A CP71 is the IRS’s annual reminder that you still owe an unpaid tax balance. It isn’t a new bill or a levy — it’s a yearly statement of a debt that’s still open, sometimes with a warning that seriously delinquent tax debt can affect your passport. Review it, make sure it’s right, and set up a way to pay it down.
A CP71 is the annual reminder the IRS is required to send when you still have an unpaid tax balance. It is not a new assessment, and it is not a levy notice — it’s a yearly statement that a debt is still open, showing the balance with accrued penalties and interest. Because it arrives once a year, it can feel like nothing is happening, but interest keeps compounding in the background, and the notice may warn that seriously delinquent tax debt can lead the State Department to deny or revoke a passport. Treat a CP71 as a prompt to deal with the balance rather than a document to file away. Confirm the amount is correct, then choose how to resolve it: pay online or by mail, set up an installment agreement if you can’t pay in full, or contact the IRS if you’re facing genuine financial hardship. The variants — CP71A, CP71C, and CP71D — carry the same core message; CP71C is the one that specifically flags passport consequences.
Neither. It’s an annual reminder that a previously assessed balance is still unpaid. No new tax is being added by the notice itself, but penalties and interest continue to accrue on the existing debt.
The IRS is required to send an annual reminder of a delinquent balance. It doesn’t mean collection has stopped — interest is still building, and the account can still escalate if the debt stays unresolved.
The CP71C variant warns that seriously delinquent tax debt can lead the State Department to deny, revoke, or limit a passport. Paying the debt or entering a payment agreement generally reverses that certification.
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