Collection Appeals Program (CAP): Form 9423, Deadlines, and Process

The IRS Collection Appeals Program is a fast, informal way to challenge specific collection actions — a lien, a levy, a seizure, or a decision about your installment agreement — through the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. Decisions typically come within five to fifteen business days, but the program cannot reduce what you owe and its outcome cannot be taken to court. That trade between speed and legal protection is the whole point of the program, and it drives every decision you’ll make about whether to use it.

What CAP Can and Can’t Do

CAP reviews whether a particular collection action was appropriate. It does not reconsider the tax itself, and it does not weigh alternatives like offers in compromise.¹

You can use CAP to challenge:

Filing or proposed filing of a Notice of Federal Tax Lien.
A levy or proposed levy against wages, bank accounts, or other property.
The seizure of assets such as vehicles or real estate.
Rejection, proposed modification, modification, proposed termination, or termination of an installment agreement.
Denial of a request for lien subordination, discharge, withdrawal, or a certificate of non-attachment.
Denial of a request to return levied property.
Denial of a third party’s wrongful levy claim.

The list is broader than what a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing covers. Installment agreement disputes, lien certificate denials, and requests for return of levied property can only be raised administratively through CAP or equivalent channels — not through CDP.²

Several things sit outside CAP entirely. If you believe the assessment is wrong, that belongs in audit reconsideration, a refund claim, or a CDP hearing where liability can be raised. Penalty abatement runs through Form 843 or a written request. Offers in compromise use Form 656. Trust fund recovery penalty disputes have their own appeal track. Property tied up in bankruptcy, probate, or receivership isn’t eligible, and neither are cases already referred to the Department of Justice. A denial of a lien release follows a separate statutory process under IRC 6326.³ Jeopardy levies are generally excluded as well, with narrow exceptions.¹

When CAP Beats CDP, and When It Doesn’t

If you’re also eligible for a CDP hearing, the IRS must tell you about both options and explain how they differ. The choice matters more than most taxpayers realize.

A CDP hearing lets you propose collection alternatives, challenge the underlying tax if you had no prior chance to dispute it, and take the case to U.S. Tax Court if you disagree with the result. CAP offers none of that. The Appeals officer in a CAP case reviews whether the collection action was procedurally correct and cannot order the IRS to accept an installment agreement you’d prefer or entertain an offer in compromise.¹

The bigger risk is issue preclusion. Under IRC 6330(c)(4), an issue you raise and meaningfully participate in during a prior administrative proceeding generally cannot be raised again in a later CDP hearing.⁴ A completed CAP appeal is a prior administrative proceeding. Argue in CAP that a levy is improper, and the CDP officer can refuse to reconsider the same argument or simply adopt the CAP result. Taxpayers pick CAP for speed and discover afterward that they’ve closed the door on the more protective route.²

A rough rule: use CAP when you need a quick procedural check on a collection action and don’t expect to need court access. Choose CDP when judicial review might matter, when you want to propose alternative payment arrangements, or when the underlying liability is in play.

How to File a CAP Appeal

Step One: Talk to the Collection Manager

You can’t file a CAP appeal cold. The process begins with a conversation with the revenue officer or collections employee handling your account. Explain your disagreement. If it doesn’t resolve, ask for a conference with that employee’s manager.⁵

For a field case, the manager conference is usually a phone call or in-person meeting with the group manager. For a case in the Automated Collection System, you call the toll-free number on your notice and ask to speak with an ACS manager; you can make an oral CAP request during that same call, and the manager documents it.¹

Skip this step and the IRS closes your case as a premature referral. The one carve-out is installment agreement disputes, where the manager meeting is not required.¹

Step Two: File Form 9423

If the manager conference doesn’t resolve things, file Form 9423, Collection Appeal Request, available on IRS.gov. The form asks for the tax periods at issue, the specific collection action you’re disputing, your explanation of the disagreement, and your proposed solution to the underlying tax problem. Attach supporting documents: bank statements, proof of payments, evidence of financial hardship, or records showing a procedural error.⁵

Submit the form to the collection office involved. Field cases go to the revenue officer; ACS cases go to the fax or mailing address the manager gave you during the call.⁶

An attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent can sign Form 9423 and handle the appeal for you. If someone other than you is filing, attach Form 2848 (Power of Attorney). Hourly rates for tax professionals handling collection appeals generally run from $200 to $800 or more, depending on complexity and experience.⁵

Deadlines You Cannot Miss

Liens, Levies, and Seizures

After your manager conference, you have two business days to notify the collection office that you plan to submit Form 9423, and the form itself must be received or postmarked within three business days of the conference. Miss either window and enforcement can resume.⁵

Installment Agreements

You have 30 days to request a CAP appeal after:

The IRS rejects a proposed installment agreement.
The IRS proposes to modify your agreement.
The IRS proposes to terminate your agreement.
A termination becomes effective — the 30 days start the day after the effective date shown on the notice.

These windows track the 30-day advance notice IRC 6159 requires before the IRS can modify or terminate an installment agreement.⁷¹

A Warning on Postmarks

If you mail Form 9423, the postmark date counts as the filing date. As of late 2025, the U.S. Postal Service changed how postmarks work: they now reflect when mail reaches an automated processing facility, not when a carrier picks it up. Mail dropped in a blue collection box can be postmarked one to three days later than expected. With a three-business-day deadline, that gap can sink your appeal. Take the form to a post office counter for a dated postmark, use Certified Mail, or send it through an authorized private delivery service.⁸

What Happens After You File

Once the IRS accepts your Form 9423, the case moves to the Independent Office of Appeals, which operates separately from the collection division that took the action.⁹ An Appeals technical employee reviews the record and your arguments.

By policy, the IRS suspends the disputed collection action while your CAP case is pending. The exception: enforcement can continue if the IRS believes delay would jeopardize collection.¹

The program is built for speed. The IRS’s internal goal is to resolve straightforward cases within five business days of assignment. More complicated disputes, including lien withdrawals, installment agreements, and seizures, generally take up to fifteen business days.¹

The Appeals decision binds both you and the IRS collection function. Collection must follow whatever the Appeals officer directs. And there is no second bite: you cannot re-appeal the same issue on the same facts through CAP, and there is no path from a CAP decision to Tax Court or any other federal court.¹ That finality is exactly why the CAP-versus-CDP choice deserves care before you file.

1
Internal Revenue Service. IRM 8.24.1 Collection Appeals Program (CAP)
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Internal Revenue Service. IRM 5.1.9 Collection Appeal Rights
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6326 – Administrative Appeal of Liens
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6330 – Notice and Opportunity for Hearing Before Levy
5
Internal Revenue Service. Form 9423 – Collection Appeal Request
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Internal Revenue Service. Preparing a Request for Appeals
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6159 – Agreements for Payment of Tax Liability in Installments
8
Taxpayer Advocate Service. New US Postal Service Rules Could Affect Whether Your Tax Filing Is Considered On Time
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Internal Revenue Service. A Closer Look at the IRS Independent Office of Appeals