Why a site about deadlines
Almost every IRS problem has a date attached to it. The IRS has a limited time to assess tax, a limited time to collect it, and you have a limited time to ask for money back. Those periods start, pause and end under rules Congress wrote into the Internal Revenue Code, mostly in sections 6501 through 6532.
Get the dates right and you know what the IRS can still do, what it cannot, and what you are still allowed to ask for. Get them wrong and you can sign away years of protection or lose a refund for good. The guides here explain those rules in plain English, with the statute or IRS manual provision behind each one so you can check it yourself.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers one rule: what starts the clock, what stops it and what you can do about it. They are general information. Your own dates come from your own IRS records, and the right move depends on facts these pages cannot see. If you want the dates on your account read and explained, the first consultation is free.
Start with the three-year assessment rule, the ten-year collection rule or the refund claim deadline.