IRS Notice · CP220 / CP210 · Business · Decode

CP220 (and CP210): the IRS changed your business account — in which direction?

A CP220 reports a change the IRS has already made to a business account. The change can leave you owing money, owed a refund, or exactly square — and the notice is unusually uninformative about which, or about why. This page is about telling those three apart and finding out what prompted the adjustment.

Call (800) 236-3741 Book thirty minutes

A CP220 reports a change the IRS has already made to a business account. The change can leave you owing money, owed a refund, or exactly square, and this page is about telling those three apart and finding out why.

Two things about this notice, and the first one is reassuring. A CP220 reports something that has already happened — an adjustment, made and posted. No appeal right is closing. There is one printed date worth acting before, and it is not the one you would expect — see "your clock" below.

The second is that the notice is unusually uninformative, and that is not your imagination. The IRS's entire published description of it is one sentence: "We made change(s) for the tax year specified on the notice." When asked how to find out what prompted the change, the IRS's own answer is to telephone the number on the notice.

If your notice reads CP210 rather than CP220, you are in the right place — the IRS publishes one page for both codes and draws no distinction between them anywhere on it.

(800) 236-3741 — the line is answered around the clock by our AI receptionist, which books the first available thirty minutes rather than leaving you to call back. The first call is free, with no obligation and no conditions.

Key takeaways

•A CP220 reports an adjustment the IRS has already made to a business account, from either an examination or from data processing.
•CP210 and CP220 share one IRS page and one notice title. The internal manual describes them slightly differently; the taxpayer-facing page does not.
•The adjustment can produce a balance due, an overpayment, or an even balance. The notice title itself carries all three.
•No appeal right expires — but the notice carries a printed payment date, and the IRS ties a penalty-removal conversation to it. Interest runs on any unpaid balance after that date.
•If the words "Imputed Underpayment" appear in the billing summary, this is a partnership audit adjustment and a materially different problem.

What a CP220 is

A CP220 tells a business that the IRS has adjusted its account for a stated period, and reports the result. The IRS's published description is a single sentence: "We made change(s) for the tax year specified on the notice."

The notice's own title, which the internal manual quotes in full, is more useful than the description:

"A CP 220, Examination (Audit) or Data Processing Tax Adjustment - Balance Due, Overpayment, or Even Balance, is an adjustment notice from Exam or Data Processing, resulting in balance due, overpayment, or a even balance." — Internal Revenue Manual 21.3.1.7.31 (3 October 2022). The "a even" is the manual's own typo.

That title does two jobs. It names the two sources an adjustment can come from — an examination, or ordinary data processing, which are very different in what they imply — and it names the three possible outcomes, which is why "I got a CP220, how much do I owe" is sometimes answered with "nothing."

CP210 or CP220 — what the difference is, and what we cannot tell you

The IRS's taxpayer-facing page treats them as one notice. It is served for both codes, it uses the phrase "a CP210 or CP220" throughout its questions and answers, and it never distinguishes them.

Its internal manual does distinguish them, and only just:

Both subsections carry the identical title. IRM 21.3.1.7.29 is headed "CP 210 - Examination (Audit) or Data Processing Tax Adjustment - Balance Due, Overpayment, or Even Balance"; IRM 21.3.1.7.31 is headed "CP 220 - Examination (Audit) or Data Processing Tax Adjustment - Balance Due, Overpayment, or Even Balance." Word for word, apart from the number.

The descriptive sentences underneath differ slightly — the CP210 one says the notice results "in overpayment of $1.00 or more or a zero balance", the CP220 one says "balance due, overpayment, or a even balance" (the "a even" is the manual's typo).

That difference is real and it is not a rule you should plan around. Here is why. The titles are identical, the taxpayer-facing page is shared and draws no distinction, and IRM 21.3.1.7.31 sends the reader of a CP220 back to the CP210 resolution table for handling — a table which itself contains a branch instructing the employee to "advise taxpayer to pay the amount owed." A CP210 can leave you owing. An earlier draft of this page said otherwise on the strength of the shorter sentence, and that was a mistake of exactly the kind this library exists to avoid: reading one clause of a subsection and not its heading. The number on your notice is the guide to whether you owe.

One more line from the same manual section, and it is the most useful thing on this page for a small number of readers:

"The words 'Imputed Underpayment' only appear in the billing summary of a CP210 or CP220 that is related to a BBA audit."

If that phrase is on your notice, this is the result of a partnership audit under the centralized regime, the partnership itself is being asked to pay tax on behalf of its partners, and there are elections with their own deadlines that are outside the scope of this page. That is a different problem and it is time-sensitive in a way an ordinary CP220 is not.

Sources: IRS, "Understanding your CP210 or CP220 notice"; IRM 21.3.1.7.29 and 21.3.1.7.31 — read 6 September 2026.

What this page is working from, and what it is not

Every other page in this library is built on the notice itself. The IRS publishes sample notices at a public address, and reading the letter rather than the summary is the house rule here, because the two frequently disagree.

