Free IRS tools for your notice
Five tools built for the exact moment the envelope arrives: identify the notice, compute your deadline, estimate what waiting costs, decide whether it can wait, and decode every term the IRS throws at you. All free, forever.
Notice Analyzer, upload your actual letter
The tools below explain notice types. The analyzer reads your letter: your amounts, your tax year, your exact deadline, explained in plain English, free, in under a minute.
IRS Notice Lookup
Type the number in the corner of your letter, CP2000, CP14, LT11, 5071C…, and instantly see what it means, its urgency level, and the typical response window. Covers 97 notice types.
Look up my notice →⏱30 secondsResponse Deadline Calculator
Pick your notice type, enter the date printed on it, and get your typical response deadline with a live countdown, plus what happens the day after you miss it.
Calculate my deadline →%1 minutePenalty & Interest Estimator
See roughly what your balance grows to if you wait, failure-to-pay penalties, failure-to-file penalties, and interest, month by month. Waiting has a price tag; this shows it.
Estimate my penalties →?60 seconds"Can I Ignore This Letter?" Quiz
Five questions about your letter, one honest verdict: urgent, respond soon, or probably informational. Because some IRS mail really can wait, and some absolutely cannot.
Take the quiz →AaReferenceIRS Glossary, in Plain English
Levy vs lien, abatement, AUR, CSED, deficiency, offset… 40+ terms the IRS uses as if everyone went to tax school, each explained in two sentences a human can understand.
Open the glossary →☰Complete directoryAll IRS Notices, Explained
The full directory of IRS notices organized by category, collection, refunds, audits, identity, with in-depth plain-English guides for the most common ones, like the CP2000 and CP14.
Browse all notices →Why we give these tools away
Every year the IRS mails over 200 million notices and letters, and most arrive with no translation. A CP2000that says "proposed amount due: $4,618" reads like a bill even though it's legally a proposal you can contest. A CP504"intent to levy" sounds like your bank account empties tomorrow, when a specific legal sequence still stands between you and any seizure. Panic thrives in that gap between what the letter says and what it means, and panic produces the two worst outcomes: paying amounts that were never correct, or freezing and missing a deadline that mattered.
These tools close the gap in minutes. The lookuptells you what kind of letter you're holding; the deadline calculator tells you how much time you realistically have; the penalty estimator puts a number on the cost of waiting; the quiz gives you a straight answer on whether this can sit on the counter another week; and the glossary decodes the vocabulary as you go. None of it requires an account, an email, or a card.
The honest business logic: once you understand your letter, some of you will need to respond to it, and a few of you will want us to prepare that response (that part costs $39). But understanding always stays free, because the alternative, people paying $400 consultations or full proposed amounts out of fear, is exactly the problem this site exists to fix.
Just got the letter? Do this, in this order:
- Identify it, find the code in the corner and look it up (10 seconds).
- Clock it, calculate your response deadline and put it in your phone right now.
- Triage it, take the 60-second quiz to know if this is urgent, soon, or informational.
- Understand your letter, upload it for the free line-by-line explanation with your exact amounts and date.
- Respond if needed, read the guide for your notice, and let us prepare the response if you want it done in 10 minutes.
Tools explain the notice type.
The analyzer explains your notice.
When you're done exploring, upload your actual letter, the free explanation covers your amounts, your tax year and your exact printed deadline.
Upload my notice, freeFREE EXPLANATION · NO ACCOUNT · ENCRYPTED