What is IRS Wage Garnishment?
IRS wage garnishment occurs when you owe taxes and the IRS is no longer willing to wait to collect them. The IRS will deduct the taxes you owe from your paycheck, usually between 30 and 70 percent.
First, the IRS is going to send you a notice of past due taxes and a demand that you pay them with 10 to 30 days. If you fail to pay the taxes, you should contact the IRS to arrange a payment plan. If don’t contact the IRS or pay the taxes, the IRS will send a “Final Notice” of intent to levy and a notice of your right to a hearing on the issue. Thirty days after this notice, the IRS will move forward with the wage garnishment.
Employers have no choice but to comply with IRS salary garnishment notices. Your payroll department cannot help you with this problem and can’t offer any relief. Unfortunately, when the IRS takes your wages, they like to take most of the money, leaving you little to survive on. If you don’t hire a wage garnishment professional to take the proper steps to stop wage garnishment, your employer must continue to garnish your wages until your debt is paid in full.
Professionals dealing with IRS garnishment can get you back in compliance with the requirement to file your back tax returns and negotiate a release of your wages from levy. Even if you have broken previous IRS payment plans a reduction of the garnishment percentage can be negotiated.
In addition to wage garnishment, the IRS can:
- Levy your bank account
- Ruin your credit
- Seize your house
- Keep all future tax returns until your tax bill is paid
- Put you in jail
Provided below are some of the grounds in which a tax professional can help you appeal a wage garnishment :
1. All taxes owed have been paid prior to the IRS sending the notice of levy.
2. If the IRS has assessed the tax and sent the notice of levy when the taxpayer was in bankruptcy, the wage garnishment is subject to an automatic stay during bankruptcy proceedings.
3. A procedural error on the part of the IRS was made during the assessment.
4. The statute of limitations (i.e. the time for the IRS to collect the tax) expired prior to the IRS sending the notice of levy.
5. No opportunity was afforded the taxpayer to dispute the assessed liability.
6. The taxpayer makes a request to discuss collection options.
7. An innocent spousal relief claim is made by the taxpayer.
While, by all means, you can negotiate the wage garnisment on your own, it’s probably not the best idea. Everything you say can be used against you and the IRS agents are very good at interrogating taxpayers. With the help of an IRS wage garnishment lawyer, you are guaranteed the best results.
