IRS Garnishment – How To Stop It And Get IRS Debt Relief Today
IRS garnishment is an aggressive tactic employed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect payment of back taxes. It is also called the IRS levy. If you owe taxes and did not request for a Collection Due Process Hearing within 30 days after receiving “Final Notice of Intent to Levy” from the IRS, chances are you may be facing IRS wage garnishment.
The IRS would send an order directly to your employer, who is required by law to withhold a large percentage of each paycheck until your back tax is cleared. Your employer really doesn’t have a choice.
If they refuse the wage garnishment, they will be held personally liable by the IRS. The garnishment is continuous and will only end when the IRS releases the levy.
This is definitely a terrible situation as you will never see that money ever again.
The amount of money the IRS deducts is based on a formula. They are supposed to leave you enough to live on.
But in general you can expect to lose 80-85% of your paycheck to the IRS garnishment. Imagine you normally bring home $2,000 every 2 weeks and all of the sudden it becomes $400. That’s pretty dramatic and would certainly put you in a very bad shape financially.
So what can you do to stop the IRS wage garnishment?
There are a few things you can do to get the IRS to release the levy:
1. Work out a payment plan with the IRS. The IRS will no longer garnish your wages once you have reached a payment arrangement with them. If you can afford to pay your back taxes in installments, this would be a good option.
2. You can get the levy released if you can prove to the IRS that the garnishment is causing you an economic hardship. However, in realty this may proven to be much harder than it seems. You must provide ample documentation and convincing evidence that shows if they continue to garnish your wages you will not be able to pay for basic needs such as food, utilities, and basic clothing, etc.
3. Statute of limitation. The IRS has 10 years to collect on your tax debt. The IRS has to stop wage garnishment once the 10 years end. Of course the IRS will not automatically release the levy. It would be your job to check on the status to make sure they do pass the 10 year limitation.
Most people are intimated by the IRS and do not know it’s often possible to reach an IRS debt settlement for much less than what is owed.
But you must know how to negotiate with the IRS. It’s better to work with a tax attorney or tax professionals who are experts in IRS garnishment or IRS tax settlement. It could make a big difference between stopping the IRS levy or no debt relief at all.
When choosing a tax lawyer to work with you will want to check their past success in dealing with the IRS. Also make sure they are knowledgeable about the latest changes in the tax law and IRS rules.
You can get a free initial consultation from a network of qualified tax attorneys. Discuss your particular IRS garnishment case with them and you will get a better idea on what to do and what the expected outcome would be. Then you can decide if you want to hire the lawyer to represent you.
Click here to access the tax attorney network for a free, no obligation initial consultation.
