IRS Levy News

Deep Horizon Oil Spill Releif

2010-07-23T15:08:00.002-05:00

The word is that any taxpayer in collection that even mentions the BP / Deep Horizon Oil Spill will get at least 6 months break without the IRS bothering them about their tax bill. When I get the memo it will be posted.

compromise tax settlement Tax Attorney Irs Levy IRS Lien Irs Problems

2009 IRS Enforcement Results are Out

2010-02-19T11:23:00.003-06:00

New IRS Enforcement numbers are out. It should be no news the the number of Revenue Officers has remained relatively constant over the last 9 Years. The FY 2000 number was 5,538 and the FY 2009 ranks were numbered at 5,451. Levies soared again from 2.6 million to 3.4 million but still short of the 2006 and 2007 record years 3.7 million levies.

Notices of Federal Tax Liens reached an all time high at 965,000. This was an increase of more than 25% from the 2008 numbers. Anyone that is watching may notice that the IRS will file a tax lien for very little money. I have personally seen a tax lien filed for less than $100. By the time the Service pays the recording and cancellation fees the amount collected if any would exceed the cost.

The number of seizures trended slightly down to 581 from 610 in the previous year. Seizures continued in disfavor. There are some good reasons. Seizures are an inefficient means to collect delinquent tax and the same resources more efficiently used would yield many times more revenue. The other major reason is that seizures are the source of 99% of the bad press.

compromise tax
settlement Tax Attorney Irs
Levy IRS Lien
Irs Problems

Automated Levies Trend Down

2009-10-20T10:02:00.001-05:00

Automated levies took a huge dive in 2008. After skyrocketing for seven years the number of levies issued by the IRS has taken a deep dive.
In 2000 there were 219k levies. They more than doubled in 2001, to 624K and doubling again in 2002 to 1,283k in 2003. The trend continued with meteoric increases in the numbers of levies in 2004 when the number hit 1,680k. The IRS laser printers were smoking in 2004 when the numbers hit 2 million at 2,029k. 2005 saw another 35% increase to 2,743k. Entire forests were cut for the 3,742k and 3,757k levies sent out in 2006 and 2007.
But in 2008 there was a precipitous dive in the amount. The drop was as dramatic as the rise. There were 1.1 million less levies in 2008 than in the two previous years. The number was 2,631,038. What happened? Maybe the programers at the IRS got a little sophisticated. Were they sending out levies to bad addresses or employers from 8 years ago. Are they collecting as much money? 30 Billion in 2007 and only 24.8 billion in 2008. What is going on? Somebody clue me in.

compromise tax

Lost Due Process Rights

2006-01-31T14:43:00.000-06:00

Proposed legislation will Chill the Due Process Hearing

A few years back Congress put some insulation between the taxpayer and a very cruel IRS by providing for a Collection Due Process Hearing and an opportunity to be heard by a Court of Law before the IRS seized your paycheck or bank account. Now the IRS has successfully proposed legislation that could chill your right to a hearing. If the IRS determines that your request for a Due Process Hearing is a "FRIVOLOUS TAX SUBMISSION" they can just send it back and deny you a Due Process Hearing. Here is how it will work. An IRS agent threatens you will a seizure and you request a Due Process Hearing seeking an installment agreement. Your request gets to the IRS and they look at it and say "we would never agree with this, so it must be a FRIVOLOUS TAX SUBMISSION." Then they send your request for Due Process Hearing back you never get your day in court.

