You received a letter from the IRS. It says "Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing." It may also be called Letter 1058. You set it down. You told yourself you would deal with it. You did not.
That letter was the last warning the IRS is legally required to give you before it begins taking everything.
I'm Charles Rosselli, a Long Island tax attorney. The LT11 is the single most important notice the IRS sends, and it is the one that Nassau County and Suffolk County taxpayers most consistently fail to respond to in time. This article explains exactly what the LT11 means, what the 30-day window represents, and what the IRS is authorized to do the moment that window closes.
What the LT11 Actually Is
The LT11 — Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Collection Due Process Hearing — is the IRS's final mandatory notice before it can execute a levy against your wages, bank accounts, retirement accounts, Social Security benefits, or any other property.
Under the Internal Revenue Code, the IRS is required to give you this notice before it can levy. It must send it to your last known address at least 30 days before levy action begins. It must inform you of your right to request a Collection Due Process hearing with the IRS Office of Appeals.
The LT11 is not a threat. It is not a reminder. It is the IRS telling you, in the clearest possible terms, that the 30-day clock has started and that what happens next depends entirely on whether you act.
The 30-Day Window: What It Means and Why It Closes Faster Than You Think
The 30-day window the LT11 creates is your last meaningful opportunity to stop IRS collection before enforcement begins.
Once those 30 days elapse without action, the IRS needs nothing further to begin levying. It can contact your employer in Garden City or Huntington, or Hauppauge. It can contact your bank in Nassau County or Suffolk County. It can contact the Social Security Administration. It can contact your clients. It can contact every institution that holds money belonging to or owed to you.
Thirty days sounds like time. For Nassau County and Suffolk County taxpayers who receive the LT11 and respond with avoidance — setting it aside, telling themselves they will deal with it, hoping something changes — 30 days is nothing.
What the IRS Can Do the Day After the Window Closes
The morning after your 30-day window closes, the IRS has full levy authority. There is no additional notice required. There is no court proceeding. There is no further warning. The IRS can act.
It can issue a wage levy to your employer. Starting with the next payroll cycle, the non-exempt portion of your gross wages — which in Nassau County and Suffolk County terms is often 70% to 80% of your paycheck — is withheld and sent to the IRS.
It can issue a bank levy. Every bank account you have — checking, savings, money market — can be frozen simultaneously. The funds held as of the levy date are captured and will be surrendered to the IRS 21 days later.
It can levy your retirement accounts. Your 401(k), your IRA, your pension — none of these are protected from IRS levy.
It can levy your Social Security benefits. Fifteen percent of each monthly payment goes to the IRS.
It can serve levy notices on your clients and customers. Anyone who owes you money receives a notice instructing them to pay the IRS instead of you.
It can move toward seizure of real property and business assets — a process that takes additional steps but for which the LT11 has laid the legal groundwork.
The IRS does not typically do all of these simultaneously on day 31. But it is authorized to. And it will do whichever produces the most efficient collection of your balance, starting with the most accessible assets and income streams.
The Notice You May Have Missed
The LT11 is sent by certified mail to your last known address. The IRS considers your last known address to be the address on your most recently filed tax return.
If you moved and did not file a return with your new Nassau County or Suffolk County address — or if you moved and the change of address did not reach the IRS — the LT11 was sent somewhere you no longer live. It may have been returned as undeliverable. It may have been received by whoever now lives at your former address. The IRS does not know and does not need to know whether you actually received it. Sending it to your last known address is sufficient. The 30-day clock runs from the mailing date regardless.
This is how many Nassau County and Suffolk County taxpayers end up with levy action that seems to have come without warning. They never received the LT11 because their address was not current. By the time they discover what happened — when the bank account is frozen or the employer is contacted — the 30 days elapsed weeks or months ago.
Long Island Taxpayers and the Avoidance Pattern
The pattern I see most consistently among Nassau County and Suffolk County taxpayers who come to me after a levy has begun is the same: the LT11 arrived, it generated anxiety, and the anxiety led to avoidance rather than action.
This is understandable. An IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy is frightening. The balance shown is often much larger than expected because of accrued interest and penalties. The implications — that the IRS is positioned to take your wages, your bank accounts, your property — are overwhelming. The instinct is to put it aside and hope the situation improves.
The situation does not improve. The 30 days run. The window closes. The levy begins. And the person who could have had a CDP hearing, could have entered into an installment agreement before enforcement began, could have had an attorney in place before the IRS contacted their employer — is now managing a crisis instead of preventing one.
I have represented Nassau County and Suffolk County taxpayers at every stage of this sequence. The ones who called me with the LT11 in hand had far more options, far less stress, and far better outcomes than the ones who called me from outside their locked bank account.
Why Hiring a Long Island Tax Attorney Is Different From a CPA or National Tax Resolution Firm
When you are holding an LT11 with days remaining in the window — or when the window has just closed — the person you call determines everything about what happens next.
A CPA or accountant can tell you what you owe. They cannot request a CDP hearing on your behalf with the legal authority of an attorney. They cannot represent you before the IRS Office of Appeals. They cannot file in Tax Court if the CDP hearing produces an adverse determination. The LT11 window involves legal rights that require legal representation to exercise effectively.
A national tax resolution firm will take your call and your retainer. Their case manager will call the IRS and request account information. What they will not do is move with the urgency a narrowing LT11 window requires, or bring the legal authority that a CDP hearing demands. I have spoken with Nassau County taxpayers who called national firms after receiving an LT11 and spent two weeks in intake while the window closed.
A Long Island tax attorney based in Nassau County is what an LT11 situation demands:
- Speed. The window is 30 days, and it is running. I know what needs to happen immediately, and I move accordingly.
- Legal authority to exercise your CDP rights. The CDP hearing is a legal proceeding before the IRS Office of Appeals. It requires an attorney to pursue effectively.
- Attorney-client privilege. Every disclosure you make to me about your financial situation, your assets, your history with the IRS — is protected.
- Local knowledge. I know Nassau County and Suffolk County. I know the cost of living, the financial reality of Long Island life, and how to present your situation to the IRS in a way that reflects that reality.
The Clock Is Running. It May Have Already Run.
If you are holding an LT11 right now, the 30-day window is active. Every day you wait is a day the window narrows.
If the window has already closed, the IRS has levy authority and may have already acted. The situation is more difficult but not hopeless.
The Tax Problem Law Center is based in Garden City and represents individuals and business owners throughout Nassau County, Suffolk County, and New York State in all stages of IRS collection matters, including LT11 response, CDP hearings, and levy release.
Contact our office to speak to a tax attorney near you. You will speak directly with Long Island tax attorneyCharles Rosselli. Not a case manager. Not a call center. Let's figure out exactly where you are in this sequence and what needs to happen today.