After a roughly two-year pause engendered by the Covid 19 pandemic, the Internal Revenue Service is once again sending out collection notices to taxpayers.
Known as a Letter LT38, the correspondence is officially called a 2024 Reminder of Notice Resumption whose function is to let recipients know collection procedures are now fully back in swing.
The LT38 is not, reports the Detroit Free Press, “a letter to inform you of an audit.” It is instead, a reminder “providing an update on your outstanding balance and options to resolve the debt.”
The IRS ceased sending out such notices in February of 2022 when the agency was plagued by staff shortages caused by the outbreak of the pandemic.
“We’re resuming normal operations and providing you with an update on your outstanding balance to help you stay informed and offer you self-service options to resolve your account,” the IRS website is announcing.
The LT38 comes with a deadline designed to compel taxpayers to pay off any existing balances with the agency, or to enter into some kind of agreement with the government to pay off a debt.
Receipt of such correspondence, says the site Taxcure, “means you need to take action on your tax debt. The IRS is resuming collection actions.”
“In short, that means that if you don’t pay your bill, the IRS may garnish your wages, seize your bank accounts, or take your assets,” Taxcure adds.
When Covid 19 first made itself known in March of 2020, the IRS temporarily shut down its onsite operations as well as its mail processing facilities. Taxpayers, in return, were forced to wait longer for returns to be processed.
Late last year the agency announced it was providing penalty relief for nearly 5 million people, as well as businesses and tax-exempt groups that had not been sent collection reminder notices during the pandemic.
The vast majority of taxpayers receiving such relief, said the IRS, were making less than $400,000 a year.
By Garry Boulard
