To check the status of an IRS audit, call the examiner listed on your most recent IRS letter. If your audit is being handled by mail, you can also track it inside your IRS Online Account under the “Records and Status” tab, which the IRS added for correspondence audits in late 2024.1Internal Revenue Service. Online Account for Individuals – Frequently Asked Questions Beyond those two, you can pull account transcripts to read the audit’s transaction codes, have an authorized representative call on your behalf, or ask the Taxpayer Advocate Service to step in if the case has stalled. There is no single “track my audit” page that covers every situation, so the right method depends on how the IRS is examining your return.
First, Identify Which Type of Audit You Have
The tools available to you depend on the format the IRS is using.
A correspondence audit is handled entirely by mail. It’s the most common type and usually focuses on specific items like unreported income or a single deduction. Most conclude within three to six months. This is the only audit type currently visible in the IRS Online Account.
An office audit asks you to bring records to a local IRS office. These take longer because of scheduling and document review.
A field audit sends a revenue agent to your home, business, or representative’s office. Field audits cover complex returns and can run a year or more. For office and field audits, your primary status source is the examiner or revenue agent named on your letters, not any online tool.
One important boundary: a CP2000 notice is not an audit. It comes from the IRS’s Automated Underreporter program and proposes an adjustment based on mismatches between your return and third-party reporting.2Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 652, Notice of Underreported Income – CP2000 If you received a CP2000, the audit-tracking methods below don’t apply.
Check Your IRS Online Account (Correspondence Audits Only)
Sign in at IRS.gov and go to the “Records and Status” tab. For correspondence audits, you can see when the audit was opened, which letters have been issued, and when your next response is due. The display updates as both sides take action, but allow at least two weeks after you mail documents for the system to reflect them.1Internal Revenue Service. Online Account for Individuals – Frequently Asked Questions
Office and field audits don’t appear here. If your case is either of those, skip this step.
Call the Examiner Assigned to Your Case
For office and field audits, and often for correspondence audits too, the most direct answer comes from the examiner. Their name and phone number are on every letter they’ve sent you. They can tell you whether your documents are still under review, whether they need something else, and whether the case is waiting on supervisory sign-off.
Keep a written log of each call: the date, the name of the person you spoke with, and what they said. If timelines or deadlines are later disputed, that record matters.
Read Your IRS Letters as Status Markers
Every letter is a status update in itself. Kept in date order, they trace the arc of your case.
Letter 2202 is the typical opening letter in a correspondence audit. It lists the items under review, asks for supporting documents, and gives you a deadline to respond, usually 30 days.3Taxpayer Advocate Service. Letter 2202 B
Form 4564 Information Document Requests during the examination phase mean the examiner is still working through your records and wants more.
A 30-day letter (Letter 525 or Letter 950) means the examination is essentially finished and the examiner has proposed changes. You have 30 days to agree, submit more documentation, or request a conference with the IRS Independent Office of Appeals.4Taxpayer Advocate Service. Letter 525 Audit Report/Letter Giving Taxpayer 30 Days to Respond5Internal Revenue Service. Letters and Notices Offering an Appeal Opportunity
A Statutory Notice of Deficiency, known as the 90-day letter, is the final formal notice. You have 90 days (150 if you’re outside the United States) to petition the U.S. Tax Court without paying first.6Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP3219N Notice Miss that window and the IRS can assess the tax and start collection.
Pull Your Account Transcripts
Your IRS account transcript records audit activity through transaction codes, and reading them tells you what’s happened even when no one has written to you about it.
- Code 420: your return has been referred to the Examination division.
- Code 421: the audit has closed.
- Code 300: additional tax was assessed from the examination.
- Code 301: previously assessed tax was abated.7Internal Revenue Service. Section 8A – Master File Codes
You can request transcripts through your IRS Online Account, by calling the IRS, or by mailing Form 4506-T. A 420 code with no audit letter yet in your mailbox is an early warning to start gathering records.
Have a Tax Professional Call the Practitioner Priority Service
If you’re working with an authorized enrolled agent, CPA, or tax attorney, they can call the IRS Practitioner Priority Service line. PPS representatives can pull transcripts, check accounts in examination status, and, for cases assigned to Correspondence Examination, look up your case in the Audit Information Management System and transfer the call directly to the unit handling it.8Internal Revenue Service. Internal Revenue Manual 21.3.10 – Practitioner Priority Service
For a practitioner to make these calls on your behalf, you first need to file Form 2848 (Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative).9Internal Revenue Service. About Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative Once the IRS processes the form and issues a Centralized Authorization File number, your representative’s authority is linked to your account across IRS divisions.10Internal Revenue Service. The Centralized Authorization File (CAF) – Authorization Rules
If cost is a concern, qualified Low Income Taxpayer Clinics and Student Tax Clinic Programs can represent eligible taxpayers under a special appearance authorization from the Taxpayer Advocate Service.
When the Audit Has Stalled: Taxpayer Advocate Service
If none of the above is producing answers and the IRS has simply gone quiet, the Taxpayer Advocate Service may be able to intervene. TAS considers a case eligible when there’s been a delay of more than 30 days beyond normal processing, when the IRS has sent multiple interim letters without acting, or when the IRS missed a specific deadline to respond.11Taxpayer Advocate Service. Submit a Request for Assistance TAS won’t pick up a routine, on-schedule audit, but for cases that have genuinely gone off the rails, they can push the file forward.
Watch the Clock on the Statute of Limitations
Part of knowing where your audit stands is knowing how much longer the IRS legally has. The IRS generally has three years from the date you filed to begin an audit and assess additional tax. That window extends to six years if you omitted more than 25 percent of your gross income, and there’s no time limit for a fraudulent or unfiled return.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 6501 – Limitations on Assessment and Collection
When that deadline is close and the examination isn’t finished, the examiner will ask you to sign Form 872 to extend it by consent. IRS policy says the extension should be limited to the time genuinely needed to finish the exam.13Internal Revenue Service. Internal Revenue Manual 25.6.22 – Extension of Assessment Statute of Limitations by Consent You’re not required to sign, but refusing usually prompts the examiner to issue findings on whatever they have, which rarely helps you. If you do sign, ask for a defined end date rather than an open-ended one.
Putting It Together
For a mail audit, log in to your IRS Online Account first, then call the examiner if anything is unclear. For an office or field audit, call the assigned examiner or revenue agent, and pull a transcript to confirm what the file shows. If you have a representative on Form 2848, they can do all of that through Practitioner Priority Service. And if weeks have passed with no movement, the Taxpayer Advocate Service is the escalation route. Keep every letter, log every call, and track the response deadline printed on your most recent notice — that date is the most important status marker of all.