Liens And Levies

A lien is a legal claim against real property filed in a county court house.

A levy is the action of taking an asset (wages, bank account, etc.) to satisfy payment of a debt.

A subordination is getting the IRS to allow another creditor a higher collateral security position in your assets.

If you get a levy notice, follow the procedures for contacting the issuer and resolving the matter.

The IRS will file a lien to protect their interests against you selling the property to a third party. For the most part there isn't much you can do about it. The IRS maintains that it has a right to protect their interests.

I can be of great help resolving lien, levy, and subordination problems. Call me now at 713-774-4467!

Removing IRS Liens

A good source for detailed information for a lien subordination is IRS Pub 764. Do a Google search and download a copy. It has a great section on how to prepare the application and what to do afterward.

Reasons the IRS will give you a subordination:

• a) You can offer approximately 3 times the value of your liability as collateral, or you can buy an insurance bond for approx. 3 times the liability.


• b) You can show that it will be easier for the IRS to collect more money by doing the subordination, like getting all the proceeds on the sale of your house, for example.

I have received approval for several subordinations depending on the circumstances. The following points should be helpful for your success.

You should acknowledge that you could and probably should have stopped this much earlier in the collection process. Understand that the IRS is not going to be sympathetic to your concerns about how tough it will be to successfully conduct your business. The IRS puts a lien on to protect them against 3rd party creditors getting your assets before they do. So why would they be willing to give up their creditor protection? Their general policy is not to remove or subordinate liens (or levies) unless you fit one of their acceptable categories.

First consider the question of whether or not you can live with the lien. It's usually not as bad as you initially thought. Is it hurting your credit? By the way, the IRS does not file the lien with the credit bureaus, so don't ask the credit bureaus to take it off. The credit bureaus pick up the lien on their own from court house records. You can remove it for a short time by sending a letter to the credit bureau explaining how this is not yours, (assuming that it isn't), or that it is grossly overstated. If there is no confirming response within 30 days, the credit bureau must remove it until they receive a confirming response. But this is the subject for a manual on credit repair. Anyway, you can use someone else's credit or don't use any credit till the liability is paid or resolved. Many times people you buy from will be sympathetic and help you work around it. I want you to consider living with the lien and focusing on paying off the liability as soon as possible. It's better than throwing your money away paying some misleading representative that promises to remove the lien using some type of trick or exceptional experience!

If You Really Need A Lien Subordination

1. Liens really hurt companies when sales and financing are inhibited. A business could be ruined without a subordination. A subordination may be needed so a bank or accounts receivable financing company may become a first position creditor.

2. Make sure you answer all items on the application for a Certificate of Subordination of Federal Tax Lien, and include all documents that explain what you are trying to show them. Then when finished, sit back and ask yourself, "If you were an IRS employee and got your application, would you understand and approve it?" Would you be convinced that it was in the IRS's best interest to let you continue your business without the lien, and pay them back the money you owe? If not go back and make any necessary changes.

3. We will take it from there, if it's a good solution for you.

I can get you a release to obtain a bank loan.

I have gotten releases to pay off accounts receivable factors in the past. Currently the IRS claims that they won't do this anymore. If this will cause you to go out of business, I would file an appeal or get the Taxpayer Advocate involved, depending on the circumstances of your situation.

Lien Releases

Once the liability is fully paid, the lien is no longer valid and should be removed.

We sometimes contact the Taxpayer Advocate's office for help.

If you want a lien released because of hardship reasons, then you need to file an appeal.

We usually file appeals directly with the collection officer or ACS. If no one is assigned you can file directly with your local appeals office. Sometimes I've had appeals secretaries tell me that they can't accept an appeal unless it comes to them from collections. Don't believe it. If you are about to suffer a hardship, and you have no one in collections assigned to your case, an appeals officer will take it. I have never failed at doing this.

Removing IRS Levies

IRS levies will be removed from if you can convince the collection employee that you are taking steps to be in full compliance. This means that returns and collection statement information is being prepared and will be given to them by the agreed upon due date.

Sometimes you need to file returns and/or collection statement info before a levy is released. In a more extreme case the IRS employee might want to review the financial statement information and set up an agreement first. If that will take too much time and checks will bounce, or your about to lose a paycheck, then proving hardship to speed up the removal of levy will be necessary.