01 — procedure and options
What “automated” actually means for you
- No one person owns your case. Each call reaches a different representative with the same screen.
- Enforcement is systemic. Levy sources already on file — employer, bank, federal payments — can be acted on without a human deciding to pursue you specifically.
- Hold times are real. Build them into your 30 days rather than discovering them on day 28.
- Documentation you send can take weeks to post to the account. Sending it is not the same as it being received and considered.
- Standardized criteria govern what collection alternatives the system will accept without escalation, which cuts both ways: less discretion against you, and less discretion for you.
02 — procedure and options
Social Security and federal payments
CP90 in particular reaches federal payments, including Social Security benefits. Certain benefit payments have statutory exemptions and certain amounts are protected, but the protection is partial, not total, and it is not automatic. If your income is primarily Social Security or another federal payment, say so in your hearing request rather than assuming the exemption will apply on its own.
03 — procedure and options
The 30 days still runs
Form 12153, 30 days from the date printed on the notice, postmark controls, every period listed, certified mail.
→ Read the full procedure: Final Notice of Intent to Levy
→ If a Revenue Officer is assigned instead: Letter 1058
What ebotCPA does
We pull your transcripts under Form 8821, read the collection posture, and give you a written Case Analysis of which options are open to you and what each requires. If you want us to act for you rather than just advise you, that is Form 2848 and a separate step you authorize.
We do not promise outcomes. We tell you what the record shows and what the procedure permits.