CAN YOU LIVE ON $195.19 A WEEK?

If you have unpaid taxes owed to the IRS and didn’t communicate with them how you plan to settle such liability, be prepared to face wage garnishment, or otherwise called wage levy, the IRS’ favorite enforced collecting method. Garnishing wages is one of the most powerfull weapons that the agency can use from its arsenal. Wage levies are filed with your employer and remain in effect until the IRS notifies your employer that the wage garnishment has been released. When the IRS sends out a Notice of Wage Garnishment to your employer it includes a chart that your employer will use to determine how much to garnish from each of your paychecks. Most wage levies take so much money from your paycheck that you don’t have enough money to live on. If you are a single taxpayer with no exemptions, the IRS will only exempt $195.19 gross from you paycheck each week, regardless of how much you earn. Find out how much would be exempt from your wages in this chart.

Your job can be placed in danger when you are stamped with such a serious tax collecting method. For one thing, many employers will view their workers, the ones who have problems with their taxes, with contempt; you will be seen as a liability. This can also cause stress in your working atmosphere, in addition to the financial pressure you may already have at home providing for household necessities like food, bills and other expenses. Your basic and necessary expenses cannot be satisfied because of your garnished funds.

Typically, the IRS will send the IRS Notice of Intent to Levy Wages to the taxpayer first in an IRS certified letter. The IRS Notice of Intent to Levy Wages is the first of two IRS letters that the taxpayer will receive prior to having their wages or paycheck garnished by the IRS. If the taxpayer does not take action on the first letter, the IRS will follow up with a second IRS letter which is the IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy Wages. This letter requires quick action by you because it is the final notice before the IRS will garnish your paycheck. This IRS Final Notice of Intent to Levy Wages notification has a mechanism in it that allows the IRS wage garnishment or IRS wage levy to be halted. However, there is a tight deadline associated with the action so a taxpayer who receives this final notice letter cannot delay taking action. Otherwise the IRS will certainly garnish your paycheck.

Many taxpayers ignore the letters sent to them by the IRS notifying them of the IRS wage garnishment. Unfortunately, if you don’t take any action and ignore IRS notices the wage levy is imminent. If an employer notifies you that they have received a wage garnishment from the IRS, it is important to get a copy of the IRS wage levy from the employer so that you can fill out the forms in an effort to reduce the amount of money that the IRS will garnish from your paycheck.

The good news is that an IRS wage garnishment can be stopped or lifted if it happens. It isn’t automatic and it requires some work, but it can be done if appropriate action is taken by the taxpayer. One of the biggest obstacles to getting an IRS wage garnishment or IRS wage levy stopped is having un-filed tax returns. The IRS mandates that taxpayers be in tax compliance with their tax returns before they will consider lifting the IRS wage garnishment or IRS wage levy. Tax returns need to be up to date for all un-filed tax years.

In conclusion, having your wages garnished by the IRS can most certainly cause a financial hardship for you, so prompt assistance from the competent tax professionals at IBA Tax Group is vital in order to help you avoid problems or to help resolve them if the garnishment or levy is already in motion. Contact us now for experienced help you can count on!

To schedule an appointment Call 888-493-0666, E-mail or Skype us!