Collection Statute Expiration Date (CSED)
The date after which the IRS can no longer legally collect a tax debt, typically 10 years from assessment.
Full Definition
The Collection Statute Expiration Date (CSED) is the deadline for the IRS to collect a tax debt. Generally, the IRS has 10 years from the date a tax is assessed to collect it, and an account can carry several assessments each with its own CSED. After a CSED passes, the IRS can no longer collect that assessment. The IRS distinguishes two things that delay it: SUSPENSION, which pauses the clock while the IRS is prohibited from collecting, and EXTENSION, which adds time on top. Most summaries name the suspending events and drop the added time, which understates the real date. The IRS publishes both. Installment agreement: suspended while the request is reviewed, and if you withdraw it or the IRS rejects or proposes to terminate it, extended by 30 days; suspended throughout an appeal. Bankruptcy: suspended from the petition until the court discharges, dismisses or closes the case, then extended a further 6 months. Offer in compromise: suspended while the offer is reviewed, a further 30 days if it is rejected, and until an appeal of the rejection concludes. Collection Due Process hearing: suspended from receipt of the request until you withdraw it or a final determination is made, including any appeal, and if less than 90 days remains at that point the CSED is extended to 90 days after the determination. The IRM states the collection statute is not extended for equivalency hearings. Innocent spouse relief: suspended until you file a waiver or the 90-day period to petition the Tax Court expires, whichever is earlier, or until the Tax Court decision is final, and extended a further 60 days in either case. Combat zone: suspended from entry until you leave, plus 180 days. Military service under the SCRA: suspended for the period of service plus 270 days from when the military notifies the IRS. Living outside the United States: generally suspended while you are outside the U.S. continuously for 6 months or more, and the IRS states the CSED may be extended by at least 6 months when you return. Do not compute your own CSED from this list and act on the answer — the IRS states the date is on your account transcript, that more than one event can apply, and that you may contact it to verify the last day it can collect for a given period.
What to do next
Get your account transcript — through your IRS Online Account, by Form 4506-T, or at 800-908-9946 — and read the CSED off the Transactions section rather than calculating it. If you disagree with the date shown, the IRS asks you to contact it, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service takes Form 911 requests where the computation is in dispute.
What this page does not say
- An earlier version of this entry named the eight suspending events but dropped every period the IRS adds on top of them — 30 days after an installment agreement is rejected or terminated, 6 months after a bankruptcy concludes, 30 days after an offer is rejected, a 90-day floor after a CDP determination, 60 days after innocent spouse relief resolves, and at least 6 months on return from living abroad. It also framed itself as the complete list. A reader computing their own CSED from it would have underestimated by months. The IRS taxpayer-facing page stated all of them the whole time.
Sources
- Time IRS can collect tax — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-20
- IRM 5.1.19, Field Collecting Procedures — Collection Statute Expiration — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-21
Last reviewed 2026-08-20 by Tax Resolution Clarity editorial.
Sourced to primary IRS materials and editorially reviewed. Not reviewed by a tax professional. Not tax advice.
Found something wrong on this page? Report a correction.
Related Terms
Where to go next
The IRS publishes the rules this page describes. Your own notice governs your dates.