IRS CP2000 Notice Help, How to Respond to Automated Underreported Income

A CP2000 notice means the IRS found a mismatch between the income, credits, or payments reported on your tax return and information sent to the IRS by employers, banks, brokerage firms, or other third parties. It is not a final bill, but it must be reviewed carefully because the IRS may add tax, penalties, and interest if you do not respond.

Minimize or eliminate the proposed IRS additional tax, interest & penalties. (949) 506-3457

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What To Do If You Received IRS Notice CP2000

If you received a CP2000 notice, do not ignore it and do not automatically agree with it.

Review the income items, compare them against your filed return, check your IRS Wage and Income Transcript, and decide whether you agree, partially agree, or disagree. If the IRS calculation is wrong, your response should include a written explanation, corrected tax calculation, tax forms, schedules, and supporting documents.

The IRS says taxpayers should reply by the date listed on the notice and include supporting documentation when they disagree.

The IRS CP2000 Notice is Not Just Another Letter the IRS Sends Out.

In Fact:

The CP2000 is a legal procedure that mimics an IRS Audit by the procedure of making changes to your taxes. However, in a CP2000, the IRS automatically proposes changes to your tax return.

Your 3 options with an IRS CP2000 Notice:

  1. Do nothing

  2. Agree with all Changes

  3. Disagree with some or all changes! ( Choose this one!)

IRS CP2000 Notice Procedure Flow Chart

The CP2000 notice is also known as an AUR: which stands for Automated Underreported Income.

Do not let the IRS finalize the CP2000 changes without your response, even if the income is taxable.

In Fact:

The IRS would consider abatement of Penalties if you submit a response to the additional tax. If you can challenge the income or qualify for an exclusion, the IRS would review your calculation.

The recommended first step is to review your originally filed tax return & to review the income sources that were included in your original tax filings. This additional income can be checked on the CP2000 notice, and double-checked with the Wages & Income Transcripts provided by the IRS. The following are some examples of the types of Additional Income being reported to the IRS & the proposed changes that are based on the CP2000 letter.

What If I Do Not Agree with the IRS CP2000 Proposed Changes?

You can disagree with some or all of the changes proposed by the IRS CP2000 notice.

If the IRS ultimately does not review your response or makes the changes upon reviewing your response, they finalize the changes and send you a notice of deficiency or IRS Notice CP3219A.

If you received the Deficiency notice, and still disagree, you have the opportunity to appeal to the tax court.

A CP2000 Notice from the IRS with highlighted sections and icons explaining key details. The notice shows a due amount of $449,386.24, issued on May 2, 2022, with a due date of May 16, 2022. Surrounding icons provide explanations for AUR unit address, notice date, amount due, due date, payments applied, penalties, and interest.

Why Did I Receive an IRS CP2000 Notice with the Proposed Changes to My Tax Return?

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The IRS will send you a CP2000 notice when they have additional income source information that was not included in your original tax filing.

The IRS CP2000 notice has proposed changes to your tax return, for a specific year of the income tax return.

The IRS CP2000 letter occurs specifically when there is reported income from a 3rd party source that was not included on your originally filed tax return when you filed.

IRS CP2000 Additional Income Types

COMMON TYPES UNDERREPORTED INCOME

  • W2 ( Wages Statement)

  • 1099-NEC (Non-Employee Compensation)

  • 1099-Misc (Other Income)

  • 1099-Misc ( Rental Income)

  • 1099-R ( Distribution of Retirement Income)

  • 1099-C ( Cancellation of Debt Income)

  • 1099-B ( stock, investments or Crypto Currency Sales

  • 1099-S ( Sale of Real Estate)

  • Restricted Stock Units Sold ( RSU)

What Happens If I Do Not Respond to the IRS CP2000?

The absolute worst thing you can do when you receive the IRS CP2000 is nothing. When you do not respond to the IRS CP2000, you are essentially agreeing to all the proposed changes by the IRS. The additional tax also applies interest & penalties to your account. Once the debt is processed, the entire balance you owe is sent to the IRS Collections Department or ACS, where they will take charge of the collection of the balance due. There are 2 better options to proceed that is better than doing nothing when you receive the IRS CP2000 notice

IRS CP2000: Option 1: Agree to Tax

You can agree to the additional income, and request the Penalties to be forgiven. The IRS includes a response form, with a bar code at the top, and an option to check your agreement to the assessment of taxes, interest & penalties. However, this same response form will have the option to mark if you disagree. We will go further into detail on submitting a disagreement packet ot the IRS below.

Bonus Tip: You can accept the additional tax changes, however, submit a request for Penalty Abatement request. If this is the case, then do not accept the changes!

IRS CP2000 Option 2: Do Not Agree with Proposed Changes

You can dispute the IRS CP2000 Notice, by submitting your calculations, forms & source documents. When you receive a CP2000 notice from the IRS and disagree or partially agree with the proposed changes, it is crucial to take the necessary steps to address the matter appropriately. It is essential not to sign agreeing with the changes suggested by the IRS CP2000 notice.

Instead, we recommend writing a cover letter to the IRS, explaining the specific reasons for your disagreement in a clear and concise manner. In this cover letter, it is important to include your own calculation of what the correct tax amount should be, along with any supporting tax forms and schedules that were used to reach this corrected tax amount. By submitting your position and documentation directly to the IRS CP2000 unit handling your case, you can ensure that your substantiation, calculation, and any additional information are processed efficiently.

