CP71C

A CP71C is the annual unpaid-balance reminder in its firmer form: alongside the balance, it warns that the IRS may file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien and may assign the account to a private collection agency, and it explains the passport consequences of seriously delinquent debt.

“This balance requires attention. If it isn't paid or put on a plan, we may file a public lien — subject to your Collection Due Process rights — or hand the account to a private collection agency. Serious delinquency can also affect a passport.”

The letter names what may come next — lien, private collection — rather than announcing either. That makes it the last easy moment: arrangements made now happen with the IRS directly, on ordinary terms.

• The notice
• Records of the underlying years and any payments
• Monthly income and expense figures for a plan or hardship case
• Any past penalty-relief history

• Resolving the account before lien filing or private-collection assignment
• Invoking Collection Due Process rights if a lien notice follows
• Negotiating the plan or offer in compromise that the numbers actually support
• Verifying the balance before any of it is paid