CP49 Response
A notice that your refund was applied to a past tax debt. Upload it and get a response letter in 60 seconds for $19.
12,400+ notices analyzed
A CP49 tells you that a refund you expected was applied to a tax balance from another period. The IRS calls this an overpayment offset.
The notice shows the refund amount, the balance it was applied to, and whether anything is left over. Sometimes the refund covers the old balance completely and a smaller refund still arrives.
It is informational rather than a bill. The most common surprise inside it is a balance from a year the taxpayer did not know was still open.
[Your Name], Taxpayer
[City, State]
[Date]
Internal Revenue Service
Correspondence Unit
RE: Notice CP49, Overpayment Applied to Prior Balance, Tax Year 2024
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in response to the CP49 notice dated [Date], which states that a refund of $2,140.00 for tax year 2024 was applied to a balance for tax year 2021.
1. Basis for this response. Records show a payment of $2,140.00 applied to tax year 2021 on [Date]. Documentation is enclosed as Attachment A.
2. Request. I ask that the account for tax year 2021 be reviewed and that any duplicate application of funds be corrected and refunded.
Sample only. Your letter is drafted from your specific notice.
Upload your CP49 so we can read the offset amounts and the years involved.
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Send your response through the IRS secure portal or by certified mail.
It is a notice explaining that a refund was applied to a tax balance from a different period instead of being sent to you.
The notice is informational, and any response date it includes is printed on the page. Our tool reads that date from your copy if one is present.
The offset stands as described. If a balance remains after the offset, the account generally continues through the normal balance-due notice sequence.
Yes. People commonly write in when the offset year looks wrong or the old balance was already paid. Our tool drafts that letter from your notice figures.
It is one of the milder notices because it reports something that already happened rather than warning about enforcement.
The notice states whether any amount remains after the offset and whether that remainder will be issued.
The first bill. It states a balance due and starts the collection clock.
Read the CP14 page →A reminder notice that a balance from an earlier bill is still unpaid.
Read the CP501 page →Proposed changes to your return based on income reported by employers, banks, and platforms.
Read the CP2000 page →Or start from the hub: every IRS notice, explained in plain English.