Calling the IRS about a 1099 notice: what the assistor can and cannot do

What the assistor can do

• Confirm whether a CP2100, CP2100A or 972CG was mailed to an EIN, after authentication, and only once two weeks have passed since the last dated notice for that tax year (IRM 21.3.11.6.2.6).
• Open a recreate request for a notice you did not receive; expect it "within 4 weeks."
• Tell you the business name behind the TCC that transmitted the returns on your notice, if you are an authorized person for the business (IRM 3.42.9.13.5; callback in about three business days).
• Walk you through the Publication 1281 flowcharts for a CP2100 line, "if the customer insists on additional assistance" (IRM 21.3.11.6.2.2).
• Provide the encryption code for a CP2100 or 972CG disc to a contact named on Form 10301 (IRM 21.3.11.6.2.7).
• Answer process questions about Forms 8809, 8508, 15397 and 10301, FIRE, IRIS and TCC applications.
• Escalate a CP2000 problem caused by a duplicated or overstated 1099 affecting more than one payee to the computer assistants who can correct the data (IRM 21.3.11.6.1).

What the assistor cannot do

• Look up whether a payee was on a prior notice, or whether your account is in first- or second-notice status. There is no such record (IRM 5.19.3.4(6)).
• Research your filings or your penalty: "The research of return filing does not fall within TSO scope ... The customer must respond in writing to the address on the notice" (IRM 21.3.11.8). Nothing said on the phone reduces a 972CG.
• Quote or interpret tax law. Written and oral responses must not "include opinion or interpretation of tax law," and assistors must cite the publication or instruction they rely on; a complex question gets a suggestion to "contact a paid preparer" (IRM 21.3.11.4.1, 21.3.11.1.8).
• Take a new address by phone. A recreated notice to a different address requires Form 8822-B faxed with the incident number on top (IRM 21.3.11.6.2.6).
• Answer Form 945, W-2, 1042-S or C-Notice questions; those are referred (below).
• Give tax information by voicemail, or fax transcripts (IRM 21.3.11.2.1).

Verifying and recreating a notice

The search is by the "Access Key" EIN, "the EIN used to generate the notices." If your returns were filed under a service bureau's, parent's or predecessor's EIN, a search on your EIN returns nothing: "there will not be a notice mailed to the company that owns the EIN searched" (IRM 21.3.11.6.2.6). Ask the filer to call, or ask for the TCC business name on the notice you have. Each notice type needs its own case: CP2100, CP2100A and 972CG are separate interactions; several tax years of the same notice go in one, and several EINs for the same notice from the same caller go in one. Keep the incident number; a follow-up call is researched by it. Notices are recreatable for four years from the notice date (IRM 5.19.3.5.1.5) and not within two weeks of a mailing.

Authorization, per EIN

"Form 2848 or Form 8821 must be faxed in for each TIN (CP 2100 and Notice CP 972CG)" (IRM 21.3.11.6.2.6). A representative for twenty payer EINs needs twenty authorizations, and one for each notice type. For a 972CG response or appeal the form must say "Civil Penalty," the form series and the years, and only a 2848 (not an 8821) authorizes an appeal (IRM 4.19.25.17.3.1). When a representative says a form is being faxed, the assistor escalates and the unit contacts the customer once it arrives; nothing is disclosed on that call.

Which number handles what

Before you dial

1. The EIN the returns were filed under, not only your own.
2. The notice date and tax year; for a 972CG, the penalty reference number.
3. Your authority: an officer, or a faxed 2848/8821 for that EIN and notice type.
4. For a disc: the Form 10301 PIN and the name of a listed contact.
5. Any prior incident number.
6. The specific ask. "Was a CP2100 mailed to EIN X for tax year Y, and if so please recreate it" is answerable. "Was this vendor on last year's list" is not.

Questions people ask