When the government seizes money from a taxpayer’s bank account, it is called a bank levy. For obvious reasons this is one fiasco that should be avoided at all costs. Failure to comply with IRS obligations and demands will ultimately land you smack dab in the midst of a bank levy process. Out of consideration for the delinquent taxpayer, a 30 day notice is issued before this action takes place. Taxpayers then have a chance to pay up or to somehow resolve their tax issues before the actual levy is handed down by the long arm of Uncle Sam.
When the IRS attempts to wipe your account dry of any remaining funds, your bank, in accordance with tax laws, delays the process. The bank places a hold on the money in question rather than simply forking it over to the IRS. There is a 21 day grace period that allows room for you, the taxpayer, to contact the IRS. This grace period is best utilized for negotiations and the making of beneficial deals with those kind folks that work for the IRS.
If you are stubborn and still refuse to see the need for coming to a mutual meeting of the minds with the IRS in regards to the payment of your tax debt, then there is no help left available to you at this time. You will learn first hand what it is like to watch your bank account be pilfered, legally, by good old Uncle Sam. At the end of 21 days, the money in your account will be rushed off in the most expeditious of ways to the government and appropriately applied to your past due balance.
It is not a secret that the IRS uses a steel fist in obtaining what is owed to them. A bank levy is just one example of the many punishments inflicted on taxpayers who have neglected their debt.
