Spokane Wage Garnishments
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Many people who owe money to the IRS are already having difficulty making ends meet. They may have other debts they are trying to manage at the same time.
Having a portion of their income taken by the IRS can make a bad situation much worse. Wage garnishments, known officially as wage levies by the IRS, can have a huge impact on your week-to-week finances.
Fortunately, there is hope. The IRS is willing to forego a wage levy or release an active one under many different circumstances. That can encompass situations where the levy creates a hardship, where the release of the levy can help the filer somehow pay taxes more easily, or where the filer enters into an agreement with the IRS to pay down the amount they owe.
Instant Tax Solutions is highly experienced in helping individuals and businesses during times when their finances seem most dire. We understand the options available to you, and we know the processes the IRS uses to evaluate whether to keep a levy in place or to grant a release.
Our sole goal is to fight for people like you, reducing the impact their back taxes have on their lives while helping them chart a path forward to full financial freedom.
Find out more about how we may be able to assist you during a free, confidential consultation and financial review when you call (888) 886-5526 or contact us online.
Get Spokane IRS Wage Garnishment Help
Having the IRS take some of your wages each week can create a significant burden, but the good news is that if that fact is true, then you have possible recourse to get the garnishment removed. The IRS has several processes available to help you remove wage levies and other levies that could be impacting your ability to use your accounts or sell your property.
Reach out to our experienced tax professionals to learn more about your options and get to the bottom of your financial situation. When you work with Instant Tax Solutions, our first step is always to review your finances in-depth, determining exactly what you should owe and what options you have available to best manage that tax debt.
We can then engage with the IRS on your behalf, helping you make the most of programs and policies that can provide relief.
The IRS is far from perfect; they can make mistakes regarding your tax assessment, and they may have failed to apply recent payments to your current standing. One primary objective we have is to determine if your current assessment can be adjusted simply by looking at what you should owe versus what they say you owe.
So before you commit to paying just to get a wage garnishment removed, consult with our Spokane tax relief experts first to be 100% sure that you don’t have ways to chip away at the amount you owe.
Options for Spokane IRS Wage Garnishment Removal
A wage garnishment levy is one of the most severe types of collection actions the IRS can take to pursue back taxes you owe. By the same token, the agency recognizes that these actions can create severe financial hardship for the payer, and they also know that they are better off releasing the levy once you agree to an installment plan or other arrangement to get the debt paid off.
Because of this understanding, you have several options for removing an IRS wage garnishment, which are outlined below.
Appealing Your Levy Within 30 Days of Notice
You can prevent a wage garnishment from taking place before it even starts by appealing the IRS’s decision to levy. When you receive the Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Collection Due Process Hearing (IRS Letter LT11), you have 30 days from the date of the letter to file for your appeal.
Most often, this is done because the person receiving the letter believes they don’t owe the amount. There may be other reasons for appealing, as well, so consult with tax professionals for more guidance and information.
Hardship Claim
One of the most common methods for removing wage garnishments is to petition the IRS, saying that the levy creates an unreasonable economic hardship. To make this claim, you have to provide documentation to establish that you are unable to meet basic, reasonable living expenses.
For wage levies, though, the IRS already makes an attempt to provide accommodations by providing an exempt amount. The exemption is calculated according to a standard federal deduction and an additional deduction for each dependent.
It is possible for the exemption to miss deductions of particular dependents, including children whom you pay child support for. On top of that, even with the deduction, you may be unable to cover basic, reasonable living expenses because of your particular situation.
This may include situations where you are making payments on a home or other property, and the wage levy makes you unable to continue these payments, compounding your financial stress.
Working with ITS allows you to understand the factors the IRS considers when weighing a hardship claim. We may be able to justify the hardship from a financial perspective because of your unique situation.
In other cases, we may be able to get them to increase the exempt amount because of unconsidered dependents.
Installment Agreements and Offer in Compromise
The most effective way to secure an IRS wage garnishment release is to begin paying the back tax amount owed. Generally, the IRS will indicate that they prefer for the amount to be paid in full.
But in truth, you may be able to get them to settle for a lesser amount by making an offer in compromise. What’s key is that the offer in compromise must be paid by a lump sum or in a series of payments with a tight time window.
While making these payments can put financial pressure on your situation, the truth is that they create substantial breathing room for you once the tax debt is resolved.
In situations where you’re unable to put forth an amount for an offer in compromise, you can instead enter into an installment agreement with the IRS. Often, once the installment plan has been put in place, they will release the wage levy.
Other Penalty Abatement
ITS may be able to help you lower the amount you owe through a penalty abatement. This process involves a request to remove some of the penalties you have been hit with, along with the attached interest.
By having certain penalties removed, you can lower the amount you owe and make it easier to pay down your tax debt.
Amended Returns and Adjustments
As mentioned above, the IRS is more prone to mistakes than they care to admit. They also frequently work with incomplete information.
Combined, that means the amount they have assessed could be inaccurate. Further, you may have deductions and credits from the past years that you didn’t consider.
The IRS allows you to file an amended return up to three years from the original due date of the return. In some cases, we may be able to reduce the amount you owe by claiming new deductions or by adjusting the amount of income you actually earned.
How Long Does it Take to Get a Spokane IRS Wage Garnishment Release?
The process of requesting a release and getting the IRS to agree can take several weeks, sometimes months. You will need to provide the needed paperwork for a hardship or otherwise come to an arrangement that convinces them to release the wage levy.
Between correspondence and processing times, that can take a while. On the other hand, once a release is granted, the effects can happen as soon as an employer gets consent to release the levy.
If the garnishment release correspondence is sent by mail, that can mean 7 to 10 business days or longer after IRS approval. Using fax is much faster, enabling your employer to get consent to release the levy the same day the correspondence is sent.
What Type of Wage Garnishment Is an IRS Levy?
An IRS levy is, effectively, a form of seizure of property. Using a levy, the IRS can seize property or account balances. They can also seize accounts receivables for a business.
A wage levy is a form of seizing your income minus the exempted amount. One interesting fact is that it applies directly to your employer.
That means that while you will receive multiple warnings about the levy, you won’t be informed once it actually takes place. Instead, a letter will be sent to your employer, forcing them to comply with the levy.
Your employee will then withhold the entire amount of your paycheck, minus the exempted amount, and send it to the IRS automatically. This situation can cause difficulty for several reasons.
First, it may be awkward for your employer to know about your tax debt. Second, it can create pressure on payroll and other personnel to comply with the levy. Third, the employer has to receive direct consent from the IRS to release the levy.
Because of these complications, it is highly advisable to reach out to experienced tax accountants and professionals as soon as you can once you get notice that a levy may take place.
Get IRS Wage Garnishment Help From Experienced Professionals
Instant Tax Solutions wants you to feel relief from the worry and stress of your back taxes. IRS collection actions are meant to put a lot of pressure on you so that you feel compelled to pay in full.
The truth of the matter is that you may not owe everything they say you do. In other situations, you may be able to reduce your tax burden through penalty abatement, adjustments to your tax assessment, offers in compromise, and other means.
When you are ready to explore your options, we are ready to help. Call us today at (888) 886-5526 or contact us online to schedule a free, confidential case review with a tax professional near you today.
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