If you’re facing a federal tax lien, you have a right to be scared.
You’ve drawn the wrath of the most ruthless collection agency in the world. A tax lien is just one of many weapons the IRS can wield to make your life miserable. The IRS has the power to seize or levy almost anything you own until your tax debt is paid off. And it doesn’t end with the money.
Once the IRS begins to levy your bank account, garnish your wages, seize your property and take the accounts receivable from your business, here’s what will likely happen to you and your family:
- Your outstanding checks start to bounce
- You’re unable to pay rent or house payments
- You might not be able to cover all your living expenses
- You can’t make automobile payments, and you car is repossessed
- If you own a business, vendors and suppliers are reluctant to deal with you
Everything you worked so hard to build could crumble if you don’t take care of this situation. But you still have rights. You can still potentially avoid a tax lien, but you need to take action now. You need the help of a professional.
A Crash Course in Tax Liens
Whenever the IRS decides you owe taxes, they can issue an automatic claim on your property at any time. This claim is called a tax lien. A tax lien extends to all property, including your bank account, your investments, your business, and anything else of value that you’re connected to.
Maybe you studied hard for years and years to make it in your profession. You probably spent a long time, working weekends and holidays, to build your business. Do you think the IRS cares?
Does it matter to them that you scrimped and saved to build your nest egg, and put a lot of care into investing it wisely? Will they listen when you tell them that your money, your land, came from years of your own sweat and blood?
If you don’t respond to a tax lien, you could lose it all. The IRS can take almost anything they want from you. People will look at your new poverty and may think of you as a failure. Smug acquaintances may wag their fingers and say I told you so.
You Might Already Have a Secret Tax Lien and Not Even Know About It
The IRS relies on a special law called Internal Revenue Code 6321. It says a tax lien is automatic, whenever the IRS decides you owe them money and you don’t pay. This tax lien doesn’t exist on paper. You can think of it as a kind of secret or hidden tax lien that is allowed by law or statute, which is why it’s called a statutory lien. There’s no public record of a statutory tax lien. But it is very real.
Internal Revenue Code 6321 gives the IRS a right to almost all of the money and property you own now, including your pension, social security, the cash value of a life insurance policy, accounts receivable for your business, and even the cash value of your furniture and other household belongings. When it comes down to it, there’s very little they can’t take.
You won’t know anything about your statutory tax lien, but the IRS may already have its fingers on your throat. Already, their feelers could be out there looking to suck you dry. A statutory tax lien lays the groundwork for the IRS to seize your assets and potentially destroy your credit.
Have You Received a Notice of Federal Tax Lien? The IRS May Be Closing In
At some point you may have received a public Notice of Federal Tax Lien. This notice means that your hidden or secret lien is no longer secret. They’re ready to officially, publicly, stake a claim. Once the tax lien is filed, it’s probably only a matter of time before banks and the Credit Bureaus learn about the lien.
At this point, the world knows that you owe money to the IRS.
Credit reporting agencies like Equifax, Experian, and Transunion will pick up your tax lien. You’ll probably have a rough time trying to get a mortgage. A tax lien could make it difficult to sell your property, because buyers will know that even after the sale, the IRS still has a claim. And do you want to refinance? Forget it!
Even your future wealth is subject to the Notice of Federal Tax Lien. If somebody passes away and leaves you an inheritance, the IRS has a claim on the new assets. If you manage to buy new property, the IRS can use the lien as a basis for taking it away from you.
Stop Your Tax Lien Now
Time is essential. The IRS is supposed to give you 10 days’ warning before they file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien.
Think about how long it will take you to contact them, explore your options, work out an arrangement, assess your property, meet with an accountant, and gather all your records. Those ten days are going to go by awful fast! And if you’ve moved, they may send the notice to your old address. Then how much time do you think you’ll have?
Whatever your situation, you have to deal with this thing before it potentially ruins your life. Imagine the trauma of explaining to your family that your second home is going to be sold off at an auction. Or that your kid’s college fund is gone.
Maybe your business is just about to turn around, and all your hard work and sacrifice is finally going to pay off. But if you don’t act today, the IRS will shatter all your dreams.
Call today at 1-800-509-2770 and we’ll look at the best way to deal with your tax lien.
5 Silver Bullets that may help with a Tax Lien
There’s still hope. If you’re the kind of person who can keep a cool head during a crisis, we can work toward dealing with the IRS. If you’ve got the courage to stand up to the government, I’ll show you how.
If you believe in your right to defend your business, your property, and you and your family’s well-being, call me today at 1-800-509-2770 and we’ll look at some of these options:
- Extension. You may be able to buy some time if you play by the rules. I’ll show you the rules.
- Offer-in-Compromise. There’s a wonderful program that lets you pay off your tax debt, eliminate the tax lien, clear your record and have the whole thing done with. All for a fraction of what you owe – pennies on the dollar. I’ve helped taxpayers nationwide to erase or avoid a tax lien using this process. Let me help you, too.
- Appeal/Reduction. Don’t let some low-level bureaucrat have the last word. If the IRS agent you’ve dealt with hasn’t followed every required procedure, if they’ve assessed your taxes wrongly, if they’ve broken any of their own rules, you might be able to make a case for eliminating that tax lien. Time is essential here. You may only have a limited period of time to challenge the filing of the lien. Call 1-800-509-2770 and we’ll look into your rights to appeal your tax lien.
- Partial Discharge. Sometimes the tax lien keeps you from selling assets that you could use to pay off your tax debt. I can request the IRS to discharge a tax lien on some of your property, so you can settle this and get on with your life. Call me and we’ll move toward fixing this problem.
- Pay up. If you can raise the cash yourself, you might want to end you tax lien and move on. If you can beg or borrow from someone else, it’s usually better to owe money to almost anyone other than the IRS.
Keep in mind, however, that the IRS uses fear and intimidation to collect your money. They’ll do whatever they can to make you pay on time and in full. They want you to feel like you have no choice.
If you have any questions about your tax lien, or if you have any doubts about the best way to settle the tax lien, you owe it to yourself to call me at 1-800-509-2770 so we can explore all of your options.
And remember, if the IRS served you a Notice that they are going to file a Federal Tax Lien, you only have a limited time to respond.
When you end your tax lien, it’s still not over.
You’ve won the fight, but you still have to clean up the mess. After you’ve cleared your tax lien, the IRS is supposed to issue a Certificate of Release of Lien within 30 days.
Unfortunately, they’re not always that efficient. If you want to set the record straight as quickly as possible, you might have to contact the Chief of Special Procedures and proactively release the lien yourself. Then you’ll need to gather all the appropriate documents, and notify the credit reporting agencies that your tax lien has been released.
You’ve got better things to do with your time than urge federal bureaucrats to do their job. You need an expert to clear this up. I’m Jeff Fouts, and I’ve got 11 years of experience in tax liens, and other tax problems. Call me today at 1-800-509-2770 so we can fix this thing for good.