If You Are Facing a Bank Levy
A person’s finances are very important, and all working Americans are urged to keep careful track of their savings, their expenses, their income, and all other financial matters. Doing this can help a person determine how much they can save up, how to budget their spending, how soon they can pay off loans, and more. But sometimes, a person’s finances may suffer greatly, such as if they lose a job and are forced to declare bankruptcy, or if they suffer a bank levy. But what is a bank levy, exactly, and can the best tax attorneys even help? Yes, tax lawyers can certainly help, and best tax attorney for the job may help reverse a bank levy or take other action deemed unfair. No outcome can be guaranteed here, but best tax attorneys around may do a lot to prevent the worst effects of a bank levy. That, and best tax attorneys out there can simply help a client figure out how best to pay off outstanding tax debt. This may be especially true if that client is earning much more money than they used to in previous years.
Understanding and Dealing With a Bank Levy
What does it mean to face a bank levy, and what are the effects? Put simply, a bank levy is an action where a creditor (such as the IRS) directly commands the debtor’s bank to withdraw the necessary funds and transfer them to that creditor, without the debtor’s permission first. Not all creditors can do this at will, but often, the IRS can perform a bank levy at its discretion.
Other creditors, such as a credit card company, usually go to court and need to win a case so that they can perform a bank levy. The exception is if the debtor’s bank issued that card, in which case the debtor may experience a setoff. Otherwise, if the creditor wins the court case, then win a money judgment. This, in turn, turns the creditor into a judgement creditor, which can then perform a bank levy against the debtor. This can also be done by taking the money directly out of the debtor’s paychecks, which is an act known as wage garnishment. In other cases, the judgment creditor can force the debtor to sell property in order to generate funds for the debt, such as foreclosing a house or forcing the sale of a motor vehicle. In yet other cases, that judgment creditor may order the sheriff to simply remove money from a cash register, known as a till tap.
The problem with this is that the money obtained with a bank levy may interfere with the debtor’s capacity to afford even basic living expenses such as a mortgage, rent, or even groceries or prescription drugs. If this happens, and the debtor’s basic lifestyle is in jeopardy, they can find best tax attorneys around and build a case to defend themselves. In many instances, the debtor’s case may be stronger if the bank levy demonstrably interferes with their basic living expenses.
The debtor may want to move fast, as they may have only a few days in which to act after the bank levy takes place. That debtor can look online, for example, and search “best tax attorneys near me” and find local law firms with such lawyers to offer. The client may then consult the lawyers working there (which may or may not incur a fee) and hire one whose skills, experience, and personality are to their liking. Together, they can build a case against a bank levy, and hope to reverse its effects, or otherwise eliminate the threat to the client’s everyday expenses.
Other Uses
Not all tax lawyers are called upon for bank levy incidents. More mundane cases also call for a tax lawyer’s assistance, such as if a person owes a lot in taxes and they are unsure how to handle it. And tax laws often change from year to year, and consulting a tax layer can help a person make informed decisions. All this may be especially true if the client has started a new job or private business, and they are earning a lot more money than they ever have before.
