What Is a 433-A? Assets, Income, and Filing Requirements

IRS Form 433-A, the Collection Information Statement for Wage Earners and Self-Employed Individuals, is the financial disclosure the IRS uses to figure out how much you can realistically pay toward an unpaid tax balance. It covers everything from your bank accounts and paycheck to your monthly rent and grocery spending, and the IRS plugs those numbers into a formula that decides whether you qualify for a payment plan, an offer in compromise, or a temporary pause on collection.

Which Version You Actually Need

There are three versions of the 433 statement, and picking the wrong one delays your case.

The standard Form 433-A is used when you’re working directly with a Revenue Officer or applying for a non-streamlined installment agreement. It’s the most detailed of the three and covers both wage earners and self-employed filers in one document.¹

Form 433-A (OIC) is a separate version designed for Offer in Compromise applications. It applies discount multipliers to your asset values — 80% for investments and 70% for retirement accounts — to approximate what the IRS estimates it could actually collect at a quick sale. You submit this version alongside Form 656 when proposing to settle for less than the full amount owed.²

Form 433-F is a shorter, simplified version the IRS may ask for when you owe more than the streamlined installment agreement threshold or when the agency is evaluating you for Currently Not Collectible status. Most of what follows applies to the two 433-A variants, since those are the versions taxpayers encounter for significant balances.

Personal, Household, and Employment Information

The first section collects identifying details for you and your spouse if applicable: Social Security numbers, address, phone numbers. The OIC version goes further and asks you to list every person living in your household and whether each contributes to household income.² That household detail matters because the IRS uses it to allocate shared expenses like rent and utilities.

Employment comes next. For both you and your spouse, list each employer’s name and address, how long you’ve worked there, and whether you’re paid weekly, biweekly, or monthly. A recent pay stub in front of you makes this faster and keeps your reported income from clashing with what the IRS already has on file.¹

Assets You Have to Disclose

This is where most people slow down. The IRS wants to know about nearly everything you own, one category at a time.

Bank accounts. Every checking, savings, money market, and online account, including mobile payment services, with account numbers and current balances.¹

Investments and retirement accounts. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, CDs, IRAs, and 401(k)s. Report current market value and any outstanding loan balance; the difference is your equity. The OIC version then applies the 80% and 70% multipliers described above.²

Real estate and vehicles. For each property or vehicle you report both the current value and what you still owe. The gap is your equity, and equity is what the IRS uses when calculating your ability to pay. Some property is protected from seizure: your primary residence cannot be levied without written approval from a federal judge or a high-level IRS official, and personal residences are fully exempt from levy when the tax debt is $5,000 or less.³

Life insurance. Any policy with a cash surrender value must be disclosed, including the policy number, current cash value, and any outstanding loan against the policy.

Cash on hand. Physical currency not in a bank account, reported separately from bank balances.¹

The form also asks about interests in trusts, pending lawsuits, and other assets that could produce future income. Self-employed filers complete a separate business assets section for tools, equipment, and accounts receivable.

Digital Assets Now Get Their Own Section

The current form has a dedicated digital assets section covering cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens, and smart contracts. For each holding, you report the type, where it’s stored (mobile wallet, online exchange, or external hardware), and its current value in U.S. dollars. The form also asks for the public key of each virtual currency and requires you to identify anyone with access to the private keys or digital wallets.¹ Leaving crypto off is a fast way to have an application rejected or flagged for fraud; the IRS has invested in blockchain tracing tools that can surface holdings you don’t disclose.

Monthly Income and Expenses

The real purpose of the form is to calculate your disposable income: what’s left each month after the IRS allows for necessary living expenses. That leftover amount is what the agency expects you to pay toward the debt.

On the income side, list every source of monthly gross income: wages, self-employment earnings, Social Security benefits, pensions, rental income, dividends, interest, and any other recurring money. The IRS compares your figures against pay stubs, 1099s, and bank deposits already in its systems, so the numbers need to line up.

On the expense side, the IRS doesn’t accept whatever you say you spend. Two sets of standardized allowances cap what it treats as reasonable.

National Standards cover food, clothing, housekeeping supplies, personal care, and miscellaneous items. Amounts are fixed by household size and apply nationwide. For 2025, the monthly allowance is $839 for a single person and $2,129 for a family of four, with $394 added for each additional person. Taxpayers get the full national standard regardless of what they actually spend.⁴

Local Standards cover housing, utilities, and transportation and vary by county and region. In most cases, you’re allowed either what you actually spend or the local standard, whichever is less.⁵

Health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical costs have their own category. Court-ordered child support and alimony count as allowable expenses when you can produce the court order. Credit card payments, private school tuition, and charitable donations generally don’t reduce your calculated ability to pay.

