A CP2000 is an underreporter notice: the income reported on your return doesn’t match what employers, banks, or brokers reported to the IRS, so the IRS proposes changes and a new balance. It is a proposal you can still dispute — not a bill and not an audit.
The CP2000 comes from the IRS’s automated matching system, which compares your return against third-party forms like W-2s and 1099s. When something doesn’t line up, the IRS proposes adjustments and shows what the change would do to your tax. The key word is proposed: nothing is final, and you have a real window — usually stated on the notice — to agree or to respond with documents showing why the IRS’s numbers are wrong.
No. It’s an automated proposal from document matching, not a formal examination. But if you ignore it, the IRS can finalize the changes and issue a bill, and unresolved issues can escalate.
Not necessarily. Common triggers include a 1099 you forgot, a broker reporting gross proceeds without cost basis, or a payer filing under the wrong year. Your job is to reconcile the records, not to assume guilt.
Upload the actual document and Main AI reads every clause, flags the risks, extracts the deadlines, and cites the law — free to start, no signup to see your first analysis.
Run the IRS Notice Analyzer — free →