the IRS has finished its review, proposes specific changes (with a report, usually Form 4549), and gives you 30 days to agree, partly agree, or ask for your case to go to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals.
Why you got it: The audit concluded the return understated tax on the items examined — or your documents didn't reach the examiner in time.
Not the final assessment and not the 90-day letter. This '30-day letter' is the fork in the road: Appeals now (cheap, informal, high settlement rate) or wait for the notice of deficiency and Tax Court later.
Your first move: Read the report line by line against your documents. Decide by day 30: sign agreement, send the missing documents with a disagreement letter, or file the written protest that sends the case to Appeals.
Every clock runs from this date — not from the day the letter reached you.
The statistic-backed move when you have documents or a hazards-of-litigation argument.
Many 525s exist because documents never arrived — new paper can reopen the examiner's file.
Partial agreement narrows the fight and the interest.
Follow the letter's instructions for the protest/agreement form; send to the examiner/office named, with proof of sending.
Appeals is reached through the letter, not through any 'agent' who calls you about your Letter 525.
The IRS issues the notice of deficiency (Letter 531 / CP3219A) and the 90-day Tax Court clock starts. Appeals remains possible later in some postures, but the easy, pre-assessment Appeals door is this one.
Where this sits on the ladder: CP3219A →
One payment. No subscription. Yours to keep — every notice, every letter, every script.