There is no published sample of a CP210 or a CP220. We looked; the address that serves the other notices in this family returns nothing for either code. So this page is built from the IRS's taxpayer page and from two paragraphs of its internal manual, and that is less than we would like. It is the thinnest-sourced page in this section of the library and you should weigh what it says accordingly. Where your notice and this page disagree, your notice is the document that exists.

Your clock

No right of appeal expires on a CP220 — but there is one thing on it worth doing by the printed date, and it is not obvious. The adjustment is done. What the notice contains is a payment date if there is a balance, and the IRS's own statement of what happens if it passes: "If you don't full pay the amount you owe by the date on your notice, interest will accrue on the unpaid balance after that date."

And this, which is the reason to look at the date rather than file the letter:

"You can contact us at the number listed on your notice if you're unable to pay the full amount shown in your specific notice because of circumstances beyond your control. Contact us by the due date of your payment and, depending on your situation, we may be able to remove the penalty."

That is a penalty-removal route tied to a printed date, on a notice most people treat as informational. It is permissive — may be able to — and it is worth a phone call before the date rather than a letter after it.

If there is a balance and you can clear it, there is a statutory window worth knowing about.

"If notice and demand is made for payment of any amount and if such amount is paid within 21 calendar days (10 business days if the amount for which such notice and demand is made equals or exceeds $100,000) after the date of such notice and demand, interest under this section on the amount so paid shall not be imposed for the period after the date of such notice and demand." — Internal Revenue Code section 6601(e)(3)

It does not erase interest that accrued before the notice, which on an adjustment to an old period is likely to be most of it. And it is not a penalty rule — the failure-to-pay penalty is a separate charge with its own clock and this subsection does not touch it.

Work it from your own notice: which of the two limbs applies depends on your figure, and the start date is printed on the letter. Both are in front of you, and on a large balance the arithmetic is worth doing today rather than at the end of the month.

The three outcomes

What the notice shows	What it means	What to do
A balance due	The adjustment increased the tax, or added a penalty	Check it against your records, then pay or query
An overpayment	The adjustment went your way	The IRS says a refund follows in two to three weeks if nothing else is owed
An even balance	The adjustment moved figures without changing the net	Read it, file it, no action

On the refund case there is a detail worth knowing, because it surprises people the following January, and the second half of it is the half that matters: "If you were paid $10 or more in interest, you'll receive a Form 1099-INT from IRS by January 31st of next year. Please note, even if the interest amount paid to you is less than $10, you must report this amount on your tax return." There is no $10 floor on reporting it — only on the form arriving.

And two cautions on the refund timing. The IRS's own answer conditions it: a refund follows "if no other Federal taxes or obligations are owed" — including offsets for child or spousal support, federal non-tax debts, or state income tax. An overpayment on one period does not always arrive as money. And the manual's own instruction adds to the two-to-three weeks: "Advise taxpayer to allow up to two additional weeks for mail time."

What happens if you do nothing

If the notice shows an even balance or an overpayment, nothing. That is a real answer and most pages in this category will not give it to you.

If it shows a balance you cannot pay, the one dated thing on this notice passes. The IRS's invitation to call about a penalty "by the due date of your payment" is not available afterwards on the same terms.

If it shows a balance due, the amount joins the ordinary business collection sequence. Interest accrues from the date on the notice, the failure-to-pay penalty applies to what is unpaid, and the account moves toward the business reminder notices and, eventually, the levy machinery. CP161, the business balance-due notice.

The other thing that does not happen: the reason does not become clearer. A CP220 is the end of a process, not the start of one. If you do not find out what prompted the adjustment now, the next document you receive will assume you already know.

If your notice shows a balance you cannot pay, the call to make first is the one to the number on your letter, before its printed date — that is the penalty-removal window. If you want a second opinion on what the adjustment actually was before you make it, (800) 236-3741, free, thirty minutes.

The IRS Notice Timeline

One page showing which business notices report a completed action and which start a clock — the distinction that decides how urgently any of them need answering. First name and email address. This one is a map rather than a table, and it changes when the library does — which it is doing all through this year.

[ Download: The IRS Notice Timeline ]

What to do next

1. Today: work out which of the three outcomes you have. Balance due, overpayment, or even. Everything else depends on it and it takes a minute.

2. Look for the words "Imputed Underpayment" in the billing summary. If they are there, stop treating this as an ordinary adjustment notice.

3. Call the number on the notice and ask what prompted the change. This is the IRS's own instruction — "Please contact us at the number listed on the top right corner of your notice for specific information about your tax return" — and on a CP220 it is genuinely the fastest route, because there is nothing else on the letter that tells you.

4. Have the return and the notice in front of you when you call, which is also the IRS's advice. The question you are asking is narrow: what changed, and on the strength of what.

5. Compare the adjustment to your own copy of the return and amend your copy. The IRS asks for this and it matters more than it sounds — a business working from an un-updated copy of a return will reconcile wrongly for years.

