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Updates on Collection Issues

Posted on June 15, 2018

The IRS has recently updated several matters that impact taxpayers in collection. This post pulls together some of the newly available information.  The areas discussed in this post are the financial standards, the updated offer in compromise booklet, the impact of the new law on amounts exempt from levy and the impact of the new law on the time to file wrongful levy claims.

Financial Standards

On March 26, 2018 the IRS issued new financial standards to be used in collection cases.  The new standards provide guidance to individuals seeking to prepare a collection information statement in order to convince the IRS to grant an offer in compromise, an installment agreement, to make a currently not collectible determination or to otherwise decide the appropriate course of action in a collection case.  The financial standards have their roots in information published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Congress also makes them applicable in bankruptcy cases for certain purposes.

Offer in Compromise

On March 25, 2018, the IRS issued a new Offer in Compromise Booklet. The updated booklet contains the following changes:

Form 656, Section 6, Filing Requirements – “I have filed all required tax returns and have included a complete copy of any tax return filed within 60 days prior to this offer submission.”

This is also addressed in the opening Q&A section under “Other Important Facts”:

“Note: If you have filed your tax returns but you have not received a bill for at least one tax debt included on your offer, your offer and application fee may be returned and any initial payment sent with your offer will be applied to your tax debt. Include a complete copy of any tax return filed within 60 days prior to this offer submission.”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW, Q&A Section, Bankruptcy, Open Audit or Innocent Spouse Claim – “If you currently have any open audit or outstanding innocent spouse claim, wait for those issues to be resolved before you submit an offer.”

PAYING FOR YOUR OFFER – There is better highlighting of the Low-Income Certification option, with emphasis that low income certification means no money need be sent with the offer.

Because the IRS will not work an offer if a taxpayer has not complied with tax laws by filing all necessary returns, many taxpayers file returns immediately prior to the filing of an offer in compromise. The IRS does not always process past due returns with haste because it puts more focus on processing the currently due returns.  The new requirement that a taxpayer attach returns filed within 60 days of the submission of the offer allows the IRS offer group to avoid rejecting cases for lack of filing compliance and to get a view of the liabilities the taxpayer owes in advance of the actual assessment.

The warning about waiting for the resolution of outstanding audits or claims should be considered in the context that an offer in compromise acts as a closing agreement resolving all matters concerning the years covered by the offer. A taxpayer cannot go back and seek a refund after obtaining an offer and the IRS cannot go back and seek an additional assessment.  It is important to resolve all issues for the years covered by the offer but many taxpayers do not appreciate the scope of the offer with respect to the years it covers.

Low income taxpayers continue to receive a benefit when applying for an offer because they do not have to pay a fee for the offer or remit a percentage of the offer. Almost all practitioners know this but many individuals filing offers pro se may not appreciate this benefit and the new booklet tries to make it clearer.

Each of the changes seem appropriate and helpful.

Exemption from Levy

The exemption from levy is tied to the personal exemption. The personal exemption went up last year and the IRS has published guidance on how that change impacts the amount of the exemption from levy in a wage levy situation.  This creates a windfall for individuals subject to a wage levy that Congress probably did not think about when it passed the law.  Of course, windfall may be the wrong term when talking about a provision that can bring a taxpayer to their knees.  Here is the IRS description of the way the wage levy provisions will now work:

Public Law Number 115‐97, TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT OF 2017, signed by President Trump on December 22, 2017, temporarily increases the basic standard deduction applicable to the 2018 taxable year [IRC § 63(c)(2); Rev. Proc. 2016‐ 55] across all filing categories:

  • From $6,350 to $12,000 for single individuals and married individuals filing separate returns;
  • From $9,350 to $18,000 for heads of households; and
  • From $12,700 to $24,000 for married individuals filing a joint return and surviving spouses.

The Act also suspends personal exemption deductions. Both changes, the increase in the standard deduction and the suspension of the personal exemption, are effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2026. These two changes impact how a recipient of a levy will figure the amount of income exempt from levy. Prior to the change in the law, the amount that was exempt from levy was calculated by taking into consideration both the standard deduction and the total exemptions of the payee. With the elimination of personal and dependency exemptions, a new method for determining the amount of income exempt from levy was needed.

As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Congress amended §6334 to provide that from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2025 employers and other recipients of levies would exclude from levy $4,150 per dependent per year in addition to the amount excluded based upon the standard deduction for the filing status of the person subject to levy. The amount exempt from levy each pay period is calculated by dividing the total amount exempt from levy for the year by the number of pay periods. Publication 1494, Table for Figuring Amount Exempt from Levy on Wages, Salary, and Other Income has been updated. Changes are also being made to Forms 668-W(c), 668-W(c)(DO), 668-W (ICS) and Form 668-W, Notice of Levy on Wages, Salary, and Other Income, along with the instructions.  Due to the increase in the standard deduction amount, in most cases, the taxpayer will have more take-home pay that is exempt from levy.

Employers or others receiving levies will need to figure the amount of income exempt from levy. To do so the recipient  must determine what the payee’s filing status will be (The amount exempt from levy is based upon the standard deduction for that filing status); the frequency of payments, Daily (260), Weekly (52), Bi-Weekly (26), Bi-Monthly (24), Monthly (12); and lastly, the number of dependents that the payee will claim. In this example, the employer knows that the employee will claim the married filing joint standard deduction and has two dependents.

STEP 1: Determine the filing status of the payee.

STEP 2: Find the amount exempt from levy based upon how often taxpayer is paid:

Married Filing Jointly:

STEP 3: The taxpayer is entitled to exclude $4,150 per year per dependent. This chart shows the amount that can be excluded each pay period based upon pay frequency. The amount from far the right-hand column for the correct pay frequency will need to be multiplied by the number of dependents to arrive at the total amount exempt from levy that is attributable to the payee’s dependents.

Amount Exempt from Levy per Dependent:

Step 4:

Amount Exempt from levy from Bi-Weekly Pay:

Add the amount exempt per pay period based upon the payee’s filing status, plus the amount exempt per pay period per dependent to arrive at the total amount of take-home pay that is exempt from levy. A taxpayer that is married, files jointly, is paid $1,500 bi-weekly, and claims two dependents will receive $1,242.32 and will have $257.68 ($1,500-$1242.32) levied.

Wrongful Levy Claims

IRC § 6343(b) previously required taxpayers to make a wrongful levy claim within nine months of the taking of the property. For some people, this time frame was too short because they did not even learn about the taking during that time.  In response, Congress increased the amount of time taxpayers have to seek the return of property when they believe the IRS has wrongfully taken their property while trying to collect from a taxpayer.

Public Law 115-97, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act extends the period for making an administrative claim to two years and if the taxpayer makes an administrative claim during that period the time to bring suit is extended for 12 months from the date of filing of the claim or for six months from the disallowance of the claim, whichever is shorter. The change applies to levies made after December 22, 2017, and to levies made prior to that date if the nine month period under the prior law had not yet expired.  The IRS issued IR-2018-126 to discuss the change and has revised Publication 4528 to reflect the change.

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