How to respond to an IRS notice online
The Document Upload Tool sends your reply to the IRS without a trip to the post office. What you need, what to send, and the proof to keep afterwards.
Quick answers
- Can I reply to an IRS letter online instead of by mail?
- Usually yes. The IRS Document Upload Tool accepts scans, photos or digital copies of the documents a notice asks for, and gives you a confirmation that they arrived.
- What do I need before I start the upload?
- The notice or letter number, or the access code printed on it, the name exactly as the notice shows it, and the Social Security, taxpayer identification or employer identification number the notice refers to.
- Can I file my tax return through the upload tool?
- No. The tool is only for responding to a notice or letter. The IRS says returns sent through it cannot be processed, so a return has to be e-filed or mailed.
If your IRS notice asks for documents, you can usually send them through the IRS Document Upload Tool instead of the mail. It takes the notice number, a name, a taxpayer number, and files in the formats the tool accepts.
Which notices this works for
The tool exists to answer a notice or letter, and that is the whole of its job. Tax returns cannot be submitted through it, and the IRS says returns sent that way cannot be processed, so a return still has to be e-filed or mailed. The same tool can also be used to ask for a notice in an alternative media format.
There are two ways in. Some notices print an access code, which takes you straight to the right case. If yours does not, you choose the notice or letter number from a list instead. Either way, what you are doing is attaching documents to a case the IRS already has open on you.
Send documents through the Document Upload Tool
- Find the notice or letter number. The IRS puts the CP or LTR number in the right corner of the letter, and that number identifies the case.
- Go to irs.gov and open Use the Document Upload Tool.
- Enter the access code if the notice gave you one. If it did not, choose the notice or letter number instead, and choose carefully; the IRS warns that picking the wrong notice from the list can cause delays.
- Enter the first and last name, or the business name, exactly as it appears on the notice.
- Enter the Social Security number, individual taxpayer identification number or employer identification number the notice refers to.
- Upload the documents as scans, photographs or digital copies, in JPG, PNG or PDF format.
- Wait for the confirmation that the IRS received the documents, and save it before you close the page.
What to send, and what not to
Send exactly what the notice asks for, and nothing else. A case is worked by a person reading the list of items requested against the items received, and a folder padded with everything you own makes that comparison slower rather than more convincing. If the IRS needs more, it asks for more, and asking is a normal part of the process rather than a sign it has gone wrong.
If you agree with the notice, take the action it asks for. Many notices need no reply at all unless the IRS specifically asks for one, so read it before you upload anything. If you disagree, follow the notice's own instructions for disputing it, and include the information and copies of the documents that support your position. Send copies and keep the originals, and reply by the date printed on the notice, because that date is what protects your right to disagree. What a particular letter means is a separate question: You got a letter from the IRS covers reading one, and CP2000 covers the most commonly misread of them.
Keeping proof
Save the confirmation the tool gives you, along with the date and the names of the files you sent. Keep your own copy of every document uploaded, keep the notice itself, and write down the reply deadline.
That record is not paperwork for its own sake. If the case moves to a person, or turns into something larger, it is the entire evidence that you answered and when. What an audit looks like starts from the same principle.
If it doesn't work
- No access code, and the notice number is not in the list. Follow the reply instructions printed on the notice itself instead.
- A file the tool will not take. It accepts JPG, PNG and PDF, so anything else has to be converted or re-scanned first.
- A file that is too large to upload. Split it into parts or scan it again at a lower resolution.
- A notice that tells you to reply by mail or fax. Those instructions come first, because not every case is set up to receive documents this way.
- A link in a letter that does not go to irs.gov. Check any link in a notice carefully before opening it; the IRS treats an address that is not its own as a reason to be suspicious of the letter.
What you'll need
- The notice or letter, with its number or its access code.
- The name exactly as the notice shows it.
- The Social Security number, ITIN or employer identification number the notice refers to.
- The requested documents, as JPG, PNG or PDF files.
- Somewhere safe to save the confirmation.
While you are there: paperless notices
Your IRS online account can deliver some notices and letters digitally, and it shows digital notices that have already been issued to you. Turning that on means the next letter arrives somewhere you can find it rather than in a pile of mail. Creating an IRS online account covers the identity check that stands in front of it.