How to Remove a Federal Tax Lien
I have seen this scenario a thousand times, you are looking to buy a house or refinance a mortgage and everything is running smoothly and then a Federal Tax Lien shows up on your credit report.
If this sounds familiar or you just want to remove a lien, then read the rest of this Article.
When a person or a business owes money to the Internal Revenue Service, then the IRS will file a lien against the person or business to preserve their right.
The lien is filed in the county that the person or business resided in (becomes a public record) and then the credit reporting agencies pick up this information from the public record.
If there is a lien against you, then the first item to do is to find out for what tax year the tax lien is for.
Is this a tax lien for unpaid taxes from 2011 or 2000? The reason this is important is that generally the IRS only has 10 years to collect delinquent taxes from a taxpayer.
So if the lien is for delinquent taxes from 2000 that were never paid, then the IRS can no longer legally collect the taxes and the lien can be removed.
Another item to look at with a federal tax lien is to verify whether or not the amount owed is still owed.
Often a taxpayer will pay off their delinquent taxes and the IRS does not automatically file a tax lien release.
So if the amount of taxes is no longer owed or the 10 year period has lapsed, then the tax lien should be removed.
Sometimes the IRS will send a tax lien release to the county to be recorded but more often than not this will not happen.
So this is what you will have to do.
First obtain a copy of the lien that has been filed with the local county and then you will have to write a letter to the Internal Revenue Service.
The letter should state that the lien should be removed because of payment or the 10 year statute of limitations on collections.
But make sure you give them the exact date and a copy of the check if the taxes were paid.
Now hopefully they will then send a lien release to be recorded with the county, but often they don't and you never hear back from the IRS.
This is when you have to get a qualified tax professional involved.
Assuming the service does send the lien release, and then you must make sure that it gets recorded in the county that you resided in and notify all the credit reporting agencies.
The service does not notify these agencies that the lien has been removed, so you must be proactive and send all the reporting agencies a copy of the lien release.
Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service can be very difficult and expensive for the average person or business.
You must be well prepared when dealing with the IRS.
The author has over 20 years of experience in successfully helping his clients with the IRS.
If this sounds familiar or you just want to remove a lien, then read the rest of this Article.
When a person or a business owes money to the Internal Revenue Service, then the IRS will file a lien against the person or business to preserve their right.
The lien is filed in the county that the person or business resided in (becomes a public record) and then the credit reporting agencies pick up this information from the public record.
If there is a lien against you, then the first item to do is to find out for what tax year the tax lien is for.
Is this a tax lien for unpaid taxes from 2011 or 2000? The reason this is important is that generally the IRS only has 10 years to collect delinquent taxes from a taxpayer.
So if the lien is for delinquent taxes from 2000 that were never paid, then the IRS can no longer legally collect the taxes and the lien can be removed.
Another item to look at with a federal tax lien is to verify whether or not the amount owed is still owed.
Often a taxpayer will pay off their delinquent taxes and the IRS does not automatically file a tax lien release.
So if the amount of taxes is no longer owed or the 10 year period has lapsed, then the tax lien should be removed.
Sometimes the IRS will send a tax lien release to the county to be recorded but more often than not this will not happen.
So this is what you will have to do.
First obtain a copy of the lien that has been filed with the local county and then you will have to write a letter to the Internal Revenue Service.
The letter should state that the lien should be removed because of payment or the 10 year statute of limitations on collections.
But make sure you give them the exact date and a copy of the check if the taxes were paid.
Now hopefully they will then send a lien release to be recorded with the county, but often they don't and you never hear back from the IRS.
This is when you have to get a qualified tax professional involved.
Assuming the service does send the lien release, and then you must make sure that it gets recorded in the county that you resided in and notify all the credit reporting agencies.
The service does not notify these agencies that the lien has been removed, so you must be proactive and send all the reporting agencies a copy of the lien release.
Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service can be very difficult and expensive for the average person or business.
You must be well prepared when dealing with the IRS.
The author has over 20 years of experience in successfully helping his clients with the IRS.
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