IRS NOTICE REFERENCE
Letter 3171
The IRS has filed an additional Notice of Federal Tax Lien (NFTL) in another location for the unpaid balances shown on the Form 668(Y)(c) enclosed with the letter.
General information only. Not legal or tax advice.
Notice details
- Notice code
- Letter 3171
- Category
- Appeals and collection due process
- Severity tier
- Tier 4 — Escalation warranted. The notice involves collection enforcement, appeals rights, or significant penalty exposure.
- Governing law
- §6320; §6321; §6323 (Internal Revenue Code sections)
- Statutory response window
- 30-day window — always confirm the exact deadline against the date printed on your notice.
- Escalation flag
- This notice carries a forfeitable right, a hard statutory deadline, or criminal-preparer risk. It is flagged for escalation in the TaxRiskOS workflow.
- Source
- IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service
What this notice is
The IRS has filed an additional Notice of Federal Tax Lien (NFTL) in another location for the unpaid balances shown on the Form 668(Y)(c) enclosed with the letter.
Source: IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service. Reproduced for reference. General information — not legal or tax advice.
What the IRS says to do
Pay the amount you owe as soon as possible or consider a collection alternative, such as a payment plan, offer in compromise, or temporary delay of collection due to financial hardship to help prevent additional collection actions. See payment options for more information. If you disagree with the IRS filing an additional NFTL in another location, you can request a conference with the IRS employee’s manager. If the issue is not resolved, you may request review by the IRS Independent Office of Appeals through the Collection Appeals Program (CAP) . You may still be able to request a Collection Due Process (CDP) or Equivalent Hearing (EH) depending on when the original NFTL was filed for the ta
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 5.1.9 — 5.1.9 Collection Appeal Rights
- IRM 5.19.8 — 5.19.8 Collection Appeal Rights
- IRM 5.12.6 — 5.12.6 Appeals Processes Involving Liens
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.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/notices/letter-3171/
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)