IRS Form 907: Agreement to Extend Time to Bring Suit

IRS Form 907, formally the Agreement to Extend the Time to Bring Suit, is a written agreement between you and the IRS that pushes back the two-year deadline for filing a refund lawsuit in federal court after the IRS has disallowed your refund claim. You need it when a disallowance has already been issued, the two-year clock is running, and you and the IRS both want more time to work things out administratively before the case has to move to court. It is voluntary, it must be signed by both sides before the current deadline expires, and it sets a specific new date by which suit must be filed.

The Two-Year Deadline That Creates the Need

Federal law gives you exactly two years to sue after the IRS mails a formal notice disallowing your refund claim. Miss that window and you permanently lose the right to challenge the disallowance in a U.S. district court or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.¹

The trap in this deadline is that asking the IRS to reconsider does not pause or restart it. The statute says any reconsideration or other administrative action after the disallowance notice is mailed has no effect on the two-year period.² Spend 18 months negotiating informally and you may have six months left to sue. That is exactly the situation Form 907 is designed for.

When the Two-Year Clock Starts

Two events can start the clock. The more common one is the IRS mailing a formal notice of claim disallowance (Letter 905 for a partial disallowance or Letter 906 for a full one) by certified or registered mail. The two years run from the mailing date, not the date you receive it.³

The other trigger is Form 2297, the Waiver of Statutory Notification of Claim Disallowance. If you sign it, you give up your right to a formal disallowance letter, and the two-year clock starts on the date you sign.³

One boundary worth knowing: if the IRS has not acted on your claim at all and no disallowance has been sent, the two-year clock has not started, and you do not need Form 907. Regulations let you file a refund suit on your own once six months have passed from the date you filed the claim.⁴ Form 907 only matters once the two-year deadline is actively running.

When You Actually Need Form 907

The typical situation: you filed a refund claim, it was disallowed, and you are now working with an IRS examination team or the IRS Independent Office of Appeals to resolve the issue. The two-year deadline is closing in, but neither side is ready to litigate. Form 907 buys time.

Either party can propose it. IRS internal guidance says that after receiving a disallowance notice, “the taxpayer may submit Form 907 to request to extend the statute for additional time to file a refund suit.”³ The IRS can also propose one when its reviewers need more time. The Taxpayer Advocate Service has noted that many practitioners are simply not aware the form exists and miss the opportunity.⁵

The rule that cannot be bent: the agreement must be signed by both you and the IRS before the current deadline expires. Form 907 cannot revive a lawsuit period that has already run.⁶ If you are within weeks of the deadline and the process has not started, filing suit may be the safer move than gambling on getting a signed extension in time.

If You Refuse to Sign

Refusing a Form 907 is your right, but it forces the issue. The IRS will finalize its determination or issue a disallowance notice if none has gone out yet. You then have to file suit within the original two-year window to preserve your refund rights. If you have already been disallowed and the two years are almost up, refusing to extend means choosing between suing now and losing the claim.

Signing Does Not Get You an Appeals Hearing

Signing Form 907 does not automatically entitle you to a hearing before the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. The form extends only your right to file suit. Whether the IRS continues to review your claim administratively during the extended period is a separate decision the IRS makes on its own timeline.⁶

How to Fill Out Form 907

The form is a single page, available as a PDF on the IRS website or from the IRS office handling your claim.⁷ It asks for:

Your full legal name, current mailing address, and Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number.
The type of tax and the exact tax period the refund claim covers.
The dollar amount of the claimed overpayment.
The specific new date to which the two-year period will be extended.

The expiration date is the field that matters most. There is no statutory length for the extension; it is negotiated. Push for a date that reflects how much time the IRS actually says it needs, and resist vague assurances that things will wrap up soon. Set the date too short and you will be doing this again; too long and your right to sue sits in limbo.

If the return in question was a joint return, both spouses must sign the original and any copies.⁷ A CPA, enrolled agent, or attorney can sign for you if a valid Form 2848 (Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative) is already on file with the IRS.⁸

Submitting the Form and Getting It Countersigned

Send the signed form to the specific IRS office handling your refund claim, whether that is the examination team or an appeals office. Use certified mail with return receipt so you have proof of the delivery date.

Here is a practical wrinkle the National Taxpayer Advocate has flagged: the IRS has no standardized process for receiving and countersigning Form 907.⁶ Unlike some IRS forms that flow through a defined pipeline, Form 907 depends on the individual employee or office you are dealing with to sign it and send it back. Follow up. Do not assume it is being handled.

The form is not legally effective until the IRS countersigns. Once an authorized IRS official signs, you should receive a fully executed copy. Keep that copy permanently. It is the only proof that your lawsuit deadline was extended, and the IRS will not remind you when the new date is approaching.⁹

Signing More Than One Extension

You are not limited to a single Form 907. If the agreed date arrives and the claim is still open, you can execute another one, and another after that. Each new extension has to be signed by both parties before the current one expires.⁵ Let a deadline pass without a fresh signed agreement and the option is gone.

Track the dates yourself. Calendar the expiration at least 90 days out so you have room to negotiate and execute the next form. Relying on the IRS to warn you when time is running short is how taxpayers lose refund rights in this process.

If You Miss the Extended Deadline

If the extended date passes without a filed suit, the consequences are permanent. You lose the right to challenge the disallowance in court, and no amount of further IRS administrative review can fix it, because reconsideration does not restart the clock.¹

It can be worse than losing the refund. According to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, if the IRS happens to issue a refund after the lawsuit period has expired, the payment is treated as erroneous and the IRS can demand it back.⁹ A favorable administrative outcome cannot produce a valid refund once the right to sue has lapsed.

Form 907 vs. Form 872

These two get confused because both extend an IRS deadline by mutual consent. They work in opposite directions. Form 872, Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax, gives the IRS more time to assess additional tax against you.¹⁰ Form 907 gives you more time to sue the IRS for a refund. Form 872 generally benefits the IRS; Form 907 generally benefits you. Signing one has no effect on the other, and they sit under different sections of the tax code.

If You End Up Filing Suit

If the extra time does not produce a resolution, you have to file before the extended date. You can sue in a U.S. district court (where you live, or where a business has its principal place of business) or in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.¹¹

One prerequisite catches people off guard: you generally must have already paid the full amount of assessed tax before you can file a refund suit. This is the full-payment rule. After paying, you file a refund claim, and only after that claim is denied can you sue.¹²

Refund litigation is slow and expensive, which is why Form 907 is useful. The extra administrative time it buys is almost always cheaper than court. But the form only helps if it is signed by both sides before the deadline runs, and if you keep close track of every date on the agreement.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6532 – Periods of Limitation on Suits
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6532 – Periods of Limitation on Suits
3
Internal Revenue Service. Interim Guidance on Issuing Statutory Notices of Claim Disallowance and Executing Form 907
4
eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6532-1 – Periods of Limitation on Suits by Taxpayers
5
Taxpayer Advocate Service. Notice of Claim Disallowance: Don’t Make This Mistake
6
Taxpayer Advocate Service. 2023 Purple Book – Strengthen Taxpayer Rights in Judicial Proceedings
7
Internal Revenue Service. Form 907 – Agreement to Extend the Time to Bring Suit
8
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
9
Taxpayer Advocate Service. What You Need to Know to Protect Your Client’s Refund and Appeal Rights
10
Internal Revenue Service. Extension of Assessment Statute of Limitations by Consent
11
Taxpayer Advocate Service. Notice of Claim Disallowance
12
Internal Revenue Service. 34.5.2 Refund Litigation