The six steps
- Step 1: Get compliant. File every required return and bring current estimated payments (or federal tax deposits) up to date. A noncompliant application is returned without review — compliance first, paperwork second.
- Step 2: Confirm eligibility. No open bankruptcy, and the liability must be one you genuinely cannot pay in full. Low-income taxpayers can claim the fee and initial-payment waiver on the forms.
- Step 3: Complete the package. Form 656 plus the collection information statement — 433-A (OIC) for individuals, 433-B for businesses — with documentation for every number. The formula runs on paper, not promises.
- Step 4: Pay to play. The $205 application fee plus the initial payment: 20% of a lump-sum offer, or the first monthly payment of a periodic offer. Low-income waiver claims excuse both.
- Step 5: Survive review. Review takes months. Other collection activity is generally suspended while a processable offer is pending, though the IRS may still file a lien — and the collection clock extends.
- Step 6: Accept, counter, or appeal. Accepted offers carry a five-year compliance tail: file and pay everything on time or the deal unwinds. Rejected offers can be appealed within 30 days on Form 13711.
What can go wrong
A weak application burns months and nonrefundable payments without changing the account — the expensive failure is filing an offer the formula was always going to reject. The quiet failure is the five-year tail: accepted taxpayers who stop filing or paying on time unwind the whole deal. And the preventable failure is submitting while noncompliant, which gets the package returned before review starts. Every one of these is a qualification problem, not a paperwork problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Months is normal, and periodic-payment offers keep paying during review. No timeline is promised — and the collection statute extends while the offer is pending, so the tradeoff must be understood before filing.
- Generally yes — refunds are applied to the debt while an offer is pending. Future-refund treatment after acceptance follows the offer terms.
- The deal unwinds: the full liability minus payments made comes back, and lien and levy exposure return. The five-year file-and-pay compliance tail is the part people miss.
- No. You claim it on the forms by meeting the guidelines — the fee and initial payment are then excused. Miss the checkbox and you pay.