What Is an IRS Form 23 Assessment Certificate?
Understand IRS Form 23, the internal assessment certificate that officially establishes a tax liability and creates the legal record for tax administration.
A Form 23-C, officially titled the Assessment Certificate – Summary Record of Assessments, is an internal IRS document. It is not a form that taxpayers ever fill out or receive directly. Instead, it is a summary document generated and used by the IRS to formalize a taxpayer’s debt. The creation and signing of this certificate officially establish a tax liability in the government’s records, providing the legal authority for all subsequent IRS actions.
The Role of Form 23-C in the Tax Assessment Process
Tax assessment is the process that makes a tax liability officially recognized and legally enforceable. An assessment can be triggered in a couple of common ways. The most frequent is a self-assessment, which happens when a taxpayer files a return, such as a Form 1040, acknowledging that a certain amount of tax is due. Another path is a deficiency assessment, which results from an IRS examination or audit where the agency determines that a taxpayer owes more tax than was originally reported.
Regardless of how the liability is determined, it is not officially established until it is formally recorded. This is the specific function of Form 23-C. An appointed assessment officer at an IRS service center signs the Form 23-C, which lists the total assessments for a given period. The date the officer signs the form is the official date of assessment, as prescribed by Internal Revenue Code Section 6203, and makes the tax debt legally binding.
Information Contained on the Assessment Certificate
The Form 23-C Assessment Certificate is a summary document and does not contain detailed data for a single taxpayer. Instead, it aggregates assessment totals processed over a specific period, such as a day or a week. The information captured on the form includes the type of tax being assessed, such as individual income tax or employment taxes, the total amount of the principal tax assessed, and the date the assessment officer signed the certificate.
While the Form 23-C itself is a summary, the underlying data contains the specifics for each individual taxpayer. This detailed information is maintained in the IRS’s master files and includes the taxpayer’s name and Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), their last known address, the specific taxable period, and the precise amount of the tax assessed against them. The Form 23-C serves as the legal certification for this entire batch of individual assessments.
Consequences of an Assessment
The signing of the Form 23-C and the official recording of the assessment permit the IRS to begin the collection process. Once the assessment is made, the IRS is directed to send a “Notice and Demand for Payment” to the taxpayer, typically within 60 days of the assessment date. This notice states the amount owed and demands its payment.
If the taxpayer does not pay the full amount demanded in the notice, a federal tax lien automatically arises under Internal Revenue Code Section 6321. This lien attaches to all of the taxpayer’s property and rights to property. The assessment also triggers a ten-year statute of limitations, giving the IRS a decade from the date of assessment to collect the outstanding tax liability.
Obtaining Proof of Assessment
Taxpayers cannot request or obtain a copy of the actual Form 23-C. The IRS considers this an internal, summary document that does not identify individual taxpayers and therefore does not release it. When a taxpayer or their representative needs proof that an assessment was made, they must request alternative documents that provide the same core information for their specific account.
The most common document used for this purpose is Form 4340, Certificate of Assessments, Payments, and Other Specified Matters. This form is a certified transcript that provides all relevant dates and transactions for a tax account, including the date of assessment, and is considered proof of a valid assessment in legal proceedings. A less formal option is a standard Tax Account Transcript, which shows a line-by-line history of the account.