IRS Levy and Garnishments
by Henry Byers
Published on this site: January 13th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
Unfortunately to many of us the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
is one branch of government that can never be our friend and
is often feared by some less reputable business owners. When
the IRS is owed money, they will get it whether you like it
or not. For those individuals who owe back taxes, the state
or IRS may attempt to collect those owed taxes by wage garnishment
through your employer. Once the wage garnishment is filed,
the employer is obligated to deduct a certain percentage of
each pay check to be handed over directly to the state or
IRS until the taxes are fully paid or an agreement has been
negotiated to release an individual from the wage garnishment.
The amount of garnished wages that are deducted by the state
or by an IRS wage garnishment is based on martial status and
the number of dependents. The amount of an individuals income
that is exempt from the state or IRS wage garnishments can
be figured by adding the standard deduction claimed on taxes
and the amount claimed for exemptions and divide that by 52.
For example, a family of three will only be allowed to keep
about $325 per week.
Wage garnishments can be extremely devastating to individuals
and their families. There are a number of tax relief agencies
available nationwide where such individuals can turn to for
emergency help with wage garnishments. By retaining a tax
attorney, you may be able to be released of your wage garnishment
or have the garnishment lowered by a percentage. Individuals
may also be eligible to have interests and penalties reduced.
Federal income taxes reported uncollected taxes by the IRS
in 2004 exceeded over $200 billion and increases to over $400
billion when considering the unreported income and unfiled
tax returns. The IRS along with the United States Department
of Treasury has demonstrated grave concern over the issues
of unfiled tax returns and unreported income, making these
issues a top priority.
The IRS has been enforcing its collection activity by over
26% last year alone. This includes about 1.8 million liens,
levies, wage garnishments and seizure of personal bank accounts,
homes and personal assets. When the IRS was challenged last
year by professional tax relief attorney's, the IRS declared
almost 3.90 million penalties null and void. This saved the United
States tax payers $3.62 billion.
It's highly recommended that individuals who wish to be relieved
of wage garnishments acquire a professional tax attorney instead
of attempting to resolve the issues themselves. Over 85% of
offers made by individuals are rejected by the IRS simply
because the average person doesn't understand the process
and the forms. Tax attorneys are professionals who understand
the complicated forms associated with wage garnishments and
who understand how to negotiate the best settlement possible
with revenue officers. Retaining a tax attorney can save a
great deal of time, money, patience and headache and allow
individuals to focus on what's really important like work
and family.
Henry Byers, Retired IRS Manager and IRS Levy expert
at eGarnish Group LLC
( http://www.irs-levy.info
) publishes other articles related to IRS Levy at
http://www.garnishment-california.info
and
http://www.irs-levy.info
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