Getting the right transcript
Two modules carry a payer's 1099 matters. The civil penalty module, MFT 13 on a business account, holds information-return penalties as TC 240 with a penalty reference number; "A TC 150 will never post to a civil penalty file" (IRM 25.6.1.9.13, Jan. 28, 2015). The Form 945 module, MFT 16, holds the withholding return, its deposits and any assessment. Ask for the account transcript for the right form and year; a "Form 945" transcript does not show the penalty, and a "Civil Penalty" transcript does not show the deposits.
Business Tax Account serves business transcripts online for an authorized officer (IRM 21.2.3.3.5); otherwise Form 4506-T or the business line, with the authorization rules the calling guide describes. Request the account transcript, not the return transcript, for "Civil Penalty" for the calendar year of the penalty and for "Form 945" for the withholding year. The transcript shows each posted transaction with a code, an explanation, a cycle or date, and an amount; debits are positive and credits negative. Pending transactions and some freezes do not appear on the external transcript, which is why an assistor sometimes sees what you cannot.
The civil penalty module, line by line
TC 240, "Miscellaneous penalty." The assessment. Document 6209 describes a TC 240 posting "to a tax module" by computer or by manual input, with "the Civil Penalty name line" on MFT 13 (Section 8A). The amount is the penalty; the date is the assessment date, which is also the interest start date and the date the 21-day window runs from. The explanation line or the reference number identifies the penalty: the information-return penalties use the 500-series penalty reference numbers that IRM 20.1.7 assigns (500 late, 501 not electronic, 502 incorrect TIN, and the combinations), and PRN 537 is intentional disregard. CP15 or CP215 is the notice that corresponds to this line; a TC 240 with no notice in your file means the notice went to the address of record.
TC 241, "Abatement of miscellaneous penalty." A reversal, full or partial, posted after an abatement request, an Appeals decision or an IRS correction. "When reversing a TC 240, use the same PRN as the original" (IRM 20.2.5.3), so the 241 carries the matching reference number and its interest follows it off.
TC 196 and TC 340. TC 196 is "computer generated interest that is due"; TC 340 is "Restricted interest which must be manually computed" (Section 8A). A 340 means the systemic computation was turned off, usually because of a partial abatement or a transfer, and it is the line to check if the interest looks wrong.
TC 971 AC 010 or 012, and TC 971 AC 251. Your response or Form 843 being routed ("Amended return/claim forwarded to Accounts Management" or "to Collection"), and Appeals taking the penalty up ("Penalty Appeals Case"). A 972 with the same action code reverses the marker when the case closes.
TC 670, 640, 610. Payments: a subsequent payment, an advance payment on a proposed assessment, a payment with a return. A designated payment to the penalty shows here; a payment the IRS applied in its own interest shows on whichever module it chose. TC 826 and 706 are offsets out of and into the module from an overpayment elsewhere.
The Form 945 module, line by line
TC 150, "Return filed and tax liability assessed." The Form 945 posted, with the tax from line 3 as the amount. Its date is the posting date; the return's own due date drives the statute. A module with no 150 and a TC 290 or 300 is a Form 945 the IRS assessed without a return, which the unfiled Form 945 page explains cannot be a 6020(b) substitute and must be an Examination assessment.
TC 650, "Federal tax deposit." Each EFTPS deposit, with its settlement date. A deposit missing from this list and present on a 941 module is the misapplication the credit transfer page covers; a TC 652 is a deposit reversed, a TC 700 or 702 a credit transferred in or out manually.
TC 806 and 807. "Credit for withholding" and its reversal. On a payer's 945 module these are rare; they belong to the payee's return, where the box 4 withholding you reported becomes the credit the IRS verifies against your 1099 (IRM 21.6.3.4.2.2).
TC 166, 186, 276. The systemic failure-to-file, deposit and failure-to-pay penalties, with TC 167, 187 and 277 as their abatements. A 186 recomputing after a credit transfer is what generates a CP 210/220.
TC 290 and TC 300. "Additional tax assessment" by adjustment, and "Additional tax or deficiency assessment by Examination or Appeals." A Letter 6112 compliance check that the payer agreed to or ignored ends in a 290; a field examination on Form 4668-B ends in a 300. TC 291 and 301 are the abatements, including Forms 4669 and 4670 relief.
TC 420 and 421. Examination opened and closed; the 420 sets the -L freeze. TC 460 is an extension of time to file. TC 599 and 590 are nonfiler closures: "Return secured" and "Not liable this tax period" (Section 8A); a 590 with closing code 050 is the "discharged all employees" closure that ends the 945 filing requirement.
Collection and appeal codes
TC 971 is "Miscellaneous" and "Performs different actions based on the Action Code" (Document 6209, Section 8A). The ones a payer meets: 069 "Due Process Notice was issued" (the LT11 or Letter 1058 went out); 043 "Pending Installment Agreement"; 063 "Installment Agreement. FTP at 1/4%"; 010 and 012 "Amended return/claim forwarded" to Accounts Management or Collection; 251 "Appeals has the tax period under consideration as a Penalty Appeals Case"; 611, 612 and 617 "Third Party Contact notification made by" Collection, CAWR or the verification operation; 524 "No Filing Requirements or Locked Account" (Document 6209, Section 8C).
