IRS NOTICE REFERENCE
Understanding your CP591 notice
This notice is sent when you use a tax return preparer and you may have incorrectly claimed one or more of the following tax benefits on your tax return: Earned Income Tax Credit Child Tax Credit/Additional Child Tax Cre…
General information only. Not legal or tax advice.
Notice details
- Notice code
- CP591
- Category
- Examination and audit
- Severity tier
- Tier 2 — Action or response expected. The IRS has taken or proposed an action and expects a response or payment.
- Governing law
- §7602 (Internal Revenue Code section)
- Source
- IRS.gov — Understanding Your IRS Notice
What this notice is
This notice is sent when you use a tax return preparer and you may have incorrectly claimed one or more of the following tax benefits on your tax return: Earned Income Tax Credit Child Tax Credit/Additional Child Tax Credit/Credit for Other Dependents American Opportunity Tax Credit Head of household filing status This notice informs you of potential errors on your tax return and reminds you that you’re ultimately responsible for the accuracy of it. Inaccurate tax returns are subject to audit by the IRS and may result in you being banned from claiming certain credits in the future.
Source: IRS.gov. Reproduced for reference. General information — not legal or tax advice.
What the IRS says to do
Review your tax return. File Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return , if you need to fix any mistakes. Consider using a new preparer, completing future tax returns yourself, or using the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA ) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs, which offer free tax return preparation help from community volunteers for taxpayers who qualify.
This is the IRS’s own guidance reproduced from the IRS notice page. It describes the IRS’s process — it is not legal or tax advice from TaxRiskOS.
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 4.10.1 — 4.10.1 Overview of Examiner Responsibilities
- IRM 4.10.3 — 4.10.3 Examination Techniques
- IRM 4.13.1 — 4.13.1 Examination Audit Reconsideration Process
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-cp591-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)