IRS Form 9423: Appealing Liens, Levies, and Seizures

IRS Form 9423, the Collection Appeal Request, is how you ask the IRS Independent Office of Appeals to review a specific collection action you disagree with. The request goes through the Collection Appeals Program (CAP), which the IRS aims to resolve within five business days of assignment, and collection is normally paused while Appeals reviews the case.¹ The trade-off matters: a CAP decision is final, and you cannot take it to Tax Court.²

Collection Actions You Can Appeal

CAP addresses how the IRS is collecting a debt, not whether you owe it. You can file Form 9423 to challenge:

Levies and seizures the IRS has taken or plans to take against wages, bank accounts, or other property.
A Notice of Federal Tax Lien that has been filed or is about to be filed.
Alter-ego or nominee liens filed against property the IRS says you control through another person or entity.
Denied requests for lien subordination, withdrawal, discharge, or non-attachment.
An installment agreement that was rejected, modified, proposed to be modified, or terminated.
Denied return-of-property requests under IRC 6343(b) or 6343(d).

Third parties have standing too. If the IRS levied your property to satisfy someone else’s debt, or denied your wrongful-levy claim, Form 9423 is available to you.¹

What Form 9423 Will Not Fix

The Appeals Officer decides whether the collection action was appropriate. They will not reopen an audit, reconsider the amount you owe, or process a refund claim. If you think the tax itself is wrong, you need audit reconsideration or a claim for abatement instead.

Several other matters sit outside CAP:

Disputes over whether a penalty should have been assessed follow a separate process.
Rejected offers in compromise have their own appeal track.
Jeopardy levies use the IRC 7429 review process, with different deadlines.
A refusal to release a lien is excluded, though denials of lien certificates like subordination or discharge are appealable.
Frivolous arguments grounded in moral, religious, or constitutionally frivolous objections to taxation will not be considered.
Cases already under Department of Justice or court control fall outside CAP.

Filing the wrong form burns time you may not have. If your notice is about a rejected offer in compromise, Form 9423 will not help.³

CAP or Collection Due Process: Choosing the Right Path

This is where most taxpayers slip. Two paths exist for challenging collection, and the wrong choice can cost you your right to court review.

A Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing, requested on Form 12153, is the more protective option. When the IRS files a Notice of Federal Tax Lien or sends a Notice of Intent to Levy, you receive a CDP notice with a 30-day window to request a hearing. In a CDP hearing, Appeals can consider alternatives such as an installment agreement, an offer in compromise, or currently-not-collectible status. If you disagree with the determination, you can petition the U.S. Tax Court within 30 days.⁴

Form 9423 is faster but narrower. Appeals decides only whether the specific collection action was appropriate, does not weigh alternatives, and issues a final decision.² CAP does cover a broader range of actions than CDP, including installment agreement disputes and lien certificate denials, so it fills real gaps. But if you hold a valid CDP notice with time remaining, think carefully before defaulting to CAP just because it moves faster.

Filling Out the Form

For lien, levy, or seizure disputes, you must first request a conference with the collection employee’s manager before filing Form 9423. Installment agreement disputes skip that step and go straight to the form.⁵ If the manager conference does not resolve the disagreement, complete the form with:

Your name, address, SSN or EIN, and the tax periods at issue.
The specific collection action you are appealing and the date you received the notice.
A written explanation of why the collection method is inappropriate or premature given your circumstances. Keep the focus off whether you owe.
A concrete proposed resolution. A specific monthly payment amount you can sustain, tied to your income and expenses, carries more weight than a general statement that you cannot pay.

If financial hardship is the basis, attach current documentation: bank statements, pay stubs, a list of monthly expenses, and copies of bills for necessities. Appeals evaluates hardship by asking whether collection would leave you unable to cover reasonable basic living expenses, benchmarked against the IRS allowable living expense standards. Attach copies of the notice you are appealing and proof of any payments you have made. Sign and date the declaration, which is made under penalty of perjury.⁵

Using a Representative

An attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent can handle the appeal for you. If you list a representative on Form 9423, attach a completed Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative. Without it, Appeals will not discuss the case with anyone but you. If the representative will appear at the Appeals conference without you present, the Form 2848 must specifically authorize that.⁵

Deadlines by Action Type

CAP deadlines are tight and depend on what you are appealing. Miss them and the appeal generally dies, with collection free to resume.

