Hi, I just fished this out of the pond of IRS knowledge. Under 26CFR Part 301, RIN 1545-AVOO IRS subject "Withdrawal of Notice of Federal Tax Lien in Certain Circumstances."

As of June 22, 2001 there were changes made to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Secton 6323 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Written by Kevin B Connelly of the IRS.

Specifically secton 501(a) of TBOR2 was amended to allow the commissioner to withdraw notice of federal tax liens for (4) reasons. They are

1. The filing of the notice of tax lien was premature or otherwise not in accordance with administrative procedures of the Secretary

2. The taxpayer has entered into an agreement under section 6159 to satisfy the liability for which the lien was imposed by means of installment payments, unless the agreement by its terms provides that the notice will not be withdrawn,

3. The withdrawal of notice will facilitate collection of the tax liability for which the lien was imposed.

4. The withdrawal of notice is in the best interest of the taxpayer and the United States.

There you have the latest. Hope it helps some poor souls out there suffering from the weight of old IRS liens and cannot get a house because of it.

Thanks, Regis P

That is GREAT! Thanks, Regis.

Now I'd like to hear from someone who got that accomplished - is it easy to get them to file that notice, and will it actually remove the lien from the credit reports without a gazillion disputes?

The IRS .pdf file is at http://ftp.fedworld.gov/pub/irs-regs/td8951.pdf

I have looked into this and here is what I found out.

The IRS is willing to evaluate your present circumstances and withdraw the lien, under the new 2001 law, but only after you submit a new financial statement.

If they find that your financial condition has improved they can than increase your Installment payments, as well as, deny your request.

Its a roll of the dice.

Good Luck.

An IRS tax lien will automatically be released after 10 years from the filing date of the delinquent tax return.

This "Statute of Limitations" takes preference over whatever else you are told by the IRS, such as their adding time for being in BK or the one year they used to add for requesting and Offer in Compromise (This was withdrawn with the new law but not made retroactive)

It takes about 2 months for the IRS to process the release after the 10 years but you can accelerate this by bringing a copy of the recorded lien to a local IRS office. They say they can then do it in 2-3 weeks.

If you call the IRS and ask for the date your Statute of Limitations will run out the IRS will give you the CSED date (Collection Expiration Date). If this date is greater than 10 years from the date you filed your delinquent tax return it is not the actual expiration date. The date they give you is mathematically calculated without regard to the Statute of Limitations law. The 10 year SOL takes precedence no matter what you are told by the IRS.

I have not found any enrolled agents, tax attorneys or CPA's that know this. I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE.

Thank you VERY much for the update!

If more people shared like you do, all our lives would be a lot easier.

Hi Christine,

We have corresponded before about our situation.

My wife and I were so surprised and elated when we found out (by accident) in contacting the IRS that our 10 years of survitude was over, 2 years less then expected, that I just had to share it with the people on this Forum who were nice enough to respond to my comments and questions over the past few years.

It is very unfortunate that no-one we spoke to, including so-called experts and the IRS, had a clue about how the "Statute of Limitations" worked and how it was going to be applied in our situation by the IRS. We spent a considerable amount of money on "expert advice" that I believe should have been aware of this.

Perhaps this information will apply to someone on your Forum that is going through what we have (for 10 years) and they will be spared the unnecessary uncertainty and anquish that an IRS tax lien creates in peoples lives.

I will be watching for feedback and would be happy to hear that this might be the case.

It might be of further interest how we found this out. We did not receive the IRS's monthly Installment Payment statement for the December payment as we always had. My wife was suspicious so she called the IRS. They told her that we had a "Zero" balance due to the Statute of Limitations and that we no longer owed any money to the IRS. As I mentioned in my previous post the IRS had told us in 1998 that our "CSED" was November 2005. Because of this she could not believe it, so she kept asking the IRS person questions about who she was etc. before she realized it was for real. What a Christmas present!!!!

My husband is in the same situation, he had been making Payments on taxes from 1993. He lost his Job last year and was unable to make the payments and never heard anything from the IRS other than they took his Tax refund that was was filed for 2003. Now by my caculations his SOL should be up but we have been afraid to call about it and ask. becasue then they might see he has not been paying.

So, it doesn't extend your SOL if you made monthly payments on an installment aggreement??

The SOL runs for 10 years from the date the tax return was filed.

I am not an attorney or tax expert but would think that you would owe for the past due installment payments prior to the SOL running out.

If you are no longer receiving the monthly statements from the IRS it most likely because their computers have recognized that your 10 year SOL has run out. That is how we were alerted to that fact.

If you just sit tight and wait for a few months the IRS will notify you of this. Problem is that the tax lien continues to sit on your credit reports during this time.

I don't know what they will do about the delinquent payments but you will probably have to pay this off someday. If having this on your credit report is a problem I would call them and explain the situation and see if they would allow smaller payments to pay this off. If its not, you have nothing to lose but wait till they find it themselves. You most likely will have to pay interest on the money owed at that time.

according to the copy of the original tax lien I have here it says the date of assessment was 6-6-94 and the last day for refiling was 7-6-04. So, if they would of refiles it it seems I would he would have gotten a Notice.

Why don't you call the IRS and ask?

I don't think they will hastle you. I think you will be surprised at their cooperation.