IRS Letter 3524: Final Notice of Intent to Levy (Child Support)

Letter 3524, Final Notice - Notice of Intent to Levy, Please Respond Immediately, is the levy warning the IRS uses when it is collecting past-due child support. Child support is not a federal tax, but a state child support agency can certify certain arrearages to the IRS under IRC Section 6305, and the IRS then collects them using its own tools. Letter 3524 is used instead of Letter 1058 for those balances.

No Collection Due Process Hearing

This is the critical difference. A tax levy notice gives you 30 days to request a Collection Due Process hearing. Letter 3524 does not. IRM 5.11.1 is blunt about it: there is no right to a hearing when child support obligations are being collected. The IRS does not offer Collection Due Process, the Collection Appeals Program, or Taxpayer Advocate Service assistance on these balances. IRC Section 6305 also bars federal courts from restraining or reviewing the assessment and collection of the certified child support.

Filing Form 12153 in response to Letter 3524 will not stop anything. Do not lose time on it.

Where the Fight Actually Is

Because the IRS is acting as the collector, not the decision maker, disputes about the amount owed belong with the state child support agency and the state court that issued the support order. If the arrearage is wrong, has been paid, or has been modified, get the state agency to correct its certification. Once the certification changes, the IRS collection changes with it.

Contact the state child support agency the same day you receive Letter 3524. Ask what amount was certified, when, and what it would take to resolve or reduce it. A payment arrangement with the state agency is often the fastest way to stop federal levy action.

If You Also Owe Federal Tax

The IRS may send Letter 1058 for your tax debts and Letter 3524 for the child support in the same envelope. The tax balance on Letter 1058 still carries normal CDP rights. The child support balance on Letter 3524 does not. Keep the two separate when you decide what to file.

If you received Letter 3524 and also have federal tax problems, call us at (813) 229-7100. We can tell you which part of the case has appeal rights and which part has to be handled through the state.