IRS Notice CP59: What It Is and How to Respond

Note: Beginning in 2024, the IRS has committed to sending out 20,000 – 40,000 CP59 Notices per week and to relentlessly pursue the recipients. If you have received a Notice CP59, call us immediately at 866-8000-TAX.

IRS Notice CP59 is the First Notice for Nonfiler Return Delinquency.

It is the first notice the IRS sends to a taxpayer to inform them that they have no record of a tax return filed for a particular year.

Notice CP59 used to be accompanied by IRS Form 15103, but the new Notice CP59

The Notice CP59 is typically sent within 12 months after a return’s due date.

Here is what Notice CP59 looked like before 2024.

Here is what Notice CP59 looks in 2024 and thereafter.

If a taxpayer does not file the tax return or otherwise satisfy the Notice CP59 request within eight weeks of receipt, the IRS will generally send the taxpayer Notice CP516 or Notice CP518.

If Notice CP59 is returned to the IRS from the post office with a new address for the taxpayer, the IRS will send Notice CP515 to the new address.

The Notice CP59 is written in English; the Spanish equivalent is Notice CP759.

IRS Notice CP59 At a Glance

New IRS Notice CP59 Explained, Part by Part

Here is a full explanation of the new (2024 and beyond) Notice CP59, part by part.

Part 1: You Need to File Your Tax Return

At the top of the first page of IRS CP59, you’ll see the IRS campus from which the Notice CP59 was sent and below that your name and address.

Then, underneath your name and address, you will see in plain English the IRS’s primary message in sending you Notice CP59: that you need to file your tax return for the year stated.

Now, if you didn’t file multiple years of required returns, the IRS may send you multiple CP59 Notices — one for each year.

Part 2: What You Need to Do Immediately

Then, the IRS tells you what you need to do immediately — file the missing return.

No matter the year, it will inform you that you can either file the return electronically or by mail.

However, no matter what the notice says, keep in mind that you can only electronically file the last three years of returns.

Despite the fact that the CP59 Notice pictured above was sent in May 2024 — well after electronic filing for tax year 2020 closed — the standard paragraph about filing electronically was still included in the CP59 Notice, even though the taxpayer could not possibly electronically file tax year 2020’s return at that point.

Part 3: Did We Make a Mistake?

Next, the IRS asks you if they made a mistake, namely, if they are sending you Notice CP59 demanding a tax return for a certain year when you don’t actually have to file that return at all.

This isn’t likely, but if you truly do not have to file a tax return for the year stated in the notice, you can download Form 15103 (Form 1040 Return Delinquency) at irs.gov/F15103, complete it — stating why you do not have a filing requirement for the year on the CP59 Notice — and either mail it back or fax it to the IRS.

Part 4: If We Don’t Hear From You

Next, the IRS tells you what will happen if they don’t hear from you about this matter.

Although the consequences of not filing taxes can reach much further than these, the three consequences listed in this section are:

• Loss of claim to a refund: If you are owed a refund on a tax return, you must file that tax return within three years of the due date of the return (including extensions) in order to actually get the refund.
• Preparation of a substitute for return (SFR): If you do not file your required return after receiving Notice CP59, the IRS will likely prepare its own return for the year for you called a substitute for return or SFR. To learn more about IRS SFRs, read this article.
• Subjection to backup withholding: If you are out of compliance with your tax filing or payment obligations, the IRS could subject you to backup withholding on dividend and interest income you receive.

Part 5: How to Make a Payment

In the next section of IRS Notice CP59, the IRS tells you where to make a payment.

I’ve always found this part of the notice a bit ironic since you obviously wouldn’t know how much you owe for a tax year if you haven’t filed its return yet, but I suppose the IRS is giving you this information in case you want to pay your taxes immediately after filing your return.

The payment options are fairly self-explanatory and can be found at irs.gov/payments.

Part 6: Where to Find More Information

In the last section of the notice — the box on the last page — the IRS gives you some resources to find more information:

• The IRS’s official webpage for the notice: irs.gov/cp59
• Where you can get your wage and income transcripts to assist you with preparing your returns: irs.gov/transcript
• Where you can get tax forms: irs.gov/forms

Finally, the IRS provides you with a phone number — 800-829-8374 — that you can call if you can’t find the information or documents you need online.

