What this letter means
When a business pays its workers, it holds back some of their pay for taxes. That includes income tax and the workers’ share of Social Security and Medicare. The business is supposed to send that money to the IRS. If the business doesn’t, the IRS treats that money as held in trust for the government.
Letter 1153 says the IRS plans to charge you the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty. That’s a penalty that makes you personally responsible for the unpaid trust money. The IRS can charge this penalty to anyone who was responsible for paying the taxes and willfully didn’t. That can mean an owner, an officer, or someone who signed the checks.
The penalty equals the full amount of the unpaid trust money. And it’s yours, not just the business’s.
How urgent is it?
Very. You have 60 days from the date on the letter to file an appeal. If the letter is addressed to you outside the U.S., you have 75 days. The appeal goes to a separate IRS office.
The letter comes with Form 2751. Signing it means you agree to the penalty. Don’t sign it until you’re sure.
If you don’t appeal in time, the IRS officially charges the penalty to you. Then they can collect from you directly. They can file a lien, which is a public claim on your property. They can also take money from your paycheck or bank.
What we do
We protect the deadline. We file a written appeal on time, sent in a way that proves the date.
We challenge the facts. Were you really the person in charge of paying the taxes? Did you know they weren’t paid? We dig into who signed checks, who made the calls, and what you knew.
We check the amount. Don’t assume the amount is right. We make sure payments the business made are counted the right way. If the penalty stands, we find a way out that fits your real numbers.