Form 12256 (Withdrawal of Request for Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing)
The form that withdraws a hearing request. Signing it gives up the Tax Court route the CDP hearing carried.
Full Definition
Form 12256 withdraws a request for a Collection Due Process or equivalent hearing.
It exists because a request often stops being necessary. Publication 1660 states that after you request a hearing you may still discuss your concerns with the Collection office that sent the notice, and that if you are able to resolve the issues with that office you may withdraw the request.
The form's own text says the same in the first person: you sign to say you have reached a resolution with the IRS regarding the tax and periods your hearing request concerned, or are otherwise satisfied you no longer need a hearing with the Independent Office of Appeals.
It asks which right you are withdrawing under — IRC section 6320, the hearing on the filing of a Notice of Federal Tax Lien, or IRC section 6330, the hearing before a levy, or both.
It is a one-way door on the judicial route. A withdrawn CDP request produces no determination, and there is no determination to petition the Tax Court about. Resolution with Collection is worth having; it is worth having it in writing first.
What to do next
Before signing, get whatever you agreed with the Collection office in writing. The form records that you no longer need the hearing, and the hearing is what would have produced a determination you could take further.
What this page does not say
- Neither Form 12256 nor Publication 1660 states whether a withdrawn CDP request can be reinstated within the original 30-day window. That is not asserted here in either direction.
Sources
- Form 12256, Withdrawal of Request for Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-21
- Publication 1660, Collection Appeal Rights — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-18
Last reviewed 2026-08-21 by Tax Resolution Clarity editorial.
Sourced to primary IRS materials and editorially reviewed. Not reviewed by a tax professional. Not tax advice.
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Where to go next
The IRS publishes the rules this page describes. Your own notice governs your dates.