IRS levy/garnishment help

[Opti]

I'm currently pissed as it is 10/2/2014 Thursday

and I just got a registered letter to levy on the payment that is due by oct. 6th!!!

Fucktards! 

WTE is wrong with them? Shouldn't they at least wait until Oct. 7th

before they go all presumptuous on me?

I also have old taxes which just recently went to my workplace and I

signed and delivered the employee copy first thing yesterday morning as

the local HR person was not still there at 7PM Tuesday night.

I am past my eyeballs in need to dos, many of them social service and government

related. Of course it is compounded by being in physical remodel season(workplace,

apartment below me the band saw started up early I think to create the bathroom

bellow's subfloor. We have horrible noise-proofing here so I wake up the minute they

start whether it is 7 or 8AM.   So short version is I am still on about half the sleep

I need and trying to hold it together. )

I'm going to check my back accounts and send some money towards that $148.99

or whatever it is today. I'll also send my copy of the garnish paperwork to the IRS

as requested as well. (I guess my dying fake father's card has to wait with everything

else.)

I am not in a position to make a payment plan as I am currently averaging a pull

of $700/mo. to pay rent and fix car stuff I couldn't put off like both sets of brakes.

What should I do?

My intention is to pay off what might be $150+ by year end, by 12/31/14 at the

latest. However today, I will be mailing a check of between $1 and $10 as I am not

willing to make a IRA withdrawal this month to pay that. (Sorry so wordy. Will edit,

when I am less mad and possibly more awake.)

[Opti]

Honestly they are welcome to any leftovers on the federal side, should they

exist. However, having a PT job that just this year will finally gross 5 figures,

(go $10K go! ) in general not enough taxes are withheld and frankly I need

more than I gross for rent so I don't fix it. Yet.

(November issue.

October is fully booked.)

[The Captain]

Please do not make the IRS out to be the bad guy in this.  There are numerous steps, notices, etc. that happen before an intent to levy is issued.

Have you contacted them and attempted to claim harship and set up an installment plan?  If the bill is only for $150 I could understand why they would not want to spend the administrative cost to collect.  People always find something else that HAS to be done first.  That's why the levies have to be initiated.

If there are other tax debts I would make paying those off an absolute priority - as in get a second part time job if needed.  They will not go away and will continue to accumulate interest and penalties that will eventually be taken from your social security payments when you can really least afford it.

[mwcpa]

The IRS sends notices of intents to levy after a number of requests, letter (certified and regular) are sent to you.  The fact one owes money to the IRS for not paying taxes should never be a surprise.

You need to call the IRS explain your situation.

You may be required complete an asset, liability, income and expense form (433 series).

IRS offers many options to satisfy your tax debt (including an installment agreement), but if you call them you cannot go in with the attitude presented in the opening statements. The IRS is not the one wrong here.

[Opti]

My BK was granted in April 2013.

I have less now.

I am planning to send in a Xerox of the BK fee schedule which will show

the BK was not granted when I was in BK court in January of 2013, but

later in April of 2013 when the last payment was received.

I know it is part of the process to do the levy thing. Since I do paper returns

and paper checks, so far I have been faster than the IRS on those small

checks.

I'd be happy to pay if I was solvent and at least breaking even month to month

as if my PT income really could find the mythical $483/mo. place to rent in CNJ.

But until that happens, I'm trying to stay alive and pay to live indoors.

(I have garnishment forms to mail to the IRS today on the 2010 debt that

was not included. I made the very big error of contuning to pay a CC debt

b ecause I was searching for a job (bad credit report/no employmemt memes

so I paid Citi or someone instead of my tax bill mistakenly assuming light at

the end of the tunnel was less than a year away(2011 into 2012).

(TMI and likely scattered. Operating on ~4 hrs./sleep a night for several weeks.

I need 7 to 8 hrs. a night to be myself and not on the razor's edge of collapse...)

[Opti]

Oct 2, 2014 11:22:08 GMT -5 mwcpa said:

The IRS sends notices of intents to levy after a number of requests, letter (certified and regular) are sent to you.  The fact one owes money to the IRS for not paying taxes should never be a surprise.

You need to call the IRS explain your situation.

You may be required complete an asset, liability, income and expense form (433 series).

IRS offers many options to satisfy your tax debt (including an installment agreement), but if you call them you cannot go in with the attitude presented in the opening statements. The IRS is not the one wrong here.

Thanks MW.

So far, I haven't had the 1 or 2 full days available to bascially

sit on the phone line until.

The only time I got through was at least a three hour attempt, and it

turns I probably got through so quick because their computer systems

were down and not projected to be up for a few days... so none of my

conversation could be recorded.

That was the last time I responded to an IRS email right away.

Just to put just as important things on hold only to find they were

upgrading their damn computer system over several days. Fortune 500

they are not, in that respect.

[Opti]

FWIw, I *can* go in with any attitutude I *damn* well feel like..

... now I know that is not appropriate there and will not to do so.

I have been running ragged for days, weeks and the only end in sight

at least temporarily at work in the Oct. 29th grand opening of the remodel

of the old part of the building. Not sure if the apartment below will be done

by then, so I won't even think about it.

