Letter 917: Reply to a request to reconsider a disallowed claim; not a certified disallowance

What Letter 917 is

The examiner's multipurpose reply when a taxpayer asks the IRS to look again at a claim for refund it already disallowed. The manual says a disallowed claim is reconsidered only on new facts received before the suit period expires, that such requests "will not be treated as original claims," and that Letter 917 "is not considered a certified notice of claim disallowance" (IRM 4.23.13.6, July 1, 2024). The two-year period to sue "is not suspended during any period in which the IRS considers or reconsiders the claim" (IRM 4.10.11.2.16(4), Sept. 29, 2022).

The deadline

No new deadline. The two-year suit period keeps running from the original Letter 905/906 or signed Form 2297 (IRM 4.10.11.2.16(4)).

What to do

Do not treat it as a fresh disallowance with a fresh clock. Check the date of the certified disallowance or your Form 2297; if less than six months remain, Appeals will take the case only with a signed Form 907 extension executed before the period expires (IRM 4.23.13.6, 4.23.13.8). A refund paid after the two years is "erroneous" under IRC 6514(a) (IRM 4.10.11.2.16.1.1(3)), so the IRS cannot fix it late even if it agrees.

Reconsidering a disallowed claim

When a claim for refund has been formally disallowed and the taxpayer writes back asking the IRS to look again, the IRS may do so, but on narrow terms. The request must present facts or documents not previously considered, it must arrive while the two-year period for suing on the original disallowance is still open, and it is not treated as a new claim with a new clock. Letter 917 is the examiner's reply in that situation, whether the answer is that the new material changes nothing, that it will be reviewed, or that it has resolved the claim in your favor. What the letter never does is restart anything. The two-year period under IRC 6532 runs from the certified disallowance (Letter 905 or 906) or from the date you signed Form 2297, and it keeps running through any reconsideration or Appeals review. The IRS cannot waive it, and a refund it issued after the period closed would itself be erroneous and recoverable.

Managing the clock

Find the date of the certified disallowance or the Form 2297 and write the two-year date on every piece of paper in the file. If the reconsideration is still open with less than six months left, Appeals will take the case only if you and the IRS sign a Form 907 extending the period, and the form must be executed before the period expires; ask for it in writing well ahead of the six-month point. If the IRS does not agree to extend, the only way to preserve the claim is to file a refund suit in the district court or the Court of Federal Claims before the two years run, and continue negotiating with the suit on file. A payer whose claim is small may reasonably decide the suit is not worth it; the point is to decide, rather than to discover at month 25 that a favorable reconsideration can no longer be paid. The claim versus abatement page covers the sequence from payment through disallowance, and the Letter 105-C / 106-C page covers the campus disallowance that usually starts the clock.

Questions about Letter 917

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