What This Letter Means

Letter 2761C, Request for Combat Zone Service Dates, means your IRS account shows combat zone service, but the IRS doesn't have complete dates. It may have an entry date with no exit date, or a combat zone notation from your tax return with no confirming record from the Department of Defense.

Combat zone status matters. While it is open on your account, the IRS suspends collection and stops penalties and interest. The IRS needs accurate dates to know when that suspension starts and ends.

What to Do

  • Send your entry and exit dates for each combat zone deployment, including any new or pending redeployments.
  • Include proof. For entry dates in 2010 and later, the IRS generally requires documentation such as military orders. Civilians supporting the military can send a Letter of Authorization. Proof is generally not needed when the dates already came from the Department of Defense.
  • Say whether you were military or civilian and name your service branch, agency, or employer.
  • Reply within 45 days using the address or fax number on the letter.

If you are still in a combat zone, say so in your reply.

If You Never Served in a Combat Zone

Tell the IRS. Sometimes the combat zone box gets checked on a return by mistake. The IRS will remove the indicator and restore normal processing on your account.

If You Don't Respond

If the IRS doesn't hear from you, it removes the combat zone entry date or closes it out with an exit date the IRS sets. When the combat zone status comes off, the suspension of collection, penalties, and interest that came with it can come off too. Any balance due can move back into normal collection.

Joint Returns

If you filed jointly for the year and your former spouse now lives at a different address, a copy of the letter may go to them too. Either of you can respond.

If you received Letter 2761C and have a tax balance tied to your deployment, call us at (813) 229-7100.