Pre-2024 IRS Notice CP59 Explained, Part by Part

Here is a full explanation of the old (pre-2024) Notice CP59, part by part.

Part 1: Message About Your Form 1040

IRS Notice CP59 opens with the IRS informing the taxpayer that:

1. The taxpayer didn’t file a tax return for the year the notice pertains to.
2. If they’re required to file a tax return for this year to do so immediately.

Part 2: If You Don’t Think You Had to File a Tax Return

The IRS then informs the taxpayer what they should do if they don’t think they had to file a tax return for the year in question or if they already filed a tax return for the year in question, namely, to complete the Form 15103 that accompanies the Notice CP59.

Part 3: What the IRS Says They’ll Do If You Don’t Respond

In the next section of the Notice CP59, the IRS informs the taxpayer what they intend to do if the taxpayer does not respond to the notice.

If the taxpayer doesn’t file their tax return for the tax year the notice pertains to or otherwise dispute their requirement to file a tax return for that year, the IRS warns them that they may owe penalty and interest charges on the amount due for the year if they in fact have a balance due for the year.

And they say that even if the taxpayer doesn’t owe the IRS money but rather the IRS owes them money in the form of a tax refund for these years, the taxpayer will lose the ability to get that refund if they don’t file the tax return for the year on or before three years after the due date of their return or, if they filed an extension for the year, the extended due date of the return.

It’s interesting because one thing the IRS does not say here — which may happen eventually — is that the IRS may file what’s called a substitute for return (SFR) for the taxpayer if they don’t file their tax return.

And you generally don’t want that to happen because oftentimes on this SFR that they prepare for you the IRS grossly overcalculates your tax liability because they assume the least favorable filing status, that you have no deductions beyond the standard deduction, etc.

Related: Learn more about the IRS SFR process in this article.

Part 4: Next Steps

Part 5: Payment Options

Next, the IRS tells you your payment options on whatever debt you would owe for this tax year once you actually file your return (or the IRS files an SFR for you).

When the IRS Sends Notice CP59

The most common reason for the IRS sending you a Notice CP59 is when the following things happened:

1. The IRS determined that you did not file a return by the due date despite the fact that you apparently received income — and the IRS would know you received income because it received tax forms about you from third parties such as Form W-2, Form 1099, Schedule K-1, etc.
2. The IRS created a “Return Delinquency Case” for you.  And as part of the IRS’s guidelines for individual return delinquency case creation found in Internal Revenue Manual Section 5.19.2.3(4), the IRS is to send the Notice CP59 to certain individuals when their return delinquency case is created.

What You Should Do If You Receive a Notice CP59

In most cases, the best thing to do when receiving a Notice CP59 from the IRS is to simply file your original tax return requested in the notice rather than waiting for the IRS to prepare an SFR for you and assess and attempt to collect taxes based on that SFR.

Now, if the year in question is from a while back, that may be easier said than done.

However, lucky for you, I have put together a guide to filing back tax returns that you can access by clicking here or by watching the video below!

Of course, if you still owe the IRS a balance due after filing your original return, you’ll need to figure out how you’re going to resolve this balance.

Now, you could simply pay whatever balance is owed in full along with penalties and interest.

But it’s generally at least worth seeing if you’ll qualify for any penalty abatement and if you really can’t pay what you owe at the moment see if you could qualify for some kind of tax relief option, such as an offer in compromise, some kind of installment agreement, being placed in currently not collectible status, or several others.

To learn more about these options, read this article about how to get IRS tax debt relief or watch the video below.

Author:

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Logan Allec, CPA, Founder and Owner

Logan Allec has been serving taxpayers as a CPA for over 14 years. After leaving his role at a "Big 4" firm, he started Choice Tax Relief to help everyday Americans who have found themselves behind on their taxes. He also educates thousands of people daily about tax relief on his YouTube channel. In addition to his CPA license, Logan also has a Master's Degree in Taxation from the University of Southern California (USC). He lives with his wife and children in the Los Angeles area. Learn more about Logan here.

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