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Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act › Section 2 › Proposal

A notice listing potential or alternative errors is not specific enough

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require additional information on math and clerical error notices, section 2, Sec. 2. Written by .

A notice listing potential or alternative errors is not specific enough

The document says “shall not”Who acts: CongressHow: statuteSec. 2 in the PDF
What the document says

“A notice which provides multiple potential or alternative errors which may be applicable to the return shall not be sufficiently specific for purposes of clause (i)(II); however, if multiple specific errors apply to the return all such errors should be listed.”

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require additional information on math and clerical error notices, Sec. 2

Clause (ii) of the new subparagraph (B). It sets a limit on the description required by clause (i)(II): a notice offering several errors that may apply does not meet that requirement. The second half runs the other way, providing that where several specific errors do apply, all of them should be listed.

What the document actually says

“A notice which provides multiple potential or alternative errors which may be applicable to the return shall not be sufficiently specific for purposes of clause (i)(II); however, if multiple specific errors apply to the return all such errors should be listed.”

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require additional information on math and clerical error notices, Sec. 2
That sentence, in plain words

The letter must not give a list of mistakes you might have made. But if you made more than one, all of them should be listed.

What this is about

The rule is about which mistakes the letter names. It must name the ones that apply.

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How to cite this
  1. The document itself

    Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act, Public Law 119-39, sec. 2, 139 Stat. 659 (2025).
    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ39/html/PLAW-119publ39.htm

  2. This page

    “A notice listing potential or alternative errors is not specific enough,” Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act, section 2, Sec. 2. Read the Mandate, https://readthemandate.org/internal-revenue-service-math-taxpayer-help-act/proposal/sec02-no-lists-of-potential-errors/ (retrieved October 10, 2026).

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