Once your tax liability is determined, the Internal Revenue Service will deliver to you a notice or bill expressing that you owe unpaid tax liabilitys. A bill or notice will be distributed for each year that has a balance with an amount due. This notice will additionally demand for payment of the taxes that are due, within a short period. Beyond payment, the Internal Revenue Service will notify you that any states tax refund will be intercepted to satisfy the tax liability owed. Once this notice has been issued to you, the Internal Revenue Service can file a tax lien or levy if you neglect or fail to pay the tax liability timely.

A Notice of Federal Tax Lien is a document filed with the county office that declares what tax liability is payable by the taxpayer. Filing the Notice of Federal Tax Lien confirms first rights against other creditors to your property. A Lien will also secure that the Internal Revenue Service has legal right to any funds or value of your property and other assets. When Lien priority is established it will assist in the decision of who gets paid and in what order, upon the sale of an asset. The lien attaches to all assets owned including property, securities, and vehicles. Liens are something that can haunt your life and make it hard for you to be financially secured.  

A Tax Levy issued by the Internal Revenue Service is a legal seizure of your property or assets to satisfy your past due tax liabilitys. This action can be completed by a Revenue Officer or any other managerial representative in several of the IRS’ government entities. The most ordinary and easiest way that a levy will be delivered is to “freeze” all the money in your bank accounts. This is recognized as a bank levy. There are also additional avenues a levy can be issued and that is through seizure of your property or wage garnishment.

When the Internal Revenue Service files a Final Notice of Intent to Levy or Federal Tax Lien, you have the right to appeal this decision. Your appeal rights will be included with the notice. This notification is generally referred to as a CP504. The notice of intent to levy will also allow you a Right to a Hearing. This Hearing is identified as a Collection Due Process, or CDP.   To request an appeal, a Collection Due Process, Form 12153, must be filed timely. The standard time to file this request is within 30 days from the date that the notice was originated. If you do not agree with the levy or lien that has been issued against you then you will want to file a Collection Due Process Hearing request immediately. You have within 30 days of when your CP504 was received to file. Once they have recorded this request, you’ll be allowed time on the account to gather and present a plan of resolution. There are many collection alternatives that can be proposed rather than the lien or levy they are attempting to place against you. If no resolution is made, the IRS will obtain possession of all the funds being held by the levy. They will also proceed forward with collection actions and file a lien on your assets.

Determined by your overall financial situation and specific litigation with the Internal Revenue Service you may be able to utilize the countless alternatives of resolving your account.  To reconcile your account, all missing tax returns must be submitted. Quickest method to reconcile is by establishing an Installment Agreement. It is easiest to submit financials over the phone with the Internal Revenue Service. Sometimes, if the IRS considers that you can pay more than the amount that is suggested; they will conceivably reject your proposal. A popular tactic to release levy funds immediately would be to demonstrate that when the IRS confiscates the funds, it will generate your family into financial hardship. You will have to demonstrate that your incapable of paying for basic household expenses if there are no funds in your account. There is also an additional avenue to resolve the account through the Offer in Compromise program. The Offer in Compromise program gives you the opportunity to present a full financial analysis of your income, expenses, and assets. Determined by your ability to pay along with the value of the assets you own, an offered settlement amount is made to satisfy the outstanding tax liability. Generally, the settlement amount is significantly lower than the actual amount of liability that you owe to the Internal Revenue Service. In very rare situations there may also be a scenario where you are an innocent spouse. This indicates that you can be secondary on a Married Filing joint return and have no connection to the tax liability. The IRS has a five-day period to notify you with the Notice of Federal Tax Lien and Your Right to a Collection Due Process Hearing before the lien is filed. In our experience, there are plenty of times where the Internal Revenue Service fails to generate out a notice before placing the tax lien. If this happens to you, you can typically get the lien eliminated.  As you see, there are many factors that can take place which would prompt you to appeal the lien/levy filing decision.

If you received a Final Notice recently, you must contact the Internal Revenue Service to reconcile your account and attempt to release the lien/levy. The quicker you make direct contact with the Internal Revenue Service the easier it will be to prevent any proposed action. Having a tax expert on your side that understands your rights when it originates to the dos and don’ts of a lien filing/levy can benefit you in the future. With the help of a team comprised of expert tax professionals, such as Omni Tax Help, we can fight on your behalf to guarantee your money and assets from being seized. Do not wait until the last moment to address a Final Notice because with the help of a tax professional you may be able to successfully compel any proposed collection actions against you. It is best to consult a tax professional because reaching an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service, especially in a short period of time and while under pressure, can be extremely challenging. Omni Tax Help specializes in handling cases with the Office of Appeals. There is an extensive amount of time and documentation that will go alongside this type of request. Before you file the appeal request, be certain that you can sustain your argument against the tax periods in question. It is rare that an issue can be resolved with appeals based on giving verbal information alone. It is best to have a team of trained specialists with you to substantiate your argument with not only documents but with the law or authority in which your argument is based on. If you are unsuccessful in resolving your account with Appeals, then you will have one last option of taking your case before tax court. It is best that you resolve the case through filing a CDP and do not allow it to go to tax court.