IRS Transcript Codes

Is Code 570 an Audit? What the Hold on Your IRS Transcript Really Means (2026)

By Angeline Balsitis, EA · Reviewed by Melissa Ly, Chief Tax Officer · Published November 6, 2025 · Updated July 7, 2026 · Editorial Standards

You've been refreshing your transcript for days, the refund tracker still says "processing," and now there's a line reading 570 — Additional account action pending — $0.00 with no explanation attached. Your mind jumps straight to audit. The transcript itself can tell you whether that fear is real — and for the vast majority of people, it isn't.

This guide shows you how to read the lines around your 570, which codes actually mean an exam, and what to do when the hold is tied to something bigger — like income the IRS knows about from years you never filed. The image below shows you exactly where a 570 sits on a real account transcript and which nearby lines to check first.

Is code 570 an audit — or just a hold?

Code 570 is a hold, not an audit — it stops a refund or credit from releasing while the IRS checks something on your account. On the transcript's ledger, your return posts as code 150, your withholding posts as code 806, and the 570 sits below them like a hand pressed on the "pay out" button.

An audit leaves a completely different fingerprint. Codes 420 and 424 are the transcript's actual audit codes — code 424 means your return was pulled for possible examination, and code 420 means an exam is open or opening. Neither posts automatically with a 570.

The confusion is understandable: both a 570 and an audit involve the IRS "looking at" your return. The difference is scope. A 570 is usually a system-level verification — matching your numbers against payer records, checking a credit, or confirming identity. An audit is a formal examination with legal procedures, document requests, and appeal rights. One is a speed bump; the other is a process.

Can a 570 become audit territory? Occasionally, yes — if the review finds something the system can't reconcile, the account can be referred to exam or the underreporter unit. You'd see that referral as a 424, a 420, or a code 922 posting later. Until one of those appears, you're dealing with a hold, not an investigation.

Why code 570 posted to your transcript

A code 570 posts when an IRS system needs to verify something before releasing money — and the trigger list is long. The single most common trigger is a mismatch between what you reported and what employers, banks, and payment platforms reported about you.

The usual causes, roughly in order of frequency:

• Withholding or income mismatch. The withholding on your return (code 806) or the income you reported doesn't line up with the W-2s, 1099-NECs, and 1099-Ks in the IRS's files. Even a payer's late or corrected form can trip this.
• Refundable credit verification. Returns claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit, or premium tax credit get extra screening before the money goes out. A CP05 notice or 4464C letter often accompanies this kind of hold.
• Identity or return-integrity screening. If filters flag the return as possibly not yours, the hold sits until identity is confirmed — sometimes escalating to a hard freeze (more on code 810 refund freeze below).
• Unfiled prior years. The IRS will hold a current-year refund while it looks at years you never filed, often paired with a CP63 notice. It won't pay you with your left hand while its right hand shows potential balances due.
• Account housekeeping. A duplicate filing, a pending amended return, an injured-spouse allocation, or a payment posted to the wrong year can all park a 570 on the module while a human sorts it out.

Gig workers get hit disproportionately by the first and fourth causes. Platforms report your gross receipts on 1099-Ks and 1099-NECs — before mileage, fees, or any expense — so the IRS's picture of your income is always bigger than your actual profit. And if some years never got filed at all, the system sees exactly the combination it's built to hold: a refund request sitting on top of unexplained income. For the full line-by-line anatomy of the code, see our guide to code 570 on your IRS transcript; for how the whole document fits together, start with how to read an IRS account transcript.

Code 570 vs. the real audit codes: 420, 424, and 1242

Three transcript markers actually signal examination activity — and code 570 isn't one of them. A 570 can coexist with an audit, but it does not create one. Here's the side-by-side most transcript watchers are really looking for:

One important pairing: a 570 followed by a 971 on the next line is the most common combination on held accounts, and it means a specific letter is about to tell you what the IRS wants. We cover that pattern — including which order the codes appear in and why it matters — in 570 and 971 codes on transcript.