The math is simple on paper: total monthly income minus total allowable expenses equals the surplus the IRS expects you to pay each month. Most disputes happen here, because taxpayers almost always feel their real expenses run higher than what the IRS allows. Extraordinary circumstances like a serious medical condition or a disabled dependent can justify expenses above standard, but only with strong documentation.

How the IRS Turns Your Numbers Into a Decision

Everything on Form 433-A feeds into one figure the IRS calls “reasonable collection potential,” or RCP. RCP combines the equity the IRS could realize from your assets with the surplus income you’re expected to generate over time.⁶

That single number drives the outcome. If your RCP is high enough to cover the full debt through monthly payments, the IRS will push for an installment agreement.⁷ If it’s lower than what you owe but you can still pay something, you may qualify for an Offer in Compromise, a settlement for less than the full balance.⁸ If the numbers show you can’t afford any payment, the IRS may classify your account as Currently Not Collectible and pause active collection.⁹

Currently Not Collectible status isn’t forgiveness. Penalties and interest keep running, and the IRS will periodically review your finances to see if things have improved. The debt only disappears if the 10-year collection statute expires before the IRS comes back for another look.

Supporting Documents to Gather Before You Start

The form alone isn’t enough. The IRS requires backup, and missing paperwork is the most common reason applications stall. For the OIC version, the required attachments are:

Bank statements: three most recent complete months for personal accounts, six months for business accounts
The most recent pay stub from each employer
The most recent statement for each investment and retirement account
Current loan statements from every lender, showing monthly payments, payoff amounts, and balances
Records for all currently held cryptocurrency and other digital assets
Court orders for any child support or alimony claimed as a monthly expense
Recent statements for pensions, Social Security, rental income, dividends, and other income sources, including gig platform earnings from rideshare and short-term rental services²

If you have an interest in a business entity other than a sole proprietorship, you’ll also complete Form 433-B (the business version) and include it. If a tax professional will represent you, attach a current Form 2848 (Power of Attorney) listing every tax year and form involved.

What Filing Actually Costs

The form itself is free. The programs it supports carry fees.

For installment agreements, as of March 2026 the setup fee is $22 for a direct debit agreement applied for online, or $107 by phone, mail, or in person. A standard installment agreement without direct debit costs $69 online or $178 through other channels. Low-income taxpayers, defined as those with adjusted gross income at or below 250% of the federal poverty level, pay no fee for direct debit agreements and a reduced $43 for standard agreements.¹⁰

An Offer in Compromise requires an application fee plus an initial payment submitted with the offer. A lump-sum offer of five or fewer installments requires 20% of the proposed amount upfront. A periodic payment offer of six or more installments requires the first proposed installment with the application, and you continue making payments while the IRS evaluates. Low-income taxpayers are exempt from both the application fee and any upfront payments during the evaluation period.¹¹

Professional help is a separate cost. Enrolled agents, CPAs, and tax attorneys typically charge anywhere from a few thousand dollars for straightforward cases to $15,000 or more for complex situations involving business assets or multiple tax years. The form is something you can complete yourself, but mistakes in asset valuation or expense classification can produce a monthly payment higher than it should be, or an outright rejection.

Signing Under Penalty of Perjury

Form 433-A is signed under penalty of perjury. Deliberately understating income, hiding assets, or inflating expenses isn’t just grounds for rejection. A conviction for making false statements on an IRS form carries a fine of up to $100,000 and up to three years in prison.¹² The IRS cross-references your disclosures against bank records, employer filings, and property databases. Honest mistakes happen, but intentional omissions are treated seriously and can end your eligibility for any collection alternative.

How Filing Affects the 10-Year Collection Clock

The IRS generally has 10 years from the date it assesses your tax to collect the debt.¹³ After that, the statute expires and the debt becomes unenforceable. Submitting Form 433-A as part of an Offer in Compromise or installment agreement can pause that clock.

While the IRS evaluates an OIC, the collection statute is suspended. If the offer is rejected, the suspension continues for an additional 30 days. Installment agreements work similarly: the collection period is tolled while the agreement is under consideration and while it’s in effect. Applying for relief you ultimately don’t get can extend the total time the IRS has to collect from you, which is worth knowing if your debt is already several years old and the statute expiration is close.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Form 433-A – Collection Information Statement for Wage Earners and Self-Employed Individuals
2
Internal Revenue Service. Form 433-A (OIC) – Collection Information Statement for Wage Earners and Self-Employed Individuals
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 6334 – Property Exempt From Levy
4
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Allowable Living Expenses National Standards
5
Internal Revenue Service. Collection Financial Standards
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 204, Offers in Compromise
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 6159 – Agreements for Payment of Tax Liability in Installments
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7122 – Compromises
9
Internal Revenue Service. Temporarily Delay the Collection Process
10
Internal Revenue Service. Payment Plans; Installment Agreements
11
Internal Revenue Service. Form 656 Booklet Offer in Compromise
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 7206 – Fraud and False Statements
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6502 – Collection After Assessment