IRS Levy and Wage Garnishment Attorney in New Jersey & New York
An IRS bank levy or wage garnishment can disrupt your paycheck, freeze your bank account, and create immediate financial pressure. If you received a final notice of intent to levy, wage garnishment notice, bank levy notice, or IRS collection warning, timing matters.
Todd S. Unger helps taxpayers respond quickly to IRS collection threats, evaluate appeal rights, request levy release when available, and pursue a practical resolution before the IRS collects more aggressively.
What Can Happen If the IRS Starts Collecting?
An IRS bank account levy and wage garnishment are two of the most serious enforcement actions the IRS can take. Unlike a tax lien, which is a legal claim against your property, a levy is the actual taking of money or property to satisfy a tax debt.
Your Paycheck Can Be Garnished
The IRS may instruct your employer to send part of your wages directly to the government until the tax issue is resolved or the levy is released.
Your Bank Account Can Be Frozen
A bank levy can freeze funds in your account, creating immediate problems with rent, payroll, mortgage payments, utilities, and basic living expenses.
Business Cash Flow Can Be Disrupted
For business owners, IRS collection can affect operating accounts, receivables, vendor payments, payroll taxes, and the ability to keep the business running.
The worst move is silence. IRS collection notices usually come with deadlines. Missing those deadlines can limit your options and make enforced collection harder to stop.
What to Do If You Received an IRS Levy or Garnishment Notice
If the IRS is threatening a wage garnishment, bank levy, or other collection action, do not ignore the notice. The deadline on the notice can affect your appeal rights and your ability to stop or delay enforced collection.
Read the Notice Carefully
Look for the notice type, tax years involved, balance owed, response deadline, and whether the IRS is giving you appeal rights.
Do Not Immediately Agree to a Payment You Cannot Afford
A rushed payment plan can create more problems if it is unrealistic. The IRS may need financial information before accepting a better resolution.
Find Out Whether Collection Can Be Stopped or Released
Depending on the facts, options may include a Collection Due Process hearing, installment agreement, hardship request, currently not collectible status, Offer in Compromise, or levy release request.
What Are Levies and Garnishments?
IRS Wage Garnishment
An IRS wage garnishment occurs when the IRS instructs your employer to redirect part of your paycheck to the government for unpaid tax debt. This can directly affect your ability to pay household expenses, support your family, and stay current on other obligations.
IRS Bank Levy
A bank levy allows the IRS to freeze funds in a bank account and apply those funds to a tax debt. Bank levies can create immediate hardship because they may block access to money needed for rent, payroll, utilities, food, or other basic expenses.
Relief From a Tax Levy
The IRS may be required to release a levy in certain circumstances. A levy release does not necessarily erase the tax debt, but it can stop the immediate seizure while a larger resolution is addressed.
The tax is paid or the collection period has expired
Releasing the levy helps collect the tax
You enter into an installment agreement that does not allow the levy to continue
The levy creates economic hardship
The levied property is worth more than the debt and release will not hurt collection
The levy was issued in error or appeal rights remain available
The goal is not just to stop the immediate levy. The larger goal is to resolve the underlying tax problem so the IRS does not return with another enforcement action.
Economic Hardship and Levy Release
Economic hardship may exist when a levy prevents you from meeting basic, reasonable living expenses. This can involve rent or mortgage payments, utilities, food, medical expenses, transportation, childcare, payroll obligations, or other necessary costs.
Hardship arguments need documentation. The IRS may ask for financial information, income, expenses, account records, pay stubs, and proof that the levy is preventing payment of necessary living expenses.
Todd S. Unger helps taxpayers organize the financial information needed to request levy release, evaluate hardship options, and pursue a sustainable tax resolution.
Options for Responding to IRS Collection Action
When IRS collection action is threatened or already underway, the right response depends on your facts. A tax attorney can help evaluate which option is realistic and which deadlines must be protected.
Requesting a levy release
Negotiating an IRS installment agreement
Requesting a Collection Due Process hearing
Showing financial hardship
Evaluating currently not collectible status
Reviewing Offer in Compromise eligibility
Addressing unfiled tax returns before negotiating
Challenging incorrect balances or improper collection
If the IRS sent a final notice of intent to levy, review your rights to a Collection Due Process hearing. If you need a long-term resolution, you may also need an IRS installment agreement or Offer in Compromise.
IRS Levy and Wage Garnishment FAQs
Get Help Before the IRS Collects
Facing an IRS levy or wage garnishment demands immediate action. Todd S. Unger can help evaluate your notices, protect your rights, and determine whether a levy release, hearing, hardship request, payment plan, or broader tax resolution option may apply.