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IRS Asset Seizures - Will It Happen to You?

If you have major IRS Problems, the likelihood of asset seizure is high. When the IRS wants payment, it can seize your assets. This means that if you owe the IRS a lot of unpaid taxes, you may not have much left after they are done seizing your assets.

The IRS usually uses these three factors in determining what assets to seize:

1) The amount of the tax liability vs. the property needed to pay the tax

2) How easy it is to seize and dispose of the assets

3) How important the assets are to the taxpayer

The IRS will threaten asset seizure in hopes that you will choose to sell the asset(s) to pay your unpaid taxes. These are the assets the IRS commonly targets:

o Bank accounts

o Vehicles including cars, boats, airplanes and recreational vehicles

o Cash value life insurance

o Accounts receivable

o Stocks and bonds

o Wages

o Collectibles

o Real estate including investment and vacation homes

o Pensions, IRAs and Keoghs

o Your home

So, what is left? These are the assets that the IRS cannot seize:

o Clothing but does not include fur coats or other luxury wear

o Fuel, furniture, personal effects and provisions up to $6,250.

o Books and tools of a trade up to $3,125.

o School books

o Unemployment benefits

o Worker's compensation

o Public assistance money

o Job training benefits

o Undelivered mail

o Court-ordered child support

o Deposits made to the Special Treasury fund by members of the armed forces and Public Health Service employees assigned to permanent duty outside the U.S.

o Some disability payments

o Minimum exemption amount of wages, salary and other income

o Public assistance payments from welfare or SSI

The best option for you is to avoid asset seizure but if you have already received your notice from the IRS what is the next step? Our firm can guide you through the release process. You will have to pay your taxes in full, offer an installment agreement to the IRS, possibly prove a hardship, or prove that the amount that was seized was actually more than what you owed.

Darrin T. Mish is a Nationally recognized Attorney whose practice focuses on representing clients across the United States with IRS Problems. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbel and is a member of the American Society of IRS Problem Solvers and the Tax Freedom Institute. He has been honored by a listing in Martindale-Hubbel's Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. His passion is providing IRS help to taxpayers with both individual and payroll tax problems. He teaches attorneys, CPAs and Enrolled Agents in the finer aspects of IRS representation all around the United States. He can be reached at his website at http://www.getIRShelp.com

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