What This Letter Means
After an audit, you can disagree with the examiner's findings by filing a formal written protest and asking for a conference with the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. Letter 1025, Letter of Protest, tells you the protest you sent doesn't meet the requirements. The examiner is returning it and giving you more time to fix it.
The requirements come from Publication 5, Your Appeal Rights and How to Prepare a Protest if You Disagree. A protest that's missing required items doesn't get sent to Appeals until it's complete.
Related versions exist. Letter 1025-A is used for protests on claims, and Letter 1025-B for no-change cases with adjustments.
Another Reason You May Get It
Appeals needs enough time left on the statute of limitations to work your case. If there isn't enough time and the IRS already asked you to extend the statute, Letter 1025 can remind you that a signed consent is needed before your case can go to Appeals.
What to Do
- Read the letter for the specific problem. Compare your protest to the checklist in Publication 5.
- Correct and complete the protest. If a representative prepared it, the representative's substitute declaration has to be included.
- If a statute extension is the issue, decide whether to sign the consent. Get advice first. It keeps the case open longer.
- Send it back by the date on the letter. IRS procedures commonly allow 10 days. Use certified mail and keep a copy.
If You Don't Respond
If no adequate protest arrives in time, the examiner closes the file without an Appeals conference. In an income tax case, that usually means a statutory notice of deficiency comes next. Then your remaining path to contest the tax before paying is a petition to the U.S. Tax Court, on a strict deadline.
If you received Letter 1025 and want your protest done right, call us at (813) 229-7100.