Letter 916C: Claim or amended return not processed (no consideration)

What Letter 916C is

A closing letter used, among other things, when an amended or duplicate return is filed on an account already determined to be identity theft or a fabricated EIN: "Your original return was determined to be an invalid filing. Your amended return will not be processed, and a refund will not be issued" (IRM 25.23.11.7.4.5(4)). Also used to deny a reconsideration of an information-return penalty that adds nothing new (IRM 4.19.25.17).

The deadline

None stated; in the penalty context, the appeal rights in the earlier denial (Letter 854-C) govern.

What to do

In the identity-theft context, if you are the legitimate business, contact the BMF identity theft unit with the letter; the account may need to be unlocked before your real return can post. In the penalty context, a further request must add facts or explicitly ask for Appeals.

A letter of no consideration

Letter 916C tells a taxpayer that something they filed will not be acted on. It is a general-purpose letter and the two uses that reach payers are quite different. In the identity-theft use, a business files an amended or duplicate return for a period on which the IRS has already determined that the original return was a fraudulent filing under a stolen or fabricated EIN; the amended return has nothing valid to amend, so the IRS declines to process it and says no refund will issue. A legitimate business can land here when it tries to fix an account by filing over the top of a fraudulent return instead of reporting the identity theft. In the penalty use, a payer whose 972CG reasonable-cause request was denied in a Letter 854-C writes again with the same statement, and the unit closes the second request without consideration because it adds nothing new and the appeal rights in the 854-C already govern.

What each case calls for

In the identity-theft case, stop filing returns on the account and report the problem: a Form 14039-B with a copy of the 916C and the return you were trying to file, to the business identity theft unit, which has to unwind the fraudulent filing and may need to unlock the entity before your real return can post. The business identity theft guide covers the affidavit and the sequence. In the penalty case, a third letter restating the same facts will get the same answer. A further request has to do one of two things: add facts or documents the examiner has not seen, addressed to the reason the 854-C stated, or explicitly request Appeals consideration within the window the 854-C gave. If the window has passed, the remaining route is to pay the penalty and file a Form 843 claim for refund, which the IRS must consider on its merits and which carries its own appeal and suit rights. The after-the-denial guide covers both.

Questions about Letter 916C

Have a different notice? The IRS notice decoder lists all 77 in the order they tend to arrive.