IRS NOTICE REFERENCE
Understanding your CP40 notice
You received this notice because we assigned your unpaid tax account balance to a private collection agency. The notice contains the name and contact information for your assigned private collection agency which you’ll n…
General information only. Not legal or tax advice.
Notice details
- Notice code
- CP40
- Category
- Balance due and collection
- Severity tier
- Tier 2 — Action or response expected. The IRS has taken or proposed an action and expects a response or payment.
- Governing law
- §6303; §6321 (Internal Revenue Code sections)
- Source
- IRS.gov — Understanding Your IRS Notice
What this notice is
You received this notice because we assigned your unpaid tax account balance to a private collection agency. The notice contains the name and contact information for your assigned private collection agency which you’ll need to complete the two-party verification process.
Source: IRS.gov. Reproduced for reference. General information — not legal or tax advice.
Governing IRS procedure (Internal Revenue Manual)
The IRS’s own internal procedures for handling this notice type are documented in the Internal Revenue Manual:
- IRM 5.19.1 — 5.19.1 Balance Due
- IRM 5.19.4 — 5.19.4 Enforcement Action
- IRM 5.1.1 — 5.1.1 Miscellaneous Collection Procedures
Reference to published IRS procedure. General information — not legal or tax advice.
Official IRS reference
Read the official notice page on IRS.gov: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/understanding-your-cp40-notice
Related tools
TaxRiskOS is workflow software for practitioners — it captures the notice, computes the deadline, surfaces the escalation tier, and builds a document checklist. It documents process; it does not give advice or draft responses.
Check this notice’s deadline (free tool)