IRS wage garnishment and IRS bank levies are the severe consequences of one's failure to pay delinquent tax debts. The Internal Revenue Service will always make several attempts to contact a delinquent taxpayer in order to collect the debt before they take money straight from a paycheck or bank account. They will have no problem following through, however, when an individual neglects or refuses to arrange some sort of IRS payment plan. If the Internal Revenue Service levies an individual's wages, salary or federal payments, the IRS wage garnishment will not end until the levy is released, the individual pays their tax debt, or the time expires for legally collecting the tax. In the case of IRS bank levies, the bank must hold funds up to the amount they owe that the individual has on deposit for 21 days. At this point, the bank is required to send the allotted amount of money plus any applicable interest to the Internal Revenue Service. IRS wage garnishment and IRS bank levies are serious business, and the government will not be concerned about leaving enough money in a bank account or paycheck for the individual to live off of. They are trying to get the delinquent taxpayer's attention and force them to set up some sort of IRS payment plan or other arrangement. The government must issue a Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing, however, before they enforce any IRS bank levies. If a delinquent taxpayer does not set up an IRS payment plan or make some other sort of arrangement such as a Request for Collection Due Process Hearing within 30 days of the date of the letter, the Internal Revenue Service can begin levy action after the 30th day. This is an important letter, and it's really always preferable to take action before receiving it. There are IRS tax relief professionals who specialize in such issues, however, and they can help arrange an appropriate plan.
There are at least two methods of removing an IRS wage garnishment. One is to make an arrangement with the IRS. You can do this yourself through the use of an offer in compromise. Or, you can hire a tax attorney to negotiate an arrangement with the IRS on your behalf. Another method is to do a fair amount of research into your case, and others like it, to find instances where the IRS has violated proper procedure in their dealings with you.
The tax law is very complex. It is highly likely that you do not know every detail contained in the thousands of pages of tax law. Believe it or not, neither does the IRS agent. They very often violate their own rules. This is so common that it would be laughable if it wasn't such a serious matter. Nonetheless, with some research and investigating, you'll likely find an instance where the IRS has erred in their actions. When you find an error that they have made, you have what you need to get the IRS wage garnishment removed.
There are many cases where people tried to sue the IRS under all kinds of different theories. The courts continually dismiss those cases. The solution to not having your case dismissed is found in 26 USC ? 7433 and 26 USC ? 7432. In 1988, the United States waived sovereign immunity in 26 USC ? 7433 and made it possible for someone to sue the U.S. when IRS agents fail to follow the statues or the regulations while they are involved in tax collection activity. Section 7432 made it possible to sue when the IRS refuses to remove a lien that is legally unenforceable.
If you intend to sue the IRS you are required to send a letter noticing the U.S. of your intent to sue as required by the statute to obtain the waiver of sovereign Immunity. Without the waiver of sovereign immunity, your case will automatically be dismissed.
Now, once you are aware of this little-known fact, it changes the way that you can approach the IRS. Most people do not know of this requirement. And the IRS knows that most people don't know of it. When someone who has been wronged by the IRS threatens to sue them, the IRS can basically chuckle and think to themselves "Go ahead, your case will only get dismissed from court anyway. You're wasting your time and money."
However, by knowing this fact, you can send a letter to the Technical Compliance Officer as required to obtain the waiver of sovereign Immunity. By doing so, your case becomes credible, and the IRS will take you seriously. Your case may have merit. You may actually win a court judgment against the IRS.
Just as court cases are expensive and a big hassle for you, they are the same for the IRS. The IRS wants to avoid all of the effort and time that is required to try a case in court (unless of course, your case is high-profile and the sums of money involved reach into the millions of dollars.)
The Technical Compliance Officer has 3 things in mind when receiving your letter: 1) The federal courts are overloaded with cases; 2) The U.S. Attorney's office is overloaded with cases; 3) Congressmen and Senators enacted legislation so they would have to deal with fewer constituents that had complaints about the IRS.
Here comes your credible threat to sue in the form of a letter in compliance with the statute. The Technical Compliance Officer reads down through it and asks himself, what would make more sense, have a lawsuit, or make the issue go away? The next thing you find is that the IRS releases the wage garnishment.
There is no perfect argument is to get every instance of an IRS wage garnishment removed. You will have to find some error or some mistake that the IRS made where they failed to follow the regulation or the statute; or, they wrongly interpreted the statute or the reg. You then take your arguments of why the wage garnishment is invalid, put them in the form of a notice of intent to sue, and you send it to the Technical Compliance Officer, the motivated target.
And if he wants to avoid the hassles of a law suit, then he's going to figure out a reason to call up the IRS agents that are hassling you, and tell them, leave this person alone because they're threatening to sue and we don't need any more lawsuits.
To have your IRS wage garnishment released, simply analyze your own case. Compare what the IRS did on your case with the statute and the regulation, and see where they have made errors. They can hardly ever get it right.
Your letter may get the IRS to release the garnishment of your wages. It may not. Your other option is to file suit. Once your suit is filed, it is no longer a possible hassle for the IRS, it is guaranteed. They will have even more reason to negotiate.
Or maybe you'll be one of these people that just really gets diligent and you'll take it all the way to trial. Maybe it's there that they'll just give you damages for everything they have done to you, and not only will your wage garnishment be released, but the IRS may have to return property that was taken from you.
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