{"id":28143,"date":"2017-09-17T21:44:44","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T21:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/?p=28143"},"modified":"2018-05-04T14:00:39","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T19:00:39","slug":"tax-dictionary-federal-tax-lien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/tax-dictionary-federal-tax-lien\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Tax Lien"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>IRS Definition:<\/h2>\n<p>A federal tax lien is the government\u2019s legal claim against your property when you neglect or fail to pay a tax debt. The lien protects the government\u2019s interest in all your property, including real estate, personal property and financial assets. A federal tax lien exists after\u00a0the IRS:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Puts your balance due on the books (assesses your liability);<\/li>\n<li>Sends you a bill that explains how much you owe (Notice and Demand for Payment); and<\/li>\n<li>You neglect or refuse to fully pay the debt in time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The IRS files a public document, the\u00a0Notice of Federal Tax Lien, to alert creditors that the government has a legal right to your property.<\/p>\n<h2>More from H&amp;R Block:<\/h2>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t pay a tax debt that meets lien-filing criteria, the IRS files a tax lien to secure the government\u2019s legal claim to your property and your rights to property.<\/p>\n<p>A lien filing\u00a0doesn&#8217;t mean\u00a0that the IRS will seize your property. It just makes sure that the IRS will get the first rights to your property over other creditors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A federal tax lien has several negative effects:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Affects your access to credit<\/li>\n<li>Affects your ability to get a loan<\/li>\n<li>Affects your ability to sell or transfer property<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Normally, the IRS tries to collect back taxes before it files a federal tax lien. The IRS will send a series of notices, and if you don&#8217;t pay, the IRS may file a lien. But the IRS doesn&#8217;t have to send multiple notices before it files a lien. The law requires only that the IRS make a tax assessment and demand payment. At that point, if the taxpayer refuses or doesn&#8217;t pay, the IRS can file a lien.<\/p>\n<p>If you owe more than $10,000 and you&#8217;re not in an arrangement to pay all the taxes you owe within 6 years, the IRS will generally file a tax lien. If you owe more than $50,000, the IRS will almost always file a tax lien, regardless of whether you&#8217;re in an agreement to pay.<\/p>\n<p><strong>There are several options to avoid a federal tax lien.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first is obvious: Pay the tax, penalties, and interest in full.<\/p>\n<p>The second is to get into an installment agreement that doesn&#8217;t require the IRS to file a lien.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/irs\/audits-and-tax-notices\/bill-for-unpaid-taxes\/\">Learn all of the options you may have if you can&#8217;t pay your taxes.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IRS Definition: A federal tax lien is the government\u2019s legal claim against your property when you neglect or fail to pay a tax debt. The lien protects the government\u2019s interest in all your property, including real estate, personal property and financial assets. A federal tax lien exists after\u00a0the IRS: Puts your balance due on the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":26082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irs","category-audits-and-tax-notices"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<title>Tax Dictionary - Federal Tax Lien | H&amp;R Block<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Get the facts from H&amp;R Block about federal tax liens. 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