The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act extended the time a taxpayer has to file a wrongful levy claim if the IRS has sold the levied property. Previously, a taxpayer had nine months. The new law gives taxpayers two years. The change applies to levies made after December 22, 2017. It also applies to levies made on or before December 22, 2017, if the previous nine-month period hadn’t yet expired. There’s no time limit to file a claim if the IRS still has the levied property, such as a house or car. An IRS levy is a legal seizure that takes someone’s property or rights to property (such as income, bank account, retirement account or Social Security payments) to satisfy the tax debt. If, following a claim, the IRS determines it has wrongfully levied property, it will return one of the following: the property, an amount of money equal to the amount of money levied upon, or an amount of money equal to the money received from the sale of the property. The IRS will implement these changes through updated forms, publications and guidance. Anyone who receives an IRS bill titled Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to A Hearing, should immediately contact the IRS. It’s also important that those who receive a levy notice against their employees, vendors, customers or other third parties comply. For more information, see the What is a Levy? page on IRS.gov.