TC 971 AC 069 is the one to look for first on a disputed balance: it is the date the Collection Due Process notice issued, and the 30 days to request a hearing run from it (IRM 5.1.9.3.2.1, Aug. 28, 2025, names the code as the way to find the notice date when the letter is lost). TC 520 with a closing code is a litigation or CDP freeze (-W), set while a hearing or a Tax Court case is open and released by TC 521; TC 530 is currently not collectible; TC 582 is "Federal Tax Lien has been filed for this tax period" and 583 its release (Section 8A). TC 480 is an offer in compromise pending, which sets the -Y freeze; TC 130 on the entity is "Entire account frozen from refunding" because of a liability elsewhere, the marker the TFRP guide describes posting to a responsible person's own account when Letter 1153 is delivered.
TC 960 "Adds/updates CAF indicator," the sign that a Form 2848 or 8821 is on file for the module; its absence explains an assistor who will not talk to your representative.
The freeze codes
A freeze is a condition that stops some systemic action, and the freeze code manual defines each. The ones a payer's modules carry: -A, set by "A duplicate return (TC 976)," "A subsequent return (TC 977)" or "TC 971 Action Code (AC) 010 or AC 012-015 (amended return)" (IRM 21.5.6.4.2, Dec. 9, 2025), which is what a Form 945-X or a penalty claim sets while it waits; -L, "set when a Transaction Code (TC) 420 or TC 424 posts to an account that has been referred to Examination. It does not freeze the account" (IRM 21.5.6.4.24, Oct. 21, 2024), but it does route any claim to the examiner; V-, "generated when there is a liability on another account with the IRS ... set with the posting of Transaction Code (TC) 130 on the entity section" (IRM 21.5.6.4.43, May 23, 2025), the reason a refund on one module is held for a balance on another; -W, the litigation freeze "set by posting a Transaction Code (TC) 520 along with an appropriate closing code," including CDP (IRM 21.5.6.4.46, Dec. 9, 2025); -Y, the offer in compromise freeze set by TC 480, of which the manual says "Take no action to release this freeze" (IRM 21.5.6.4.50, Dec. 11, 2023); and the -O and -S disaster freezes described on the disaster page. A K- freeze is an "Erroneous Credits" condition where "the module balance is a credit, but the credit is not entirely refundable" (IRM 21.5.6.4.21, Jan. 30, 2018), common after a partial transfer.
Refund codes: TC 846, 826, 820 and 898
A refund that never arrived usually left a trail on the module it came from. "TC 820, manual credit transfer; TC 826, computer-generated tax offset; TC 896, computer-generated tax offset from IMF to BMF" are the IRS applying your overpayment to another federal tax balance under IRC 6402(a) (IRM 21.4.6.4.1, Dec. 4, 2014); the receiving module shows the matching credit. TC 846 is the refund itself, and for business accounts "the issue/mailing date is one day after the TC 846 date" (IRM 21.4.1.4.4, June 5, 2026). Next to the TC 846 sits a one-digit bypass indicator: BPI 0 means the refund was eligible for a Treasury Offset Program debt, BPI 3 that it was not, which is what a Form 945 refund carries (IRM 21.4.6.4.2.1, May 30, 2024; 21.4.6.4.2.3). A TC 898 is a TOP offset that already happened; it posts the Monday after the payment date and the amount went to another agency, not the IRS. The Form 945 refund page walks through which to call about each.
Reading a sequence
A typical civil penalty module after a 972CG season reads, in order: TC 240 with PRN 502 on the assessment date (the CP215); TC 971 AC 010 a few weeks later (your response was received and routed); TC 196 interest; then either TC 241 for the abated amount and TC 197 reversing the interest on it, or no 241 and, after the 854C, TC 971 AC 251 if you went to Appeals. If the balance stands: TC 971 AC 069 on the date of the LT11, TC 520 if you requested a hearing, TC 521 when it closed, and either TC 670 payments or TC 582 and a levy. Each code is a date you can put against the manual's own timelines on this site: the 45 days on the notice, the 120 days to an Appeals contact, the 30 days from the 069 to the hearing request, the 21 days from the 240 to pay without interest.
A Form 945 module in a compliance check reads: no TC 150; TC 971 or a letter code when the Letter 6112 issues; TC 290 with the proposed amount when the check closes unanswered; TC 186 and 276 generated against it; TC 291 if Forms 4669 and 4670 are accepted later. The compliance-check guide has the letters that go with each step.
Questions people ask
Our transcript shows a TC 240 but we never received a notice.
The CP15 or CP215 went to the address of record on the assessment date; the 240 is the proof it was assessed. Confirm the address with Form 8822-B, ask for a copy of the notice, and treat the 240 date as the start of the 21-day window and the interest clock, both of which have run.
What is the difference between a TC 290 and a TC 300 on the 945 module?
A 290 is an adjustment assessment, which is how a campus compliance check posts; a 300 is an examination assessment from a field exam report (Document 6209, Section 8A). The distinction matters for audit reconsideration and for whether the year counts as examined.
The transcript shows TC 971 AC 611. Were we contacted by a third party?
The reverse. AC 611 records that the IRS sent you the third-party contact notice, Letter 3164, because it intends to contact others about your liability (Document 6209, Section 8C). The third-party contact page explains the notice and the list you can request.
Is Document 6209 public?
Yes, with redactions, at irs.gov under "Document 6209, ADP and IDRS Information," by year and section. Section 8A is the transaction code list, 8C the reference numbers and action codes, 10 the penalty and interest table.