IRS Wage Garnishment and IRS Wage Levy
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Before the IRS can garnish or levy the wages or paycheck of a taxpayer, they must first notify the taxpayer of such action by sending the taxpayer several IRS letters. Those IRS letters are referred to as the IRS Notice of Intent to Levy Wages and the IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy Wages. If you have received one of these IRS letters, contact us quickly so that we can take action on getting the IRS wage garnishment and IRS wage levy stopped or released. The sooner you take action after receiving the IRS letter, the easier it is to get the IRS wage garnishment and IRS wage levy resolved for you.
Typically, the IRS will send the IRS Notice of Intent to Levy Wages to the taxpayer first in an IRS certified letter. The IRS Notice of Intent to Levy Wages is the first of two IRS letters that the taxpayer will receive prior to having their wages or paycheck garnished by the IRS. If the taxpayer does not take action on the first letter, the IRS will follow up with a second IRS letter which is the IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy Wages. This letter requires quick action by you because it is the final notice before the IRS will garnish your paycheck. This IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy Wages notification has a mechanism in it that allows the IRS wage garnishment or IRS wage levy to be halted. However, there is a tight deadline associated with the action so a taxpayer who receives this final notice letter can not delay taking action. Otherwise the IRS will certainly garnish your paycheck.
Many taxpayers ignore the letters sent to them by the IRS notifying them of the IRS wage garnishment or IRS wage levy. Unfortunately, when these IRS letters are ignored and no action is taken after receiving them, the taxpayer finds out that their paycheck or wages will be garnished by the IRS directly from their employer. When the matter reaches this point, the taxpayer is only a few days away from having their wages or paycheck seized by the IRS. If an employer notifies you that they have received a wage garnishment from the IRS, it is important to get a copy of the IRS wage levy from the employer so that you can fill out the forms in an effort to reduce the amount of money that the IRS will garnish from your paycheck.
The good news is that an IRS wage garnishment or IRS wage levy can be stopped or lifted if it happens. It isn’t automatic and it requires some work, but it can be done if action is taken by the taxpayer. One of the biggest obstacles to getting an IRS wage garnishment or IRS wage levy stopped is having un-filed tax returns. The IRS mandates that taxpayers be in tax compliance with their tax returns before they will consider lifting the IRS wage garnishment or IRS wage levy. Tax returns need to be up to date for all un-filed tax years.
In the unfortunate event that the IRS wage garnishment reaches your employer before it can be stopped, you should most certainly fill out the IRS wage garnishment form that your employer is required to give you. If a taxpayer does not fill out the IRS wage garnishment form, then the IRS will take a larger portion of your paycheck. The form follows a garnishment scale so a taxpayer with a spouse or dependants will have less money garnished from their paycheck than a single person who does not have a spouse or dependants. Frequently, the amount of money that the IRS can take from an employee’s paycheck with the IRS wage garnishment can be up to two-thirds of the paycheck. Having your wages garnished by the IRS can cause a financial hardship for you, so contact a tax professional to help you avoid the problem or to help resolve it for you if the garnishment or levy is already in motion.