What happens if you ignore a code 570 hold

A code 570 never escalates to garnishment or levy by itself — but ignoring what's underneath it can cost you the refund and much more. The sequence when you do nothing runs in stages, not on a fixed calendar:

1. The hold sits. Your refund stays frozen. Nothing is collected from you, but nothing releases either — and the IRS is under no obligation to hurry.
2. A 971 posts and a letter goes out. That letter (CP05, 4464C, CP63, or similar) carries the only real deadline in this process. Miss it, and the review resolves without your input — usually against you.
3. The review deepens. If the IRS can't verify what it needs, the 570 can be joined by an 810 freeze, referred to exam (424, then 420), or routed to the underreporter unit (922). This is the exact point where "not an audit" can become one.
4. Unfiled years catch up. With missing returns on file, the IRS can build substitute-for-return assessments on your gross 1099 income — zero deductions, zero mileage — then issue a CP3219N notice of deficiency, assess the tax, and start collection. Our guide to what happens when the IRS filed a substitute return covers that path in full.
5. Adjustments replace the refund. If the review changes your return, a code 290 posts additional tax, your refund shrinks or disappears, and a balance-due notice may follow.
6. Old refunds expire. You generally have three years from a return's due date to claim its refund. Sit on unfiled years long enough and any money the IRS owed you is gone permanently — see the 3-year refund deadline for old returns.

One 2026 reality worth naming: the IRS workforce is down roughly 27% after the 2025 cuts, so the humans who resolve holds are scarcer — but the automated systems that place holds, build substitute returns, and send notices never slowed down. Waiting doesn't run out the clock; it just leaves the machine unopposed.

What posts after a 570: release or escalation

Every code 570 eventually resolves one of two ways — a release code frees the refund, or a follow-on code deepens the review. Since you're likely checking your transcript weekly anyway, here's what each possible next line means:

Your options — while the hold sits, and if it ends with a balance

What you can do about a code 570 depends on which trigger caused it, and whether the review ends with a refund or a bill. While the hold is active, your levers are limited but real:

• Answer any letter immediately and completely. A documented response by the printed date is the single fastest release path for holds that need input from you.
• Verify identity the moment you're asked. Identity holds cannot resolve without you, and every week of delay is a week of frozen refund.
• File anything missing. A hold tied to unfiled years typically will not release until the returns are in — and accurate returns almost always beat the IRS's deduction-free estimates.
• Escalate genuine hardship. If the frozen refund means you can't cover rent, utilities, or medication, the Taxpayer Advocate Service can intervene in hardship cases the normal queue won't prioritize.

If the review ends with a balance instead of a refund — common when unfiled years or underreported 1099 income sit underneath the hold — the resolution menu depends mostly on how much you owe. The $50,000 line matters most: below it, you can usually set up a payment plan online without handing over full financials.

A worked example: three unfiled years, a frozen refund, and $48,300

Say you've driven and delivered on 1099s since 2022 and never filed, then filed your 2025 return in February expecting a $4,100 refund. Your transcript shows a 150, an 806 — and a 570 that won't budge. The IRS's wage-and-income files show your gross platform receipts for 2022–2024, and its math on that gross income — no mileage, no fees, no expenses — pencils out to $48,300 in unpaid tax across the three years.

Here's what that number does if you keep waiting. The failure-to-file penalty runs 5% per month and caps at 25% — up to roughly $12,075 on a $48,300 base — plus the 0.5%-per-month failure-to-pay penalty and daily-compounding interest on top. You can estimate your own exposure with our IRS penalty and interest calculator.

Here's what it does if you act. Filing real Schedule C returns with mileage and expenses usually cuts the tax itself well below the IRS's deduction-free estimate. Even if the final balance landed near $48,300, that's under the $50,000 streamlined line — roughly $671 a month over 72 months ($48,300 ÷ 72), set up online, while interest continues to accrue. Expect the frozen $4,100 refund to be applied against the oldest balance rather than paid out — annoying, but it's $4,100 you no longer owe. The step-by-step catch-up playbook is in haven't filed taxes in 3 years.

