Can the IRS garnish my wages for taxes?

Like most creditors, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has the power to garnish your wages if you owe a tax debt. Unlike most other creditors, however, the IRS can garnish your wages without first getting a judgment, and the amount it can take is usually more than what regular creditors can take. Luckily, the IRS has many options for you to take care of tax debts, so that you can avoid wage garnishment.

(Learn how wage garnishments work.)

Options to Deal With Your Tax Obligations

When tax season rolls around and you (or someone else) prepares your tax return, you will either owe the IRS more money or else get a refund.

If you owe money, there are several ways to pay. Ideally you write a check to IRS for the full amount owed when you send in your return. However, many people do not have the ability to pay the full amount all at once, and will need to explore additional opportunities to settle up with the IRS. These options include:

• setting up a payment plan
• making a settlement offer, called an Offer in Compromise (see Using an Offer in Compromise to Settle a Tax Bill), or
• if your case is severe enough, filing bankruptcy.

If you do nothing, then the IRS will initiate its collection process.

The IRS Collection Process

The IRS will not start garnishing your wages without giving you notice and an opportunity to make payment arrangements. But, unlike most other creditors, it does not have to first use you and get a judgment in order to start the garnishment process.

To start the process, the IRS must send you a written notice stating the amount you owe. The notice must itemize all of the charges (tax, penalties, and interest) and give you a date by which you must pay the balance in full.

If you don't comply with the demand for payment within the stated time, the IRS will then explore how it may most effectively force you to pay the tax. This may include seizing your assets, placing liens on your property, taking future refunds, and garnishing your wages.

How Much Will the IRS Garnish From My Wages?

State and federal law limit the amount that most creditors can take from your wages. (To learn about limits for judgment creditors and other creditors, see You Rights if Your Wages Are Garnished.)

The tax code, however, limits only what the IRS is required to leave. The IRS will take as much as it can and leave you with an amount that the tax code says is necessary for you to pay for basic living necessities. The amount that you can keep corresponds to the number of exemptions you claim for tax purposes. Refer to this IRS table to see how much of your wages are protected.

For example, a single person getting paid weekly and claiming five exemptions will only be allowed to keep $479.81. A married person filing a joint return, getting paid monthly, and claiming two exemptions will only be allowed to keep $1,625. Anything over and above these amounts gets garnished and sent to the IRS. So if the married person in our example makes $5,000per month, he will only get to keep $1,625 and $3,37 will go to the IRS.

What to Do If You Face an IRS Wage Garnishment?

The IRS traditionally offers a wide array of options to deal with tax debt. It will usually only use wage garnishment as a last resort when you’ve ignored all other attempts to address the debt. (To learn more, see Options for Taxpayers to Deal With Back Taxes.)