Where to Mail IRS Form 9423: Address, Fax, and Deadlines

Mail IRS Form 9423, the Collection Appeal Request, to the IRS Collection office that took the action you are disputing. There is no single centralized address, and there is no P.O. box that works for every taxpayer. The form’s instructions direct you to submit it to the office or revenue officer involved in the lien, levy, seizure, or installment agreement decision you want to appeal.¹

How to Find the Right Address

Look at the IRS notice or letter that prompted your appeal. That correspondence identifies the office that handled your case and prints a mailing address, and often a fax number, on it. If a revenue officer is assigned to your account, you already have their contact information from earlier letters or phone calls. That officer’s office is where the form goes.

For liens, levies, and seizures, the form instructs you to “submit Form 9423 to the Collection office involved in the lien, levy or seizure action.” For installment agreement disputes, send it to “the office or revenue officer who took the action regarding your installment agreement.”¹ If you cannot find an address on the notice, call the phone number printed on it and ask the Collection office where to send Form 9423 for your case.

Do Not Send It Directly to Appeals

The IRS repeats this warning in both the form instructions and its appeals guidance: do not mail Form 9423 directly to the IRS Office of Appeals. The Collection office has to receive it first, process it, and forward the case file to Appeals.² Bypassing Collection will not speed up your appeal. It can cost you the appeal entirely if the delay pushes you past your filing deadline.

Faxing Instead of Mailing

If your IRS notice lists a fax number for the handling office, faxing Form 9423 gives you a same-day transmission record. Keep the fax confirmation page showing the date, time, destination number, and page count. When your deadline is three business days out, fax is often the safer choice than mail.

Proving You Filed on Time

For physical mail, use USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested. Under 26 USC 7502, registered mail is prima facie evidence of delivery, and the registration date is treated as the postmark date for filing purposes. The statute also authorizes the IRS to extend similar treatment to certified mail by regulation.³

The green return receipt card records the delivery date and proves the Collection office actually received your package. Keep the certified mail receipt and the return receipt indefinitely. If the IRS later says your appeal arrived late or never arrived at all, these two pieces of paper are your evidence.

Talk to the Manager Before You Mail Anything

For liens, levies, and seizures, you cannot skip straight to Form 9423. You must first request a conference with the manager of the IRS employee handling your case. Only if that conference fails to resolve the dispute do you file the form.¹ The IRS Appeals preparation page puts it plainly: “Before you can start the appeals process with Appeals, you will need to discuss your case with a Collection manager.”²

The sequence: tell the IRS employee you disagree, ask for a manager conference, and if the manager cannot resolve it, notify the Collection office within two business days that you plan to file Form 9423. If you request a conference and no one contacts you within two business days, you can file the form directly. Note the date you requested the conference in Block 15 and state that no manager contacted you.¹

Installment agreement appeals are the exception. A manager conference is strongly recommended but not required, and you can file Form 9423 without one.¹

Deadlines That Govern When Your Mail Must Arrive

The filing windows are short, and confusing them is the fastest way to lose your appeal rights.

Liens, levies, and pre-seizure appeals: three business days after the manager conference. If no manager contacted you, four business days after you requested the conference.¹
Post-seizure appeals: 10 business days after you receive the Notice of Seizure, or after it is left at your home or business, to appeal to the Collection manager.⁴
Installment agreement actions: 30 calendar days. For rejections, the clock starts on the rejection notice. For proposed modifications or terminations, 30 days from the proposal notice. For agreements already terminated, an additional 30 days starting the day after termination takes effect.⁴

Form 9423 must be received or postmarked by the applicable deadline. Miss it and the IRS can resume collection without waiting for an appeal.

What to Include With the Form

Attach a copy of the IRS notice you are appealing. Without it, the Collection office may not be able to identify your case quickly enough to act before your deadline expires. In Block 15, explain the specific procedural or factual reasons you disagree. Include supporting documents such as payment records, financial statements, or prior correspondence that back up your position.

Sign and date the form. An unsigned form is incomplete and will be returned.¹ If someone is filing on your behalf, a completed Form 2848 (Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative) must be on file with the IRS. Each spouse files a separate Form 2848 even when appointing the same representative, and the form will be returned if it is not properly signed by both the taxpayer and the representative.⁵

Confirm Form 9423 Is the Right Form Before You Mail

If you recently received a Notice of Federal Tax Lien filing under IRC 6320 or a Notice of Intent to Levy under IRC 6330, you have 30 days to request a Collection Due Process hearing on Form 12153 instead.⁶ A CDP hearing preserves your right to Tax Court review; a CAP decision does not.⁷ Filing Form 9423 when you should have filed Form 12153 can permanently forfeit rights you cannot get back. Read your notice for CDP language before you drop Form 9423 in the mail.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Form 9423 – Collection Appeal Request
2
Internal Revenue Service. Preparing a Request for Appeals
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying
4
Internal Revenue Service. IRM 8.24.1 Collection Appeals Program (CAP)
5
Internal Revenue Service. Form 2848 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6330 – Notice and Opportunity for Hearing Before Levy
7
Internal Revenue Service. Form 12153 – Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing