What To Do If You Have
An IRS Wage Garnishment

Author: Greg Roy

There are at least two methods of removing an IRS wage garnishment. One is to make an arrangement with the IRS. You can do this yourself through the use of an offer in compromise. Or, you can hire a tax attorney to negotiate an arrangement with the IRS on your behalf. Another method is to do a fair amount of research into your case, and others like it, to find instances where the IRS has violated proper procedure in their dealings with you.

The tax law is very complex. It is highly likely that you do not know every detail contained in the thousands of pages of tax law. Believe it or not, neither does the IRS agent. They very often violate their own rules. This is so common that it would be laughable if it wasn't such a serious matter. Nonetheless, with some research and investigating, you'll likely find an instance where the IRS has erred in their actions. When you find an error that they have made, you have what you need to get the IRS wage garnishment removed.

There are many cases where people tried to sue the IRS under all kinds of different theories. The courts continually dismiss those cases. The solution to not having your case dismissed is found in 26 USC § 7433 and 26 USC § 7432. In 1988, the United States waived sovereign immunity in 26 USC § 7433 and made it possible for someone to sue the U.S. when IRS agents fail to follow the statues or the regulations while they are involved in tax collection activity. Section 7432 made it possible to sue when the IRS refuses to remove a lien that is legally unenforceable.

If you intend to sue the IRS you are required to send a letter noticing the U.S. of your intent to sue as required by the statute to obtain the waiver of sovereign Immunity. Without the waiver of sovereign immunity, your case will automatically be dismissed.

Now, once you are aware of this little-known fact, it changes the way that you can approach the IRS. Most people do not know of this requirement. And the IRS knows that most people don't know of it. When someone who has been wronged by the IRS threatens to sue them, the IRS can basically chuckle and think to themselves "Go ahead, your case will only get dismissed from court anyway. You're wasting your time and money."

However, by knowing this fact, you can send a letter to the Technical Compliance Officer as required to obtain the waiver of sovereign Immunity. By doing so, your case becomes credible, and the IRS will take you seriously. Your case may have merit. You may actually win a court judgment against the IRS.

Just as court cases are expensive and a big hassle for you, they are the same for the IRS. The IRS wants to avoid all of the effort and time that is required to try a case in court (unless of course, your case is high-profile and the sums of money involved reach into the millions of dollars.)

The Technical Compliance Officer has 3 things in mind when receiving your letter: 1) The federal courts are overloaded with cases; 2) The U.S. Attorney's office is overloaded with cases; 3) Congressmen and Senators enacted legislation so they would have to deal with fewer constituents that had complaints about the IRS.

Here comes your credible threat to sue in the form of a letter in compliance with the statute. The Technical Compliance Officer reads down through it and asks himself, what would make more sense, have a lawsuit, or make the issue go away? The next thing you find is that the IRS releases the wage garnishment.

There is no perfect argument is to get every instance of an IRS wage garnishment removed. You will have to find some error or some mistake that the IRS made where they failed to follow the regulation or the statute; or, they wrongly interpreted the statute or the reg. You then take your arguments of why the wage garnishment is invalid, put them in the form of a notice of intent to sue, and you send it to the Technical Compliance Officer, the motivated target.

And if he wants to avoid the hassles of a law suit, then he's going to figure out a reason to call up the IRS agents that are hassling you, and tell them, leave this person alone because they're threatening to sue and we don't need any more lawsuits.

To have your IRS wage garnishment released, simply analyze your own case. Compare what the IRS did on your case with the statute and the regulation, and see where they have made errors. They can hardly ever get it right.

Your letter may get the IRS to release the garnishment of your wages. It may not. Your other option is to file suit. Once your suit is filed, it is no longer a possible hassle for the IRS, it is guaranteed. They will have even more reason to negotiate.

Or maybe you'll be one of these people that just really gets diligent and you'll take it all the way to trial. Maybe it's there that they'll just give you damages for everything they have done to you, and not only will your wage garnishment be released, but the IRS may have to return property that was taken from you

.About the Author:
Greg Roy has experienced the financial pain of an IRS wage garnishment first hand. To learn more about negotiating with the IRS and getting a wage garnishment released, visit http://IRS-wage-garnishment.com.