Bank finance articles and tips

So you have acquired either a "Notice of Intent to Levy" or maybe an actual levy has been delivered to your bank, company or placed on another source of income.

A "Notice of Intent to Levy" is a 30 day notice left at the individual's regular workplace, house, or shipped to the last known address on file.

The IRS will move forward with delivering a levy if the tax problem is not solved before the 30 day time frame comes to an end.

When the IRS desires to get a taxpayer's attention, a tax levy is the primary way they do it. It is typically delivered to a taxpayer's bank, company or both.

If it is a bank levy it will take all the money within your account up to the balance due. An IRS levy delivered to your company is a continuing levy that proceeds until the levy is removed, the statue of limitations comes to an end, or until the tax owed is paid. Generally, a wage levy will often leave a person with not much to live on.

An IRS levy or "Notice of Intent to Levy" can be quite challenging. The majority of individuals don't feel comfortable or competent to handle it alone. I do advise representation for a number of reasons; an expert tax professional knows exactly how to work tax laws and regulations in your favor, your legal rights as a taxpayer and what information to submit to the IRS. They can usually speed up the process to have a levy discharged or to stop the IRS from placing a levy.

How can one go about deciding on a Tax Settlement Company to help get rid of an IRS levy?

Ask the following questions:

1. What kind of score and history do they have with the BBB? Even though it won't reveal everything about the organization, it is usually a good sign of their qualifications.

2. How long has the organization been in business? What you want is an individual or a company that is knowledgeable in working with the IRS and in common tax issues.

3. What is their practical experience in working with the Collection Department of the IRS and with dealing with IRS levies?

4. What type of fees do they charge? You want to ensure they are transparent from the beginning and there are no hidden fees.

5. Can they prepare tax returns if required? If you are not compliant with tax filings the IRS won't discharge a levy. If there are returns which need to be prepared, you need to deal with this at the beginning.

6. Is the individual you are communicating with the real individual who will be managing the case and are you comfortable with them?

7. How quickly can they have it eliminated? You will want to know the estimated time it will take if you need to have a levy stopped or have a levy discharged. There are numerous factors that can be involved in getting a levy stopped or released but the professional should be able to go over these with you and give you an approximate time line.

In general, an IRS levy can be a complex and time consuming issue, but if managed correctly can be less taxing than you think.

Cynthia Kuhne has been helping people resolve their tax problems successfully for over 16 years. She is a licensed Enrolled Agent with both the knowledge and experience to stop IRS levy action quickly. She is the founder and president of CKTax Inc., a full service tax relief company with an "A+" BBB record. If there is an IRS levy attached to your assets, is about to be, or you just have a tough tax problem, visit http://www.cktax.com or call 888-894-2005 now.

By Cynthia Kuhne