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CP2000 Response Letter - semper tax relief

Your CP2000 Response Letter

Your response letter to the IRS for the CP2000 should describe the items you disagree with, and the IRS Tax Forms used in your calculation. See the Sample IRS CP2000 Response Letter

Example: I disagree with the taxable stock transactions that totaled $15,000 in taxable income. Your calculation failed to include the stock basis of the stock transactions and the appropriate Capital Gains & Losses. The correct calculation is on form 8949 & Schedule D. My calculation shows that I have $205 Long Term Capital gain. I am enclosing IRS Form 8949 & Schedule D to calculate the corrected capital gain.

The additional income on the IRS CP2000 Notice that was not included on your original income tax return may be for a variety of reasons. Below are some common reasons the additional income that was reported to you, was not included on the tax return:

  • Your Tax Preparer made an error or did not know the law

    • Some Tax Preparers make mistakes

    • Incompetent with tax law or lack expertise in certain filings

  • You did the tax return yourself & did not know the law or was an honest mistake

    • When you do it yourself, you may just click away on the software

    • You may have disregarded the tax document when filing

  • You never received the additional tax forms prior to filing

    • This is common if you have moved, and the 3rd party did not have your address

    • The third-party payor had an incorrect address

    • Family member, Kids, or Spouse may have discarded at home

  • Victim of Fraud

    • Someone Used your information & signed off with 3rd party payor sources ( employers/ contractors, financial institutions)

    • The 3rd party has your information to file fraudulent W2s/109ss

  • Mistake By the 3rd party Source

    • The 3rd party may have mistakenly reported the income to you

    • Applied a prior year(s) payment on the incorrect tax year.

The disagreement in writing can include additional tax forms & schedules. These Schedules can include the gross income, and apply certain expenses or deductions reducing or eliminating the taxable income.

What types of Schedules or Worksheets can I submit to the CP2000 unit for review?

Responding to the CP2000 unit and requesting a review of at least a penalty forgiveness is advisable. If you review the Income & payor, you can determine the type of response necessary to fight the CP2000 on the merits. Make sure your response is sent back directly to same contact information located on the IRS CP2000 notice, not any other department of the IRS. The following is a list of the Schedule & Form to Submit:

  • IRS FORM 1040x: Amended Tax Return ( Marked “For Reference Only”)

  • IRS: Schedule C: Profit & Loss to include Business expenses

  • IRS Schedule SE: Self Employment Tax Calculation

  • IRS Schedule E: Rental Income & Expenses

  • IRS: Insolvency Worksheet for Exclusion of Cancelled Debt

  • IRS Form 843: Request for Penalty Abatement

  • IRA / 401K valid rollover substantiation

  • IRS Identity Theft Claim & Filed Law Enforcement Claim

  • Your written explanation of circumstances with any documents to back up

Should I get help?

THE IRS CP2000 is a legal procedure with the IRS

You do not have to face this process alone. We can represent you, communicate on your behalf, and respond appropriately to the IRS CP2000 Notice.

The name, automated under-reporting, implies that the IRS has automation in sending out the CP2000 letter to you. Which is correct! The IRS computer systems have automatically generated the IRS CP2000 letter, which calculates the additional Income Tax, statutory penalties & interest against you.

The IRS Decision to your CP2000 Response

THE IRS will review your CP2000 documentation

The IRS will finalize the CP2000 procedure whether you have submitted a rebuttal or not have taken any action.

  1. Make their changes as the original CP2000 notice had

  2. Consider your request, and allow all the expenses, deductions & abatement requests

  3. The IRS considers your request, however, there is still an additional amount due

If you sent in a written challenge to the IRS, and the challenge will yield $0 amount due, the IRS will confirm in writing.

IF YOU SUBMITTED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, BUT YOU WILL OWE ADDITIONAL TAX, PENALTIES & INTEREST, IT MAY BE LOWER THAN THE ORIGINAL CP2000 NOTICE.

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NOTICE OF DEFICIENCY

IRS FINALIZED CHANGES TO YOUR TAX RETURN IRS Notice CP3219A

The IRS will issue the final changes to your tax return with the Notice of Deficiency on IRS Notice CP3219A

If your response included items that were taxable, however, were still left with a balance due to the IRS for the CP2000, then the Updated balance detailed in the Notice of Deficiency might be accurate. You would want to review that the IRS has made the appropriate changes to include your response for the disputed items & penalty abatement request. If you now agree, then the balance is now accurate.

Appealing IRS Notice CP3219A

Petitioning US Tax Court

Do I have to Petition the US Tax Court if I still disagree with the IRS Notice of Deficiency IRS Notice CP3219A?

When you petition the tax court, you are asserting your appeal rights with the IRS. When you do not submit a timely appeal, you are waiving your rights by not taking action and risking the IRS to move forward with the IRS Proposed changes to your taxes.

To timely submit a tax court petition you must do so within 90 days of IRS Notice CP3219A if you are located in the US, and 150 days if you are located outside the US.

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Our CP2000 Response Process

  1. We review the IRS CP2000 notice, proposed tax, penalties, interest, and response deadline.

  2. We compare the IRS income items against your filed tax return and IRS Wage and Income Transcript.

  3. We identify whether the IRS is correct, partially correct, or wrong.

  4. We prepare the corrected calculation using the proper tax forms and schedules.

  5. We submit a response packet to the CP2000 unit with the explanation, proof, and penalty abatement request when applicable.

  6. We follow up with the IRS until the CP2000 is resolved, reduced, corrected, or closed.

IRS CP2000 FAQs

Automated Under-Reported Income