IRS Bank Levy

[rrybinski]

I just checked my bank account today and found that the IRS took all my money. No notice nothing. Now I have checks bouncing. My question is can they just go and drain you bank account without giving notice? Also I have a payroll direct deposit going in at midnight tonight. Is the IRS able to seize that money also?

[CourtClerk]

Are you saying you were given no notice that you owed the IRS money? They never sent you a letter telling you how much you owed them? They never told you that if you didn't make an attempt to pay that money, make payment arrangements or something, they would begin enforcement actions?

If you're asking whether or not they have to give you notice so you have enough time to drain your bank account before they go and attach it, the answer is no.

[M'sta Mikey]

And in several cases that I know of (friends, family, etc.), the IRS has always sent a "Notice of Intent to Levy" to the party prior to them actually doing so.

[llworking]

And in several cases that I know of (friends, family, etc.), the IRS has always sent a "Notice of Intent to Levy" to the party prior to them actually doing so.

The IRS sends multiple notices before they get to the point of a levy. The first notice indicates a potential discrepancy, the second notice (if the first notice is ignored) indicates the finding of a discrepancy, and the third notice indicates an intent to levy, and that's all assuming that the obligor doesn't respond to any of the notices.

[M'sta Mikey]

Exactly! Either the OP moved and didn't receive the notices (highly unlikely as the IRS always has your address as long as you're filing taxes), someone in the household got the mail and threw it away, or s/he ignored the notices and now wishes to fight.

When the IRS (I'm Really Serious) sends notices to collect, they're not to be taken lightly.

[rrybinski]

To update, I received a notice of Lien from the IRS last month. I wrote to them asking what I need to do to resolve this. I also included a check for $250.00 towards the back taxes. 2 weeks later I sent another letter simular to the 1st and again enclosed a check for $150.00. I included my new address and phone number and the best time to contact me. Both checks were cashed. Two weeks later I checked on my bank account and all my funds were gone. No notce no nothing. Thats were it stands right now.

[CourtClerk]

You know, never once have I thought that I could write an agency as large as the IRS a letter and expect a response from them in something less than 6 months. As a matter of fact, I sent a fax to someone there almost a year ago and still haven't gotten a response. You know how I got a response? I called the IRS and spoke to someone regarding my issue. I know, a novel concept.

Anyway, the money is gone. It went to pay your tax liability. The direct deposit? I wouldn't be surprised if that was gone too, but I'm sure you've had time to check your bank balance by now.

Maybe NOW would be a good time to get on the phone (you've seen one of those before, right) and speak to those people about your taxes.

[Bubba Jimmy]

This year in particular the IRS is taking an inordinate amount of time to process written correspondence of any kind. Normal ammended returns are taking as long as four to six months to be processed.

There were a number of notices mailed to you over a significant period of time before the IRS levied your bank acount. Whether you received them or not is another matter, but you can be assured that they followed their standard procedures which would have involved a minimum of four mailings. Ignoring them up to the point of the notice to levy is not the way to deal with this situation. In every notice the IRS sent to you, they specified a deadline by which you needed to act to avoid what evenutally happened.