Jeopardy Levy
A levy made without the usual thirty-day wait, where the IRS has determined collection is in jeopardy. The pre-levy hearing right is one of the things it displaces.
Full Definition
A jeopardy levy is a levy the IRS makes without the waiting period that normally precedes one.
Internal Revenue Code section 6331(d)(2) requires the IRS to give written notice at least thirty days before the day of a levy. That requirement does not apply where the IRS has made a jeopardy finding.
Publication 1660 lists collection of state tax refunds, jeopardy situations, disqualified employment tax levies and federal contractor levies among the circumstances in which the IRS may levy first, and states that you may request a hearing after the levy in those instances. The hearing right is not removed; its position in the sequence is.
That is the whole of what the retrieved sources establish. What the IRS must find to declare jeopardy, who authorises it, and what review of the determination exists are not described here.
What to do next
If a levy has already happened and you did not receive a prior notice, the question to ask is which exception the IRS relied on — jeopardy is one of four Publication 1660 names, and the post-levy hearing right applies in all of them.
What this page does not say
- No retrieved taxpayer-facing IRS source sets out the jeopardy determination — the finding required, who makes it, or how it is reviewed. IRC 7429 provides for review of jeopardy assessments and levies; that provision has not been read against a source and is not described here.
Sources
- Publication 1660, Collection Appeal Rights — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-18
- 26 U.S.C. §6331 — Levy and distraint — United States Code, 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.