We Can Help You By Resolving your Wage Levy, Garnishments and Other
Tax Problems
Garnishment, Wage Garnishment or Garnishment of Wages, Wage
Levy and Levies
A garnishment and
a levy are the same thing. The terms are used interchangeably
in respect to the seizure of assets by the IRS.
Assets subject to wage levies garnishment
Both are enforced collections of money owed. A wage garnishment or
levy may be against any asset. In the enforcement of tax collections. Most
commonly bank accounts and accrued salaries and wages are the targets of garnishments;
nevertheless, the term may be applied to the legal seizure of any asset including
furniture and fixtures, machinery, autos and boats or any other assets that
could be garnished. Tools of the trade are protected from garnishments up to
a value of $3,390. (If you own cows or chickens you can keep
up to $6,780!)
Your bank account is a prime target for garnishment
When your bank is account is subjected to levy, the I.R.S. may take whatever money it finds, regardless of where it comes from.
Funds in your bank account are said to be fungible; that is, they lose their character once deposited.
In general, payments received by you from a government agency cannot be garnished
at the source. The wages that cannot be garnished include Social Security and
Railroad Retirement benefits, Workers' Compensation, court ordered payments
you may receive for child support and alimony, military disability and some
other payments. Nevertheless, there are exceptions and tax agencies may levy
garnish at the source.
However, once those funds are deposited in your bank account, they lose their identity and can be seized by the I.R.S. by levy.
A wage
garnishment stays
in effect until the tax is paid in full or until the I.R.S. agrees to release
the levy.
Once a levy has been effected against your bank account, the I.R.S. cannot
garnish your bank account again without repeating the notification process.
This is not always true for state garnishments. Massachusetts, for one, issues
garnishments that are good for any funds deposited into the account over a
six month period.
So you should check with someone who is experienced in the wage garnishment
area if you are under garnishment from any state.
Where your accrued salary or wages is the target, the wage garnishment is
perpetual. Once the garnishment of wages is in place, it will stay in place
until the tax is totally paid or the wage garnishment is released for some
other reason.
Wage garnishment is a great tax problem and requires immediate action
Garnishment is a great tax problem and the threat of a garnishment
should be taken very seriously immediately. If you have received any document
from the I.R.S. that uses the word 'levy' or ‘garnishment’ you
should be aware that the agency is only days away from seizing your bank account
or paycheck or notifying your customers that they should pay the I.R.S. and
not you.
I.R.S. Publication 1494 lists the amounts that you may keep after a wage garnishment.
Go to the I.R.S. web site at www.IRS.gov,
type in 'Publication 1494' in the appropriate box and you will see the schedule.
If you are a single mother of two children claiming head of household status and being paid every two weeks, you will receive merely $632.69 or $16,500 on an annual basis! That amount is to pay the rent and feed and clothe yourself and your children!
Clearly, the threat of wage garnishment is to be taken very seriously, indeed.
Why did the I.R.S. garnish your wages or bank accounts?
There are several reasons why the I.R.S. or a state would seize your assets
through a garnishment.
Either you have not paid an outstanding tax obligation, you have not filed
all your tax returns or you have defaulted on child support or some other mandatory
obligation.
What can you do if the I.R.S. imposes a garnishment on your
bank accounts or your wages?
The first step to take when you receive an I.R.S. Notice of Intent to Levy
is to contact us at Tax Negotiators.
We will contact the tax agency to obtain its records of taxes owed and returns
required to be filed and income records of W2's and 1099's filed in your name.
The next thing is to file any delinquent
tax returns. If your records are missing or inadequate please refer to
the page herein that deals with that topic. But you must file all required
returns.
Then you are in a position to determine your tax liability for all years,
at which point you have five alternatives for getting a levy released: first,
pay the tax immediately; second, pay the tax in installments; third, submit
an Offer in
Compromise; fourth, get placed in non-collectible status or fifth and
last, enter bankruptcy.
Generally, the quickest way to get a garnishment removed is to pay the tax
or negotiate an installment plan, which for amounts less than $25,000 is fairly
easy to arrange. For an amount greater than $25,000, the I.R.S. will require
disclosure of your financial condition of Form 433 A, 433 B, or 433 F and that
process can be complicated and time consuming.
We can help get your levy garnishment released.
While we have attempted here to explain clearly and concisely the wage levy or wage garnishment process, we cannot set out all the fine points here. We at Tax Negotiators specialize in this area of tax administration and we encourage you to email us or call us at our toll free number for a free consultation on your garnishment problem.
Contact us for
a free consultation on dealing with wage garnishment or any other of your tax
problems. .
We suggest you do not represent yourself.
The I.R.S. is your adversary in these matters.
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