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Code 520: irs litigation instituted.

From IRS Document 6209, the IRS's processing codes manual.

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This code is rare on refund timelines. The IRS's own description is on the right.

Document 6209 says

Used on individual (IMF) accounts.

IRS Litigation Instituted
The full Document 6209 entry, as printed
I/B IRS Litigation Instituted 77 or Generated Transaction Freeze is released by TC 521 or 522. Some CCs suspend CSED. See Section 11.8(8). For IMF only an optional CSED TIN indicator (P) Primary, (S) Secondary or (B) Both can be used to identify which taxpayer the extension applies to. (See Section 11 for appropriate closing codes)

After code 520

Not enough shared timelines with this code yet. The block fills in once 30 people with code 520 share theirs from the result page.

Crowd figures, not IRS data. They describe what happened to others, not a promise.

Questions people ask

What does code 520 mean on my IRS transcript?

Document 6209 calls it "IRS Litigation Instituted".

Sources

Checked against these sources on October 30, 2026.