IRS Notice of Determination
A Notice of Determination tells you what the IRS Independent Office of Appeals decided after a Collection Due Process hearing.
If you’re holding one, I want to know three things first:
What did Appeals decide?
What collection action is involved?
What date is shown on the letter?
A Notice of Determination can also provide a path to U.S. Tax Court review.
Start with the notice.
Which Letter Did Appeals Send You?
Not every letter that closes an Appeals hearing is the same.
- Letter 3193 is the standard Notice of Determination following a Collection Due Process hearing.
- Letter 4389 combines the CDP determination with a determination involving a request for abatement of interest.
- Letter 4390 combines the CDP determination with a determination involving relief from joint and several liability, commonly called innocent spouse relief.
- Letter 3210 is different. It is a decision letter following an equivalent hearing rather than a timely CDP hearing.
That distinction matters because the letters do not carry the same route to Tax Court review.
If you’re not sure what you’re holding, start with the letter number.
The Date on the Notice Matters
A Notice of Determination generally gives you 30 days from the date of the determination to petition the U.S. Tax Court for review of the CDP determination.
The letter identifies the period that applies.
Use the date on the notice as the starting point.
If that date has already passed, I would not try to decide from a website whether you still have a path forward. I would want to see the actual letter, the dates, and what happened in the case.
What Did Appeals Consider?
In a CDP case, Appeals has specific things it must consider. That includes whether the IRS followed applicable law and procedure, the issues properly raised during the hearing, and whether the proposed collection action balances efficient tax collection with the taxpayer’s legitimate concern that the action be no more intrusive than necessary.
When I review a Notice of Determination, I compare what Appeals says it considered with what was actually raised during the CDP hearing.=
If No Petition Is Filed
This Process Is Covered in My Book
Collection Due Process sits at the intersection of IRS collection, Appeals, and sometimes Tax Court. Those are areas I’ve worked in and written about for years.
My book, IRS Secrets Revealed: How to Survive IRS Audit, Collections & Appeals, explains the broader IRS examination, collection, and Appeals system that can eventually produce a Notice of Determination like this one.
My later admission to practice before the United States Tax Court as a non-attorney practitioner expanded where I can continue representing taxpayers when a qualifying dispute moves from the IRS administrative process to the Court.
If You're Considering Tax Court Review
I don’t start by looking at the Tax Court in isolation.
I want to see the Notice of Determination, the original CDP request, what issues were raised with Appeals, and what Appeals actually decided.
I am admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court as a non-attorney practitioner.
If I already represented you through the CDP hearing, a qualifying matter does not automatically have to be handed to someone new when it moves to the Court.
If you’re coming to me for the first time with a Notice of Determination, the Appeals file tells me what was disputed, what was presented, and how Appeals reached its decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a Notice of Determination the same as a Notice of Deficiency?
What if I received a Decision Letter instead?
Does receiving a Notice of Determination mean my CDP hearing is over?
What should I bring if I want you to review my Notice of Determination?
Start with the Notice of Determination itself.
If you have them, I also want the original lien or levy notice, your Form 12153 or other CDP hearing request, correspondence with Appeals, and documents you submitted during the hearing.
That lets me compare what you asked Appeals to consider with what Appeals actually decided.
Received a Notice of Determination?
Start with the notice.
Bring the Notice of Determination, your CDP hearing request, and anything Appeals sent you during the case.
I’ll look at what you asked Appeals to consider, what Appeals actually decided, the date shown on the letter, and what the collection file looks like underneath it.
From there, I can explain what the determination says and what options are available from that point.