I got another one of those certified, sign-here-please letters from the IRS . This one was substantially more beefy than the previous ones:
CALL IMMEDIATELY TO PREVENT PROPERTY LOSS
FINAL NOTICE OF INTENT TO LEVY AND NOTICE OF YOUR RIGHT TO A HEARINGWHY WE ARE SENDING YOU THIS LETTER
We’ve written to you before asking you to contact us about your overdue taxes. You haven’t responded or paid the amounts you owe. We encourage you to call us immediately at the telephone number listed above to discuss your options for paying these amounts. If you act promptly, we can resolve this matter without taking and selling your property to collect what you owe.
We are authorized to collect overdue taxes by taking, which is called levying, property or rights to property and selling them if necessary. Property includes bank accounts, wages, real estate commissions, business assets, cars and other income and assets.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
This is your notice, as required under Internal Revenue Code sections 6330 and 6331, that we intend to levy on your property or your rights to property 30 days after the date of this letter unless you take one of these actions:
- Pay the full amount you owe, shown on the back of this letter. When doing so,
- Please make your check or money order payable to the United States Treasury;
- Write your social security number and the tax year or employer identification number and the tax period on your payment; and enclose a copy of this letter with your payment.
- Make payment arrangements, such as an installment agreement that allows you to pay off your debt over time.
- Appeal the intended levy on your property by requesting a Collection Due Process hearing within 30 days from the date of this letter.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DISAGREE
If you’ve paid already or think we haven’t credited a payment to your account, please send us proof of that payment. You may also appeal our intended actions as described above.
Even if you request a hearing, please note that we can still file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien at any time to protect the government’s interest. A lien is a public notice that tells your creditors that the government has a right to your current assets and any assets you acquire after we file the lien.
We’ve enclosed two publications that explain how we collect past due taxes and your collection appeal rights, as required under Internal Revenue Code sections 6330 and 6331. In addition, we’ve enclosed a form that you can use to request a Collection Due Process hearing.
We look forward to hearing from you immediately, and hope to assist you in fulfilling your responsibility as a taxpayer.
Enclosures: Copy of letter, Form 12153, Publication 594, Publication 1660, Envelope
That came in duplicate, with the sum of my unpaid taxes listed on the back. Uncharacteristically, they included both years in the same letter (often they send out one letter per year, so that long-time resisters may get ten certified letters on a single day):
| Account Summary · DAVID M GROSS · 567-68-0515 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of Tax | Period Ending | Assessed Balance | Accrued Interest | Late Payment Penalty | Total |
| Total Amount Due | $5,375.49 | ||||
| 1040 | $784.21 | $89.86 | $107.79 | $981.86 | |
| 1040 | $4,170.35 | $125.23 | $98.05 | $4,393.63 | |
Their “Assessed Balance”s seem a little high to me. I’m assuming that’s supposed to be the amount I owed when I filed around April 15th of the following year. My records say these amounts were $770 and $4,094. So either they’ve got a different idea of “Assessed Balance” than I do, or they’ve got a bug, or they’re trying to pull a fast one by ratcheting up the values in the hopes that I won’t notice. Quite possibly, if I don’t object, they’ll be able to stick me with whatever numbers they come up with. Dirty pool, but I wouldn’t put it past them.
The $4,000+ that I was assessed for includes a $172 penalty for failure to file my quarterlies that year, so the total interest and penalties that I’ve accrued so far by refusing to pay taxes is almost $600.
For previous installments in the nasty-letters-from-the-IRS series, see:
