Lone Tree, Colorado
The return is right. The balance is real. The money isn’t there.
The IRS has a form for that, and a second form for when the first one isn’t enough.
Welcome. We’re glad to serve you.
Most tax debts are paid over time, and the IRS makes that easy up to a point. Below $50,000 an installment agreement is close to automatic; the only question is the fee. Above it, or when the full amount can’t be paid, the IRS wants to see a financial statement before it agrees to anything, and that statement — Form 433-A or its short form 433-F — is the document that runs the rest of the collection process: partial-payment plans, currently-not-collectible status, and the offer in compromise. This page covers both forms. The collections page covers the letters, the lien and the levy; the offer in compromise page covers the offer itself.
| If you can… | Then | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Pay in full within 180 days | Short-term plan. No setup fee; penalty and interest run. Online up to $100,000, or by phone. | None (online or a call) |
| Pay in full within 72 months and owe $50,000 or less (tax, penalty and interest) | Streamlined installment agreement. No financial statement, usually no lien. Direct debit required above $25,000 to avoid a lien filing (verify). | Online, or Form 9465 |
| Pay in full, but owe more than $50,000 | Installment agreement with a financial statement. Lien likely. | Form 9465 + Form 433-F (or 433-A with a revenue officer) |
| Pay something, but not all of it before the ten-year collection deadline | Partial-payment installment agreement. Reviewed every two years. | Form 9465 + 433-F / 433-A |
| Pay nothing after necessary living expenses | Currently not collectible. Collection stops; lien stays; the ten-year clock keeps running. | 433-F / 433-A |
| Never pay it all, and offer what the IRS could collect | Offer in compromise. | Form 656 + Form 433-A (OIC) |
Each step down the ladder costs more paperwork and more disclosure. The IRS’s own preference is clear from the fees: the cheapest agreement is the one you set up yourself online with a bank debit.
↑ Back to topForm 9465 is one page. It asks for the balance, how much you can pay now, the monthly amount you propose, the day of the month, and bank information if you want the payments drawn automatically. It can be filed three ways:
Two lines matter more than the rest. Line 9 is the balance; if it is over $50,000 the 9465 has to be accompanied by Form 433-F. Line 10 is the proposed payment; if it won’t pay the balance in 72 months and you can’t raise it, the 433-F is required too, and the IRS will decide whether to accept a partial-payment plan. If line 10 is blank the IRS divides the balance by 72.
The agreement comes with conditions: every future return filed and paid on time, every refund applied to the balance until it is gone, and the payments made. Miss one and the IRS sends a CP523 default notice, after which the full balance is collectible and a levy can follow.
↑ Back to top| How the agreement is set up | Direct debit from a bank account | Check, card or payroll deduction |
|---|---|---|
| Online (IRS.gov/OPA) | $22 | $69 |
| Form 9465, phone, or in person | $107 | $178 |
| Low income (AGI at or below 250% of the poverty line) | $0 | $43, refunded when the plan is completed |
| Reinstating or restructuring a defaulted plan | $89 ($43 low income) | |
Form 433-A is the IRS’s version of the balance sheet on our insolvency page, with a budget added. Six pages, signed under penalties of perjury, and every line checked against bank statements, pay stubs and public records. The short form, 433-F, asks the same questions in two pages and is what the phone unit (ACS) takes for an installment agreement over $50,000; the full 433-A is used when a revenue officer has the case, and a slightly different version, 433-A (OIC), goes with every offer in compromise. What it asks:
| Section | What goes there | How the IRS reads it |
|---|---|---|
| Personal and employment | Household members, employer, pay frequency, whether you are a party to a lawsuit, a bankruptcy, a trust, a safe-deposit box. | Who else contributes to the household, and whether income is likely to change. |
| Assets | Every bank and investment account with current balances; retirement accounts; life insurance cash value; vehicles with loan balances; real estate with value and mortgage; business assets and receivables. | Net realizable equity: quick-sale value (usually 80% of market) minus loans. This is what the IRS could get by taking the asset, and it sets the floor for an offer. Retirement accounts are counted after the tax and penalty on withdrawing them. |
| Monthly income | Wages (gross), self-employment net, rental, pensions, Social Security, child support, alimony, distributions from a business. | Total household income, including a non-liable spouse’s share of expenses. |
| Monthly living expenses | Food, clothing and miscellaneous; housing and utilities; vehicle ownership and operating costs; health insurance and out-of-pocket medical; taxes withheld; court-ordered payments; child care; secured debts; other. | Capped at the Collection Financial Standards — national amounts for food and clothing and for vehicle costs, Douglas County amounts for housing and utilities — unless you prove a higher amount is necessary. Credit card minimums, private school and the second car usually don’t count. Income minus allowed expenses is the monthly amount the IRS expects. |
| Self-employed section | Business income and expenses for the last six months, business assets, receivables. | Reconciled to the deposits; personal draws added back. |
The 433-A is the one document in the collection process that is also a negotiation. The IRS’s allowances are generous for housing in Douglas County and stingy for cars; a client who has been paying $900 a month on a truck will be allowed less unless the truck is needed for the job. Presenting the statement with the proof attached and the standards already applied is most of the work.
↑ Back to topThe return shows $14,000 due in April. Form 9465 goes with it, proposing $250 a month on the 20th by direct debit. $14,000 at 7% with a 0.25% monthly penalty needs about $255 a month to clear in 72 months, so the IRS accepts $255. Fee $107 (it would have been $22 online). No lien, no financial statement, no calls. The next year’s refund is applied to the balance.
Three unfiled years are filed and the assessments total $70,000. Over $50,000, so Form 433-F goes with the 9465. Income $7,800 a month; allowed expenses under the standards $6,900; the IRS expects $900 a month. $900 pays about $65,000 over 72 months at current rates, so this is a partial-payment agreement unless the client can add a lump sum. A $20,000 withdrawal from a retirement account (taxable, but not penalized if over 59½) brings the balance to $50,000 and turns it into a streamlined agreement at about $900 a month with no lien. The retirement money is spent either way; the question is whether a lien goes on the house first.
Colorado payment plans are set up through Revenue Online or by calling the Department, usually for up to 36 months with a down payment; Colorado has no equivalent of the streamlined federal rules and will ask for its own financial statement (DR 6596) for larger balances. Colorado files its own liens and issues its own levies, and a federal agreement does nothing to stop them. See behind on your Colorado taxes.
↑ Back to topYes. Form 9465 can be attached to the front of a paper return or sent with an e-filed one, and the plan starts when the IRS processes the return. For balances up to $50,000 the IRS would rather you apply online after the return is accepted, which is cheaper and immediate, but the 9465 is there for people who prefer paper or who owe more than the online limit.
Whatever pays the balance, with penalty and interest, within 72 months or by the collection deadline, whichever comes first. The IRS divides the balance by 72 if you don’t propose a number. You can pay more at any time.
For a streamlined agreement under $50,000 paid by direct debit, usually not. Above $50,000, or if payments are missed, a lien is likely. The lien is the reason to get a balance under $50,000 before applying, if a down payment can do it.
It is the IRS’s financial statement: everything you own, everything you owe, and your monthly income and living expenses, with the IRS’s own allowances for food, housing and transportation. It is required when the balance is too large for a streamlined plan, when you ask to pay less than the full amount, when you ask to be put on hold as uncollectible, and with every offer in compromise. It is signed under penalties of perjury, and it is what the IRS uses to decide what you can pay.
An installment agreement with a Form 433-F financial statement, which may be a full-pay plan or a partial-payment plan if the numbers show you cannot pay it all before the ten-year collection deadline; currently-not-collectible status if there is nothing left after necessary expenses; or an offer in compromise if the IRS could never collect the balance. Which one is right depends on the 433-A arithmetic, and that is where we start.
No. Interest runs until the balance is paid, and so does the late-payment penalty, at a reduced rate of one-quarter of one percent a month instead of one-half while a timely filed return is under an agreement.
For the Tax Shop desk · forms, code sections, and the things that get missed
If the balance is under $50,000, we will set the plan up with the return or online the day the return is accepted, and you will never hear from a collector. If it is more than that, or more than you can ever pay, bring the bank statements and the bills and we will build the 433-A the way the IRS reads it, before the IRS builds it for you.
Call 303-734-1040 or stop by the office in Lone Tree. We’ve been reading the footnotes for Douglas County and the Denver area since 1969.
Figures reflect the 2026 tax year as currently published and are rounded for readability. Items marked (verify) are to be confirmed against IRS or Colorado DOR sources before the figures freeze in December. Written October 26, 2026.