IRS Letter 12C: Information Request
The IRS needs more information before it can finish processing your return, often a missing form or verification.
- Respond within
- 20 days
- How urgent
- Attend to it
- Appeal rights
- Not with this notice
How long you have
This notice gives you 20 days to respond. The due date is printed on the letter itself.
The IRS's own guidance on any notice is short: “If we ask you to respond, act by the due date.”
What we do with a Letter 12C
Usually resolvable quickly. Ignore it and the return never processes.
This page is general information, not advice on your specific matter. An Enrolled Agent has to read your actual notice and your transcripts before telling you what to do about it.
Related notices · Return processing and identity
The next step
Decoded your Letter 12C? Now let's answer it.
Send us the actual notice. A licensed Enrolled Agent will review it free of charge, confidentially, the same week.