To the IRS, What is a Levy?
An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) levy is a garnishment of wages, additional assessment of income taxes or government payments like social security and disability. A levy can also refer to the ability of the IRS to claim monies owed by seizing your bank account or by selling your assets. An IRS levy can occur as early as ten days after a demand for payment on taxes owed. Normally, one can avoid a levy by proposing and sticking to a reasonable payment plan. The IRS tends to employ a levy when people either ignore requests for payment of taxes or don’t stick to proposed payment plans. If a tax debt is very large, a proposed payment plan may simply be too modest for the IRS and they may choose to levy your earnings or assets. Usually, the IRS is willing to work with people who owe tax debt because it is much less expensive to have a debt collected over time. The IRS can, however, levy fees and fines or interest if a debt needs to be paid off in payments. Once the IRS has chosen to levy a