6. If the adjustment is wrong, the route is the number on the notice first. If that does not resolve it, an amended return is the IRS's stated answer for a further correction, and that is a different piece of work.

The hard part, and it is the only one on this notice. Finding out why the account was adjusted usually means reading the account transcript, because the notice will not say and the person on the phone is reading the same screen. The transcript shows the adjustment as a transaction code and a date, and the code is what tells you whether this came from an examination or from a data-processing correction. Those two are very different news and the notice presents them identically. How to get IRS transcripts without calling

Katherine M. Johnson, CPA, CTRS

Katherine M. Johnson is a licensed CPA with over 30 years of experience and a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist (CTRS). She personally handles every case — representing individuals and businesses before the IRS and state revenue departments nationwide.

Read full bio

The Kentucky note

A federal adjustment to a business return frequently produces a state one, and Kentucky does not wait to be told.

Where a federal change affects income or wages reported to the Commonwealth, the Department of Revenue's own notice follows on its own timetable, with its own protest window and its own cost-of-collection fee that has no federal equivalent. A business that resolves a federal adjustment and hears nothing further has not necessarily finished.

What a Kentucky Notice of Tax Due actually starts

What we see

A CP220 has two very different parents and one envelope: a data-processing correction with nothing behind it, and the end of somebody looking at your return. The notice presents them identically, which is why we pull the transcript before saying anything about one — the transaction code is what tells you which you are holding, and the letter never will. We also read the billing summary for the words "Imputed Underpayment," because that phrase changes what the notice is. What makes this one uncomfortable is the silence: an adjustment to a payroll period, with no explanation attached, lands on someone who is already lying awake wondering whether the company's tax has become theirs. Establishing which of the two parents it has takes an afternoon, and it settles that question in one direction or the other.

Katherine — You are welcome to modify the above paragraph for what you see on a CP220.

Katherine works the account herself — which on a notice this thin is the difference between a guess and a reading.

Where this sits

Notice	What it is
CP220 / CP210▶ You are here	A completed adjustment to a business account. Owing, owed, or square.
CP215	A civil penalty assessed on a business account — often what a CP220 adjusts.
CP161	Where a balance from an adjustment ends up if it is not paid.

CP161 — where an unpaid balance lands →IRS collection defense →All notices: the IRS notice index →

Frequently asked

Is a CP220 an audit?

Not necessarily, and the notice does not say. The IRS's own title for it names two possible sources — an examination, or data processing — and a data-processing adjustment is an ordinary account correction with nothing behind it. The transcript is what distinguishes them.

I got a CP210, not a CP220. Is this the same thing?

Substantially, yes. The IRS publishes one page for both codes and does not distinguish them on it, and the two internal manual subsections carry word-for-word identical titles. Their descriptive sentences differ slightly, but the CP210 resolution table contains a branch for a balance owed, so a CP210 is not a guarantee that you owe nothing.

Why does the notice not say what changed?

It is not designed to. The IRS's own answer to that question is to call the number on the notice, which is unusual and is the honest position rather than an evasion — the detail lives on the account, not in the letter.

The notice says I am owed money. When does it arrive?

The IRS says two to three weeks if no other federal taxes or obligations are owed — which includes child or spousal support, federal non-tax debts, and state income tax offsets. If more than three weeks pass, its own instruction is to call.

If you would rather not work it out alone

We handle IRS business account matters from our office in Georgetown, Kentucky.

The first call is free, carries no obligation, and is a review rather than a pitch — thirty minutes. It answers: which of the three outcomes your notice reports, whether the adjustment came from an examination or from data processing, whether "Imputed Underpayment" appears on your billing summary, and whether the penalty-removal call the notice invites is still open on your printed date.

Try the IRS before you try us. Call the number in the top right of the letter with the return in front of you and ask what changed. Where the adjustment came from data processing rather than an examination, the explanation is one line on the account and that call is the whole job — we would rather you spent twenty minutes on hold than anything else.

Bring it to us if any of these is true:

The explanation does not match your records, which means the account and the return disagree about something.
The words "Imputed Underpayment" are on the billing summary — a partnership audit adjustment with elections and deadlines an ordinary CP220 does not have.
The adjustment lands on an employment tax period, where the withheld portion of a balance can reach a person rather than only the company.
The IRS call left you no clearer about which of the three outcomes you are holding.

The first call is free, it runs thirty minutes, and there is no obligation — including when the answer is to hang up and dial the IRS.

(800) 236-3741 — answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week; after hours our AI receptionist answers the common questions, takes your details and books the first available thirty minutes.

Have the notice and your own copy of the return in front of you on the call.

Next Level Tax Resolution is an independent CPA firm. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service or any government agency. This article is general information, not tax advice for your situation. Every account is different, and the options described here are not available to everyone.

Call (800) 236-3741 Book a time

The NLTR Office ·

Reviewed by Katherine M. Johnson, CPA, CTRS