Liens, Levies, and Seizures

After the manager conference fails to resolve the dispute, you have two business days to notify the collection office that you plan to file Form 9423. The completed form must then be received or postmarked within three business days of that manager conference.⁵

If you requested a manager conference and no manager contacted you within two business days, you can submit Form 9423 directly. Note in the explanation section the date you originally requested the conference and state that no manager reached out. The form must then be received or postmarked within four business days of your original conference request.⁵

After a Seizure

If the IRS has already seized property, contact the collection manager within 10 business days after the Notice of Seizure is provided to you or left at your home or business.⁶

Installment Agreements

You have 30 calendar days from the date of the IRS decision letter to submit the appeal. No manager conference is required. The 30-day window applies whether the agreement was rejected, modified, or terminated.¹

Where to Send Form 9423

Send the completed form to the IRS collection office that initiated the action, not directly to the Office of Appeals. This is the single most common filing mistake, and it can blow your deadline. The collection office processes the request and forwards the case file to Appeals.⁷

You can submit by mail or fax. Given the short windows, faxing to the collection office and following up with a mailed copy is a practical approach. If you mail it, use certified mail with a return receipt. The IRS counts the postmark date, not the arrival date.

What Happens After You File

Once the collection office receives the form, it forwards the case to Appeals. The IRS normally suspends the collection action while the appeal is pending, unless it has reason to believe the debt or the government’s ability to collect is at risk.⁵ For a rejected installment agreement, no levy can occur during the 30-day appeal window or while the appeal is pending.

The suspension applies to enforcement, not to your balance. Interest and failure-to-pay penalties keep accruing on the underlying debt throughout the appeal. The longer the process runs, the more you owe, even while nothing is being collected.

An Appeals Officer with no prior involvement in the case is assigned to review it, with a goal of resolving the case within five business days of assignment.¹ Complex cases can take longer. The Appeals Officer may contact you or your representative for a conference to discuss the case further.

If Appeals Rules Against You

A CAP decision is final and binding on both you and the IRS collection function. You cannot petition Tax Court or any other court to overturn it.² That finality is the central trade-off of the program.

Your options after an adverse decision are limited but not zero. If you are experiencing significant hardship, the Taxpayer Advocate Service operates independently within the IRS and can sometimes intervene when standard processes have not resolved the problem. You can also pursue a separate remedy: submitting a new installment agreement proposal reflecting changed financial circumstances, or requesting currently-not-collectible status directly from collection.

For a third party whose property was levied to satisfy someone else’s debt, an adverse CAP decision does not close every door. A wrongful-levy suit in federal court remains available, subject to a two-year statute of limitations from the date of the levy.¹

Jeopardy Levies Are Not Handled on Form 9423

A jeopardy levy occurs when the IRS believes collection is at risk and bypasses the normal notice requirements. Regular CAP does not apply. You have 30 days from the date on Letter 2439 (Notice of Jeopardy Levy and Right of Appeal) to file a written protest with the Collection Area Director requesting a redetermination. If that protest is denied, you can file suit in court within 90 days.⁸

The collection office also sends a hold letter to the levy recipient instructing them to hold the seized funds for 45 days, giving you time to act. After a jeopardy levy, the IRS must eventually issue a CDP notice under IRC 6330(f), which preserves your right to a CDP hearing with Tax Court review. The timeline and procedure differ enough from standard CAP that confusing the two could cost you rights you need.

1
Internal Revenue Service. IRM Part 8 – 8.24.1 Collection Appeals Program (CAP)
2
Taxpayer Advocate Service. Collection Appeals Program (CAP)
3
Internal Revenue Service. IRM Part 5 – 5.1.9 Collection Appeal Rights
4
Taxpayer Advocate Service. Taxpayer Requests – Collection Due Process (CDP)
5
Internal Revenue Service. Form 9423 (Rev. 2-2020) Collection Appeal Request
6
Taxpayer Advocate Service. Taxpayer Requests Collection Appeals Program
7
Internal Revenue Service. Preparing a Request for Appeals
8
Internal Revenue Service. IRM Part 8 – 8.24.2 Jeopardy Levy Appeals