This is all part of a larger piece of legislation that is designed to reduce the number of offers in compromise. If you read this PLEASE send your Congressmen and Senators a letter or email opposing the amendments to Sections 6702 and 7211.

compromise tax settlement Tax Attorney IRS Levy IRS Lien IRS Problems

Tax Debt Settlement War Stories

2006-01-27T17:47:00.000-06:00

Read some War Stories on how I settled IRS Tax Debt

You probably know that I have several blogs and this anouncement may me a little redundant but on my other blog the one I use just to spout off. This blog is really dedicated to Levy news but I could not resist the opportunity to tout my new series of andidotal war stories on how I have saved taxpayers thousands of dollars by settleing their tax debt with an offer in compromise. So I decided to put some of these war stories on my soap box blog, IRS Compromise. Anyway reading these stories help illustrate some of my techniques and you may pick up a trick or two. Check out the war stories Click here
compromise tax settlement Tax Attorney Irs Levy IRS Lien Irs Problems

Levy, Levy, Levied: IRS Enforcement Is on the Increase

2005-12-15T16:24:00.000-06:00

Commissioner of Internal Revenue Mark W. Everson issues statement, which reads "more tax Levy action"

On the eve of the mid point of the five-year appointment the Commissioner issued a statement showing the gains in enforcement activities:

Enforcement Revenues up 10% to record 47.3 billion, up 4.3 billion..
Individual Returns Audited 1.2 million up form 1 million.
Audits of individual with income over $100k were over 221,000.
Audits of small business corporations were 17,867 in 2005, up from only 7,294.
Audits of large corporations (assets over 10 million) were up 14% to 10,878.
Liens and levies now have recovered to pre RR98 levels
For the full text of the release click here.

When I read between the lines and see the large increase in the enforcement revenue, I can’t help but speculate that the increase can be attributed to the Automated Levy Program and the automated Correspondence Audit Program. Small business audits were up by 10,000, admittedly an impressive amount. Large business audits were up by only 1300. These modest audit increases simply can not account for a 4.3 billion dollar increase in enforcement revenues. So what can it be attributed too? Automated Collection System computer generated levies. In 2000 there were fewer than 220,000 levies. In 2004 there were over 2,000,000. Now that is an increase of almost 1000% in just 5 years. From 2003 to 2004 there was a 21% increase in the number of levies. For taxpayers trying to avoid tax levy, bank levy, IRS wage levy or IRS wage garnishment, things are getting a little more difficult. Now, if Commissioner Everson will only loosen up the offer in compromise program, he can collect even more money, and more taxpayers will be able to settle their IRS tax debt through offer in compromise.

Cody Mayo Offer Secrets Revealed

Hurricane Katrina - Taxpayers Respite - Solve IRS Tax Problems

2005-12-06T14:28:00.000-06:00

Submit and Offer in Compromise before the clean up is over

If you live the southern two thirds of Mississippi, the southern one third of Alabama, or anywhere in the State of Louisisana, or your tax professional does then the IRS will give you a little breathing room because of Hurricane Katrina. All enforcement activities (collection and audit) have been suspended for taxpayers or representatives living in the affected counties. Not only that but if your tax representative lives in an affected county or parish then you are still eligible for Hurricane Katrina relief.

The IRS may still contact you in what has been called a "soft contact" to ask if you have been affected by the Hurricanes. If you advise them that you have been affected then your file will get an "HK" code and all enforcement activities will be on hold until Feburary 28th, 2006.

Your file may already have and "HK" code on it and this could prevent your offer from being worked if you have already submitted one. Best thing to do is to write the IRS and advise them that you would like to have your offer in compromise worked.

Now is a great time to get ready for an offer if you live in an affected area. If you need help in solving your IRS tax problems with and offer in compromise check out my compreshensive book on the subject. Click here Also keep up with the latest news on offer in compromise at my Offer in Compromise News Blog Or you can subscribe to my news letter. Click here

Automated Levy takes over

2005-11-08T14:48:00.000-06:00

The IRS computer has now evolved into an early stage Matrix

With fewer and fewer IRS Revenue Officers on the street to handle collection by issuing levies the IRS has turned to the automated levy for collection of past due income taxes. Last year the IRS issued over 2,000,000 levies. Bank levy and wage levy dominated the levies on tax payers seeking help for their tax problems. My guess is that the numbers for 2005 will be even greater.