Thousands of taxpayers across the country receive a notice of intent to levy from the IRS each year.  Many of those taxpayers, however, do not know what that notice means or what they should do. A notice of levy is the IRS’s way of telling the taxpayer that they are going to garnish the taxpayer’s wages or levy the taxpayer’s bank accounts. 

If the IRS chooses to levy a bank account, it can levy all money in the bank account up to the amount of tax that the IRS says that it is owed.  All of the taxpayer’s outstanding checks will bounce if the money in the bank account is not sufficient to cover the IRS levy and the outstanding checks.  When an IRS levy occurs, taxpayers often do not have sufficient funds to pay their mortgage or rent payments (not to mention the bank fees!).

If you get a notice of levy, it is extremely important that you do not ignore it.  A notice of intent to levy means that the IRS has started the collection process and will not stop until the debt is satisfied. An IRS tax lawyer should immediately work on preventing a levy from occurring or reducing any damage that has occurred while he or she negotiates with the IRS on your behalf.    

For more information, please visit the tax section of Robinson & Henry, P.C., at http://www.wlhenry.com/practice_area_taxation.php or contact us at   (303… .

Charles O’Byrne, Chief of Staff to New York Governor David Paterson, failed to pay or file his personal tax returns for 2001 – 2005.  He owed nearly $300,000 in back taxes, penalties, and interest.

The reason?  According to his lawyer, Richard S. Kestenbaum, he has “late-filing syndrome” (also called called nonfiling syndrome or failure-to-file syndrome).  This disorder, however, is not recognized as a psychiatric condition according to the American Psychiatric Association.

So, if you suffer from late-filing syndrome and have failed to file your tax returns or pay taxes we can help.  We can help reduce penalties and interest, stop wage garnishments and bank levies, and possibly reduce the underlying tax liability. Unfortunately, a psychiatrist probably can’t. 

Here is a breakdown of Mr. O’Byrne’s tax liability.  As you can see, everyone is human and makes mistakes.

FEDERAL TAXES

$127,018 in back taxes

$50,836 in penalties

$34,005 in interest

STATE TAXES

$51,303 in back taxes

$16,711 in penalties

$12,905 in interest

Please call us for a free consultation if you think we can help (303) 952-5064 or info@robinsonandhenry.com

Bill Henry