How to respond to code 570, step by step

The right response to a code 570 is the same in every scenario: read the whole transcript first, then act on what it actually shows. The notice date — not any date on the transcript — is the only deadline in this process.

1. Pull every transcript. Download the account transcript for the frozen year and wage-and-income transcripts for every year you haven't filed — the hold rarely makes sense from one document alone.
2. Scan for the codes that change the answer. A 420, 424, or 810 near your 570 moves you from "routine hold" to "act now," and a 971 means a letter is on its way.
3. Match the hold to a cause. Compare the withholding and income on your return against your actual W-2s and 1099s — a mismatch is the most common 570 trigger.
4. Respond to any letter by its printed date. The notice date — not any date on the transcript — is the only deadline in this process.
5. File every missing return. A hold tied to unfiled years will not release until the IRS has your returns, and filing stops the 5%-per-month late-filing penalty from growing.
6. Get a transcript review if the stack is complicated. A 570 sitting on unfiled years, an 810, or exam codes is worth an experienced tax professional's eyes before you spend hours on hold with the IRS.

When you can handle a code 570 yourself — and when help changes the outcome

Most standalone code 570 holds resolve without professional help, and you shouldn't pay anyone to wait alongside you. Handle it yourself when:

• The 570 stands alone — no 971, no 810, no exam codes — and your return's numbers match your actual forms. Check weekly and let it clear to a 571.
• A letter arrives asking for simple documentation (pay stubs, a W-2, proof of a dependent). Send exactly what it asks for, by the date, and keep copies.
• The hold is an identity check. Verify online or by the method the letter specifies — no one can do that step for you anyway.

Experienced help changes outcomes in a different set of situations: a 570 paired with an 810, a 424, or a 420; multiple unfiled years with large gross 1099 income behind the hold; a substitute return the IRS has already built or assessed; or a review heading toward a five-figure balance where the order of moves — file accurate returns first, address penalties second, then structure the balance — changes what you ultimately pay. In those cases the transcript is the map, and reading it wrong is expensive.

Terms on your transcript, decoded

The vocabulary around a code 570 confuses more people than the code itself. The five terms you're most likely staring at:

• Additional account action pending — the official description of code 570: something must be verified or processed before your refund releases.
• TC 571 / TC 572 — the release codes; 571 means the pending action resolved, 572 means it was reversed. Either one unfreezes the account.
• "As of" date — the date the IRS uses to compute interest and penalties on the account; it is not a deadline and not your refund date.
• Refund freeze (810) — a harder stop than a 570, placed by a specialized unit, that requires action from you and a code 811 to lift.
• Substitute for return (SFR) — a return the IRS constructs for a year you didn't file, using gross reported income and no deductions, which becomes a legal assessment if unchallenged.

If your transcript stack looks like the worked example above — a 570 sitting on years that were never filed — a free review with an experienced tax professional at (888) 825-7779 can tell you in one conversation which returns to file first and how to get the hold released.

Code 570 questions, answered

Your next 24 hours

A code 570 rewards the people who act while everyone else refreshes. Three moves today put you ahead of the hold:

1. Check the three lines that matter. Pull your account transcript at IRS.gov's Get Transcript tool and look for a 971 under your 570, an 810 anywhere on the page, and any 420 or 424. Those three checks answer the audit question in two minutes.
2. Gather your paper. Any IRS letter you've received, every W-2 and 1099 for the frozen year, and a simple list of the years you haven't filed. If a balance ever results, payments and plans run through IRS.gov/payments — but the paperwork comes first.
3. Get your transcript reviewed free. If your 570 sits on unfiled years or is keeping company with freeze or exam codes, call (888) 825-7779 or use the 2-minute form at the free consultation page. Your refund stays frozen and late-filing penalties keep compounding while the stack goes unread — an experienced tax professional can read it in one sitting.

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice for your specific situation. Eligibility for IRS programs depends on individual facts and circumstances; no outcome is guaranteed.

Related: decoding the rest of your transcript? Browse every code in the IRS transcript codes decoder, or see all IRS Help Center guides.