IRS notice guide

IRS Letter 2205: an examiner wants to schedule your audit

Written by CompDefend. Founded by Umair Nazir, EA — Enrolled Agent, federally licensed to practice before the IRS. Last updated 2026-08-23.

Letter 2205 is the IRS's initial contact letter for a field examination. A revenue agent has been assigned to your return and is asking you to call and schedule the first appointment. It is not a bill and it proposes no change to your tax. What it does is start an in-person audit, and the letter itself names the examiner to call and the date to call by.

What Letter 2205 is

The IRS runs three kinds of examinations: by mail (a correspondence exam, which usually begins with a Letter 566), in an IRS office (an office exam, handled by a tax compliance officer), and in the field (a field exam, handled by a revenue agent). Letter 2205 belongs to the third group. Under IRM 4.10.2, the manual that governs examiners, a revenue agent must open a field examination with a letter asking the taxpayer to call and schedule the initial appointment, and for most returns that letter is a 2205 or 2205-A. The IRS never initiates an audit by telephone; first contact must be by mail.

Why your return was selected

Selection is not an accusation. The IRS selects returns several ways — computer scoring, matching against information returns, related examinations, and random selection among them — and Publication 1, enclosed with the letter, describes those methods. If you ask why your return was picked, the manual instructs the examiner to answer as accurately as possible without revealing restricted information. A field examination does signal one thing: the IRS assigned an in-person examination to the return, with books and records to inspect. The examiner must also tell you the exam may be expanded to other issues or years. For an S corporation, owner compensation may be one of the issues reviewed alongside the income tax return.

How serious it is

A field examination is the most detailed audit the IRS conducts. The examiner will want to understand the business history and accounting system, see how the books tie to the return, and may tour the premises. Nothing has been assessed yet — no tax, penalty or interest is owed because of this letter — and examinations end one of three ways: no change, agreed changes, or disagreed changes with appeal rights. The risk is not the letter. The risk is arriving at the first appointment with records that do not reconcile.

The deadline: what the IRS actually states

Letter 2205 asks you to call by a date printed on the letter. No statute or regulation sets a universal day-count for responding. What the manual states is the examiner's side of the timing: allow the taxpayer 14 calendar days to respond, including mailing time, before initiating phone contact. Some sites claim you must respond within 7 days. No IRS page or IRM section we reviewed says that. The letter controls, and the 14-day allowance is the IRS's internal follow-up trigger, not a forfeiture date. One related rule works in your favor: if you say on the first call that you intend to hire a representative, the manual requires the examiner to allow at least 10 business days to secure one and tells them not to ask substantive questions on that call.

What to gather before you call

What happens next, step by step

Your rights during a field examination

• Representation. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights includes the right to retain an authorized representative. A Form 2848 power of attorney lets a CPA, EA or attorney speak and act for you; a Form 8821 only lets someone receive information. The examiner will schedule with a representative on either form, but only a 2848 holder can represent you.
• Recording. Publication 556 confirms you may make an audio recording of the examination interview if you request it in writing, notify the examiner 10 days in advance, and bring your own equipment.
• Place of examination. Under 26 CFR 301.7605-1(d)(3)(ii), if you represent in writing that holding the exam at your place of business would essentially require the business to close or would unduly disrupt operations, the IRS, after verifying, will move it to an IRS office. Your representative's office in your local commuting area is another accepted location.
• Rescheduling. The examiner may grant one reschedule of the initial appointment for a valid reason; further requests need a manager's approval. Repeated delay invites summons consideration, so ask once, with a reason.
• An explanation. Ask the examiner to identify the issues on the first call, especially if your letter is a plain 2205 that does not list them, and write the answer down.

What a field exam actually tests: the process behind the return

Three different things get tested in a field examination. First, legal requirements — did the business file what the law required, pay what it owed, and deposit payroll taxes when due. Second, substantiation — can the numbers on the return be traced to records the examiner accepts, which is what the IDRs probe. Third, defensibility controls — practices no statute requires, like a written owner-compensation analysis or a monthly bank reconciliation, that make the first two easy to prove. Examiners do not grade you on the third layer. They notice its absence immediately, because a business without those controls produces records that do not tie.

Examples of weaknesses a business field exam can expose include a ledger cleaned up for the return rather than kept through the year; owner draws labeled as loans with no note or repayment; S-corporation distributions with little salary and nothing explaining the split; contractors paid without a W-9 on file; deposits that do not match the payroll deposit schedule; and a business that has never looked at its own IRS account. Each is easier to repair before an examiner sees it. A document that did not exist before an IDR cannot be recreated as contemporaneous evidence afterward. That is why business tax defensibility is built in advance, not argued on the day.

When to involve a CPA, EA or attorney

For a field examination of a business return, consider representation before the first call. A representative holding Form 2848 can take the initial conversation, receive the Form 4564, organize the response and attend the interview, and the manual protects your time to hire one. Consult a tax attorney when the facts raise possible intent, fraud, privilege, or unreported-income concerns; otherwise a CPA or enrolled agent may be appropriate. If you received a Letter 2205-D, the partnership representative designated on the return is who the IRS will deal with; confirm that designation before the Notice of Administrative Proceeding narrows the partnership's options.