Michigan taxpayers deal with two agencies, not one, and they run on completely different clocks.
The IRS has ten years to collect. Michigan has a four-year assessment window, a seven-year renewable lien, its own offer-in-compromise program, and appeal deadlines measured in weeks. A federal resolution doesn’t affect a Michigan balance, and the mistake we see most often is a taxpayer who settled with the IRS and assumed Lansing came with it.
Levy & Associates has been headquartered in Michigan for decades, at 28400 Southfield Road in Lathrup Village, serving Oakland County and the Detroit metro. Our attorneys are licensed in Michigan. Our team also includes CPAs, accountants, Enrolled Agents, and former IRS Revenue Officers.
Our practice is civil tax matters only. Levy & Associates does not represent clients in criminal tax matters of any kind.
The Michigan Deadlines That Decide Your Case
This is the sequence almost nobody publishes, and missing any step in it costs appeal rights.
| Stage | What it is | Your window |
|---|---|---|
| Notice of Intent to Assess | Treasury’s proposed assessment | 60 days to request an informal conference with the Hearings Division, on Form 5713 |
| Informal conference | An administrative hearing before a Treasury referee under MCL 205.21 | Held on request. Settlement offers are available within the process |
| Decision and Order of Determination | The referee’s outcome | Where the adjustment stands, a Final Assessment follows |
| Final Assessment | Treasury’s bill | 60 days to appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal, or 90 days to the Court of Claims, under MCL 205.22 |
Three things about that table matter more than the rest of this page.
You can skip the informal conference and appeal straight to the Tribunal or the Court of Claims. Whether that is smart depends on the facts. It should be a decision, not something that happens because the first deadline passed.
The uncontested portion has to be paid before you can appeal the contested portion. MCL 205.22 requires it. Taxpayers often discover this when they file.
Michigan Tax Tribunal or the Court of Claims is a real choice. The Tribunal’s Small Claims Division handles non-property disputes up to a statutory limit with far less procedure. The Entire Tribunal handles larger matters and preserves a record. The Court of Claims is a different forum with different rules. More on our Michigan Tax Tribunal page.
How Long Michigan Can Come After You
| Matter | Period | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment | Generally 4 years | MCL 205.27a |
| State tax lien | 7 years from attachment, renewable for another 7 | MCL 205.29 |
| Federal collection, for comparison | 10 years from assessment | IRC 6502 |
The lien structure is where people get caught. Michigan’s lien doesn’t count down and expire like the federal collection statute. It attaches, it runs seven years, and Treasury can renew it. Treating a Michigan lien like a federal one that will eventually lapse is a planning error with a fourteen-year tail.
Our guides on how long a Michigan tax lien stays on your property and the federal ten-year collection statute cover both clocks in detail.
Michigan Runs Its Own Offer in Compromise Program
Separate statute, separate grounds, separate application. A federal offer in compromise does not resolve a Michigan liability, and an accepted federal offer does not obligate Treasury to do anything.
That cuts both ways. A taxpayer who doesn’t qualify federally may still have a Michigan path, and one who settled federally may still have a Michigan balance accruing. Both situations are common, and both are missed by firms that only look at the IRS side. See our Michigan offer in compromise guide, and our federal offer in compromise page for the IRS program.
The Michigan Numbers
| Rate | |
|---|---|
| Individual income tax | 4.25 percent, flat, for 2026 |
| Sales tax | 6 percent, with no local add-on |
On the income tax rate: it was 4.05 percent for tax year 2023 only, under a statutory formula triggered by a revenue surplus, and it reverted to 4.25 percent for 2024 onward. If you have seen 4.05 percent quoted recently, it is out of date. The formula can trigger again, so the rate is worth re-checking each January at michigan.gov/treasury.
The absence of a local income tax add-on to the state sales tax does not mean Michigan has no local income tax. Detroit and several other Michigan cities levy their own income tax, administered separately, with their own notices and appeal deadlines. A Detroit city income tax assessment is not a state assessment, and the timelines differ. If your notice came from a city rather than from Lansing, that changes the analysis.
What We Handle for Michigan Clients
Michigan Department of Treasury matters. Assessments, informal conferences, Tax Tribunal appeals, the Michigan offer in compromise program, Collection Services Bureau negotiations, sales and use tax, and withholding.
Federal IRS matters. Unfiled and back tax returns, installment agreements, offers in compromise, penalty abatement, liens, levies, wage garnishment release, and examinations.
Business tax. Payroll and withholding, sales and use tax, the Michigan flow-through entity tax, and accounting and bookkeeping where the records need rebuilding before anything else can happen.
Where both are running at once. Most Michigan cases involve a real balance, because Treasury and the IRS frequently work the same taxpayer independently, and neither waits for the other.