There is what I *can* do

and there is what I *should* *want* to do.

They are not ^necessarily^  the same in this instance, like much of life.

 (PB and the trackpad have a sense of humor, leaving their choice of emoticons.)

[taxref]

As usual, the advice MWCPA gave is correct.  Contact the IRS, and calmly explain your financial situation to them.  Be certain to avoid any dramatic statements.

To make arrangements with the IRS, you will have to do so for all of your past due federal taxes.  Consequently, you should be prepared to discuss all of your overdue amounts, and not just the amount being garnished now.

I found your situation to be hard to follow, but if you declared bankruptcy in the past, that can be a factor in the amount you owe.  Be sure to mention any bankruptcy actions in your discussion.

Also note that the IRS cannot make arrangements regarding any state taxes you may owe.  You would need to contact your state tax department about those.

On a final note, your IRA will be considered an asset which is available to help pay your taxes.  Depending upon the type of IRA and your age, you may owe tax and/or penalty on any withdrawals.  While its not a good idea to tap ones retirement funds to buy luxuries, its also not a good idea to be living in near poverty while one has available funds in an IRA.  


 

[taz157]

Oct 2, 2014 11:35:59 GMT -5 Opti said:

Oct 2, 2014 11:22:08 GMT -5 mwcpa said:

The IRS sends notices of intents to levy after a number of requests, letter (certified and regular) are sent to you.  The fact one owes money to the IRS for not paying taxes should never be a surprise.

You need to call the IRS explain your situation.

You may be required complete an asset, liability, income and expense form (433 series).

IRS offers many options to satisfy your tax debt (including an installment agreement), but if you call them you cannot go in with the attitude presented in the opening statements. The IRS is not the one wrong here.

Thanks MW.

So far, I haven't had the 1 or 2 full days available to bascially

sit on the phone line until.

The only time I got through was at least a three hour attempt, and it

turns I probably got through so quick because their computer systems

were down and not projected to be up for a few days... so none of my

conversation could be recorded.

That was the last time I responded to an IRS email right away.

Just to put just as important things on hold only to find they were

upgrading their damn computer system over several days. Fortune 500

they are not, in that respect.

The IRS doesn't email you unless you are dealing with an IRS auditor during a year that's been under audit.

[Ombud]

Opti, in that you only have

a PT job that just this year will finally gross 5 figures

could you take part of your non-working time & take all your paperwork to your closest IRS office? Maybe they can work with you on a payment plan encompassing all back taxes that you can afford

[TheOtherMe]

As a retired IRS agent, I can tell you if you come in with attitude, it will not be taken kindly.  Whoever you are working with will go strictly by the book and not try to do you any favors.  That is only human nature.

Try to remain calm when you speak with the IRS.  It works better for you.

[Ombud]

Maybe that's why I've always gotten great service. Ask them how they can help and they go out of their way to find solutions

[NancysSummerSip]

Agreed on the IRS/attitude thing. Years ago, we got hit with a huge tax bill, and I mean way off what was normal for us. I was in shock, but called and went into my nearest office. Turns out it was due to paperwork not filed by my then-CPA. IRS got their paperwork, we owed nothing and everyone was quite civil about it.

Now as for my CPA - I fired him in a blaze of glory, but that's another story.

[TheOtherMe]

People forget IRS agents are human beings first.  Those that gave me lip did not get any favors or things overlooked.  Treated me right and I would go out of my way to help you do what I had the authority to do.  

[Opti]

Oct 3, 2014 21:48:23 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

People forget IRS agents are human beings first.  Those that gave me lip did not get any favors or things overlooked.  Treated me right and I would go out of my way to help you do what I had the authority to do.  

People are people.

Sometimes posters complain here about things they may not do or wish they

could do.

Everyone is a human being first. Even unemployed or under-employed folk like

myself.

[Opti]

Oct 2, 2014 19:13:20 GMT -5 Ombud said:

Opti, in that you only have

a PT job that just this year will finally gross 5 figures

could you take part of your non-working time & take all your paperwork to your closest IRS office? Maybe they can work with you on a payment plan encompassing all back taxes that you can afford

No.

There is no payment plan that is affordable if you are under-water and using

retirement money to pay bills. The garnishment is the IRS's payment plan BTW.

I am planning to take off this Sunday and probably next weekend just to insure

I remain alive and not hospitalized. I've been past my limit in personal red-line

for more than three weeks.

FWIW.

[taz157]

And people that have experience working with the IRS or those that have worked for the IRS are trying to help you. There is no reason to be nasty to them.

[Ombud]

Opti said:

There is no payment plan that is affordable if you are under-water and using retirement money to pay bills. The garnishment is the IRS's payment plan BTW

bc they don't know your situation? They just know the amount due. I still think they'll help in a face-to-face or one-on-one situation. $25 a month (1/2 of what you're planning to pay by year's end) would be better than it missing all of a sudden IMO

OTOH: you are seriously stressed. Hopefully you can find some way to alleviate some of that

[zibazinski]

Wash hair? That's a stress reliever.