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How
IRS Wage Garnishment Works and How to Prevent It
When trying to determine how to prevent IRS wage
garnishment, or how to get a wage garnishment released,
understanding the motivation of these measures is an
important first step. Under recent economic circumstances —
most notably the Obama loan modification plan — dealing with
wage garnishment can be manageable. While addressing these
issues may be untaken by an individual directly, the use of
a tax attorney or experienced service provider is
recommended. These professionals have experience dealing
directly with the IRS and can help an individual with tax
issues avoid the traps and pitfalls that equally experienced
IRS agents can leave.
Essentially a wage garnishment is a tax levy against one’s
personal property resulting from a failure to pay taxes that
are owed. The simple goal of the IRS is collect the taxes
owed, not to simply harass delinquent taxpayers and make
things more difficult. To that end, a wage garnishment is
usually avoidable by preemptively setting up a workable
payment plan with the government. Similar to many of the
government loan modification plans currently in place, these
negotiations can lead to a regular monthly payment that is
manageable for the taxpayer. Again, the most effective way
to obtain a favorable loan modification and payment schedule
is to employ a professional experienced in such
negotiations; he or she will have a sense for how far they
can push the IRS without floating a ridiculous and untenable
plan.
Once the IRS has already resorted to wage garnishment, thus
exercising their power to seize personal property to satisfy
tax debt, obtaining a release is often a matter of proposing
an alternate payment plan that is more favorable to the
taxpayer, but still reasonable. Keep in mind that the goal
of the IRS is receive payment and “impose” good habits on
taxpayers, not to be punitive.
While this is a situation to be avoided, not getting help
will usually compound the problem. An experienced
professional will likely be able to obtain the most
favorable terms for the delinquent taxpayers, and in certain
cases, reach a settlement that is beneficial to all the
parties.
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