Some of our staff spent years as former IRS Revenue Officers, which matters when the question is what a collections unit will actually approve rather than what should theoretically work.
The Payroll Tax Problem, Which Is Worse in a Business State
If your Michigan business is behind on payroll taxes, that is the most urgent item on this page.
Withheld income tax and the employee share of Social Security and Medicare are held in trust. Under IRC 6672, the IRS can assess 100 percent of the unpaid trust fund portion personally against any individual it determines was responsible and willful. Not the company. The person. It survives dissolving the business and is generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Michigan has its own withholding obligations that run in parallel, and closing a Michigan business does not extinguish the liability. Our guides on the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty in Michigan and closing a Michigan business with tax debt cover it.
Where We Practice
Our office is at 28400 Southfield Road, Lathrup Village, MI 48076, off the I-696 corridor and minutes from Southfield, Birmingham, Royal Oak, Troy, and Farmington Hills. You can reach the team directly through our Lathrup Village office page.
Michigan matters go through Treasury in Lansing and the Michigan Tax Tribunal, regardless of county, and federal matters go through the IRS and, when litigation arises, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit. Most of the work happens by secure document exchange, phone, and video, so we represent taxpayers across Michigan, including Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, and the Upper Peninsula, without requiring you to drive to Oakland County.
Michigan Tax Guides
- Navigating an IRS or state audit in Michigan
- Understanding the Michigan Tax Tribunal
- How long a Michigan tax lien stays on your property
- Trust Fund Recovery Penalty in Michigan
- The IRS ten-year collection statute, explained for Michigan taxpayers
- Michigan retirement income deduction
- Michigan flow-through entity tax under the OBBBA
- IRS audit representation in Michigan
- ERC audits for Michigan businesses
Frequently Asked Questions
I settled with the IRS. Does that resolve my Michigan tax debt?
No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding in Michigan practice. The IRS and the Michigan Department of Treasury are separate agencies with separate statutes, separate collection powers, and separate settlement programs. Michigan operates its own offer in compromise program with its own grounds and its own application, and an accepted federal offer does not obligate Treasury to do anything. The reverse is also true: a taxpayer who does not qualify federally may still have a Michigan path. If you have a balance with both, you need to work them in parallel, because neither agency waits for the other.
How long does Michigan have to come after me, and is it ten years like the IRS?
No. Michigan generally has four years to assess under MCL 205.27a, which is shorter than the federal window. But Michigan’s collection tool is the state tax lien under MCL 205.29, which attaches and remains enforceable for seven years and is renewable for another seven. That is a fundamentally different structure from the federal ten-year Collection Statute Expiration Date under IRC 6502, which runs down and expires. Treating a Michigan lien as something that will lapse on its own is a planning error with a potential fourteen-year tail.
I received a Notice of Intent to Assess from Michigan Treasury. What is my deadline?
Sixty days from the notice to request an informal conference with the Treasury Hearings Division, using Form 5713. The conference is an administrative hearing before a referee, and you can make settlement offers during it. It produces a Decision and Order of Determination and, where the adjustment stands, a Final Assessment. From the Final Assessment, you then have 60 days to appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal or 90 days to file in the Court of Claims under MCL 205.22. You can also skip the informal conference and appeal directly, though that should be a considered decision. One trap to know about: the uncontested portion of the assessment has to be paid before you can appeal the contested portion.
What is Michigan’s income tax rate, and was it not lower recently?
Michigan’s individual income tax is a flat 4.25 percent for 2026. It was 4.05 percent only for tax year 2023, reduced by a statutory formula triggered by a revenue surplus, and it reverted to 4.25 percent for 2024 onward. Anything you read quoting 4.05 percent as current is out of date. The formula can trigger again in a future year, so the rate is worth confirming each January. Michigan’s sales tax is 6 percent with no local add-on, though several Michigan cities, including Detroit, levy their own separate income tax with their own notices and appeal deadlines.
Do I need a Michigan-licensed attorney, or will any tax professional do?
It depends on which agency you are dealing with. Representation before the IRS follows Treasury Department Circular 230, which gives attorneys, CPAs, and Enrolled Agents identical unlimited practice rights in any state, regardless of where they are admitted. For Michigan Department of Treasury matters, informal conferences, and proceedings before the Michigan Tax Tribunal, Michigan and the Tribunal set the rules, and Michigan-admitted counsel matters in a way it does not federally. Our attorneys are licensed in Michigan, so we handle both sides here rather than referring the state half out.
Talk to a Michigan Tax Attorney
If you have a notice from Michigan Treasury, a balance with the IRS, or both, the useful first step is establishing your dates. Michigan deadlines run in 60- and 90-day windows, and they are unforgiving.
Our team includes Michigan-licensed attorneys, CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and former IRS Revenue Officers.
Call 248-557-4048 for a confidential conversation or contact us online.