Ideally, a person who owes back taxes to the IRS should pay them back immediately. This will inevitably remove the tax lien. If there is a discrepancy between the amount someone thinks he or she owes and how much the Internal revenue service is claiming, one should get legal help.

If someone cannot pay all of his or her back taxes at once, then figuring out a payment plan is the best plan of action. The IRS has forms on its website that can be sent in for this purpose. Those who develop such a plan should ensure it is reasonable, as once the agreement has been set it cannot be altered and the money is immediately collected from one's account on a monthly basis.

Those who can work out a settlement with the IRS will find that this method of getting rid of tax lien is even better than a payment plan. In a compromise agreement, the Internal revenue service will sacrifice a large amount of the money it is due and permit a person to only pay a small portion of the money. It should be noted, however, that getting a compromise agreement from the Internal revenue service is very difficult. The IRS will only think about a compromise agreement if it is uncertain how much someone owes or if the IRS has no hopes of retrieving the full sum of money that it is owed.

People who do not have the available to pay back taxes can sell a few assets, even if these have a lien put on them. Once the assets are sold, the IRS will automatically take a chunk of the money. This is something that most people would prefer to avoid, but it is much better than having to deal with a tax levy. With a tax levy, the IRS can forcibly sell all of someone's assets if they please. One should think about this prospect and see if selling some of the assets will satisfy the IRS and defend the other assets from being levied.