IRS Form 13873-T is a letter the IRS sends to confirm that it has no record of a tax return filed for a specific taxpayer and tax year. It is not a form you fill out. The Return and Income Verification Services (RAIVS) unit issues it as a Verification of Non-Filing when the agency’s standard letter for that purpose, Letter 0050C, is unavailable or when the Integrated Data Retrieval System is down.1Internal Revenue Service. IRM 3.5.21 Return and Income Verification Services (RAIVS) – Processing Requests for Tax Return/Return Information If you received one, it means someone (usually you) asked the IRS to verify non-filing, and this letter is the answer.
What the Letter Confirms
A Verification of Non-Filing is an official IRS statement that the agency has no processed return on file for the taxpayer and year listed. Lenders, college financial aid offices, and government benefit programs commonly require this proof when an applicant says they had no filing obligation. A financial aid office reviewing a FAFSA, for example, may ask for a VNF letter before disbursing aid to a student whose parents did not file.
Form 13873-T, its companion Form 13873-V, and Letter 0050C all do the same job. The difference between them is administrative: the RAIVS unit sends whichever template is available at the time your request is worked.1Internal Revenue Service. IRM 3.5.21 Return and Income Verification Services (RAIVS) – Processing Requests for Tax Return/Return Information For your purposes, they are interchangeable.
What to Do With Form 13873-T
In most cases, you hand it over. Give the letter to whoever asked for proof you did not file: the mortgage underwriter, the aid office, the benefits caseworker. Keep a copy for yourself. Institutions lose paperwork or ask for the same document twice, and a saved copy spares you the wait of requesting a new one.
Before you send it on, read the letter and check that the taxpayer name, identifying information, and tax year all match what the requester asked for. A VNF for the wrong year does not satisfy the request.
When the Year on the Letter Looks Wrong
If Form 13873-T shows a year you believe you did file for, that is worth looking into. It can mean your return was never received, was not processed, or was filed under incorrect identifying information. Call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to check on the status of that return.
How to Request a Verification of Non-Filing
If you have not yet received anything and need proof of non-filing, there are three ways to ask.
Online Through Your IRS Account
The fastest option is your IRS online account at irs.gov. After verifying your identity and signing in, go to the transcript section and select “Verification of Non-Filing Letter.” This covers the current tax year and the three years before it, and the document is usually available to view and download right away.
By Mail Using Form 4506-T
For older tax years, or if you cannot set up an online account, use Form 4506-T (Request for Transcript of Tax Return). Check the “Verification of Non-Filing” box on line 7, enter the tax year, and mail or fax the form to the address in its instructions. Processing by mail takes several weeks. The response normally arrives as Letter 0050C, but if that template is temporarily unavailable you will get Form 13873-T or Form 13873-V instead.1Internal Revenue Service. IRM 3.5.21 Return and Income Verification Services (RAIVS) – Processing Requests for Tax Return/Return Information
By Phone
You can call the IRS at 800-908-9946 to request a transcript. The automated system handles VNF requests for recent tax years and mails the response to the address the IRS has on file.
Other Letters in the 13873 Series
The 13873 family has a few close relatives, which is why some readers arrive here holding a slightly different letter:
- Form 13873-V serves the same purpose as 13873-T, verifying non-filing when Letter 0050C is unavailable.
- Form 13873-ID is a rejection notice, used when the RAIVS unit returns a request for a tax return photocopy because required information is missing. It goes to the requester (often a law enforcement agency using Form 8821-A), not to a taxpayer who simply asked to confirm non-filing.1Internal Revenue Service. IRM 3.5.21 Return and Income Verification Services (RAIVS) – Processing Requests for Tax Return/Return Information
One boundary is worth naming: Form 13873-T is not an identity theft notice. If your concern is that someone filed a return under your Social Security number, that is a different process handled through Form 14039 (Identity Theft Affidavit), not through the 13873 series.
Because Form 13873-T is outgoing IRS correspondence rather than a blank form, it is not posted on the IRS forms website. You will only ever see it as a letter that arrives in response to a VNF request.