Is this about your personal tax return, not a business? A 5071C means the IRS stopped your tax return until you confirm you filed it. Nothing is wrong with the return itself. Go to IRS.gov/VerifyReturn and complete both steps (identity, then the return), or call the number on the letter with the letter, this year's return and last year's in front of you. Your refund is released after you verify, usually within nine weeks. If you did not file the return, say so; that is identity theft and the IRS removes it from your account. The rest of this page goes deeper, from the side of the businesses that file 1099s; the parts on how the IRS handles the letter apply to you too.
What Letter 5071C is
A Taxpayer Protection Program letter. The IRS has held an individual return that its identity-theft filters selected and will not process it until the person verifies that they filed it. The 5071C is the version with an online option: it "directs the taxpayer to the online verification option and provides the web address to the Identity and Tax Return Verification Service landing page located via the IRS.gov/VerifyReturn website" and also allows a call to the TPP line (IRM 25.25.6.1.7, June 15, 2026). The letter has been issued in a new notice format since January 2024 and is being converted to "IRS Notice CP5071." A payer sees it only when a payee asks whether a 1099 caused it; it did not. The return was selected by the IRS's identity models, not by the information returns filed under the number.
The deadline
No fixed deadline is printed, but the refund and the return stay frozen until verification is complete, and "No account information can be provided to the caller, including transcripts, if there is an unresolved TPP issue on any tax year" (IRM 25.25.6.1.7). After verification a return "can take up to 9 weeks" to post systemically; one that was archived or deleted is processed manually in "10 - 12 weeks."
What to do
Verify online at IRS.gov/VerifyReturn, a two-part process (identity proofing through ID.me, then verification of the return itself) for taxpayers "18 years of age or older with a Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)" (IRM 25.25.6.3.5, Oct. 1, 2026), or call the number on the letter with the letter, the return in question and a prior-year return in hand; "The TPP letter is required to authenticate on the phone and online." If you did not file the return, say so: the IRS treats it as identity theft and moves it off your account. If the letter never arrived, allow 14 days from the date the IRS marked it issued (30 days abroad) before calling.
Questions about Letter 5071C
Who receives Letter 5071C?
Individual taxpayer. A Taxpayer Protection Program letter.
What is the deadline on Letter 5071C?
No fixed deadline is printed, but the refund and the return stay frozen until verification is complete, and "No account information can be provided to the caller, including transcripts, if there is an unresolved TPP issue on any tax year" (IRM 25.25.6.1.7). After verification a return "can take up to 9 weeks" to post systemically; one that was archived or deleted is processed manually in "10 - 12 weeks."
What should I do when Letter 5071C arrives?
Verify online at IRS.gov/VerifyReturn, a two-part process (identity proofing through ID.me, then verification of the return itself) for taxpayers "18 years of age or older with a Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)" (IRM 25.25.6.3.5, Oct. 1, 2026), or call the number on the letter with the letter, the return in question and a prior-year return in hand; "The TPP letter is required to authenticate on the phone and online." If you did not file the return, say so: the IRS treats it as identity theft and moves it off your account. If the letter never arrived, allow 14 days from the date the IRS marked it issued (30 days abroad) before calling.
Is Letter 5071C about my own income tax?
No. This decoder covers information reporting and withholding: the notices a payer, filer or payee sees because of Forms 1099, W-2, 945 and the TINs on them. Individual income-tax notices follow a different track.
Have a different notice? The IRS notice decoder lists all 83 in the order they tend to arrive.