The Right to Finality
A taxpayer has a right to have taxes assessed by the IRS within three years of filing a true and accurate tax return. However, the IRS has unlimited time
to assess tax for the tax year if a false or fraudulent tax return is filed or no tax return is filed.
Taxpayers have a right to have unpaid taxes collected ten years from the date of assessment. If the taxpayer has not agreed to extend the 10-year period, the
IRS must stop all collection activity. However, some exceptions extend or suspend the term, including the IRS obtaining a court judgment, the taxpayer agreeing
to an Installment Agreement, the taxpayer filing an Offer in Compromise, the taxpayer filing Bankruptcy, and more.
Taxpayers have the right to be informed of their deadline to petition the United States Tax Court on their Notice of Deficiency
When the IRS proposes additional taxes.
Taxpayers have a right to file a claim for a refund of overpaid taxes to get the overpayment back. The claim generally must be filed by the later of, either three years
from the filing date of the original return or two years from the date the taxes were paid. That deadline is 90 days for a Notice of Deficiency mailed to an address
inside the United States and 150 days for those mailed to an address outside the United States.
The IRS is restricted to auditing a tax return once without a necessary reason.
