The IRS froze your bank account. You have 21 days to act.
A Form 668-A levy does not take your money the day it hits. The bank holds it for 21 days first. That window is where levies get released, reduced, or fought. These guides show you how it works and what to do.
Checking account
**** 4821
Available balance
$0.00
Held for IRS
Frozen
- Notice of Levy (Form 668-A)Served
- Release of Levy (Form 668-D)Pending
- Surrender to IRSNext business day after day 21
Illustration only. Not a real account.
Day 0
Levy served on the bank
The bank freezes what is in the account at that moment, up to the levy amount.
Read the guideDays 1 to 21
The holding period
By law the bank waits 21 calendar days before sending the money. This is your window.
Read the guideDay 22
Funds go to the IRS
If no release arrives, the bank pays over on the next business day. Getting it back is harder.
Read the guide
Start here
Most people need one of these four guides today.
A bank levy is a collection tool, not a verdict. The Internal Revenue Code requires the IRS to release a levy in specific situations, and it gives co-owners and third parties their own claims. Knowledge is protection. Start with the basics, then go deeper.
Count your 21 daysHow to Get an IRS Bank Levy Released
Release of a levy is not a favor the IRS does when it feels generous. In five situations the Code says the IRS "shall" release it. Your job is to prove you fit one.
ReleaseYour First 48 Hours After an IRS Bank Levy: A Checklist
Stop losing sleep and start a list. The first two days after a bank levy decide how the next nineteen go.
ReleaseEconomic Hardship: Getting a Bank Levy Released When You Cannot Pay Basic Bills
When a levy takes the money you need for rent and groceries, the Code requires the IRS to release it. Proving it is the whole game.
OwnershipCan the IRS Levy a Joint Bank Account for One Person's Taxes?
Your name is on the account. Your paychecks fund it. Your spouse, parent or partner owes the IRS. The account gets frozen anyway. Here is why, and what the co-owner can do.
The library
30 guides to IRS bank levies
How Bank Levies Work
The notice, the freeze, the 21-day hold, and how the IRS found the account in the first place.
- Does an IRS Bank Levy Take Future Deposits?
- Form 668-A Notice of Levy: What the IRS Sent Your Bank
- From Audit to Bank Levy: The Timeline the IRS Must Follow
- How the IRS Finds Your Bank Account Before It Levies
- The 21-Day Hold on an IRS Bank Levy, Explained
- What Your Bank Does When It Receives an IRS Levy
Getting Your Money Released
Release of levy, hardship, payment plans, offers, and getting levied money back.
- Bank Fees From an IRS Levy: Getting Reimbursed With Form 8546
- Economic Hardship: Getting a Bank Levy Released When You Cannot Pay Basic Bills
- Your First 48 Hours After an IRS Bank Levy: A Checklist
- How to Get an IRS Bank Levy Released
- Does an IRS Payment Plan Stop a Bank Levy?
- Offers in Compromise and Bank Levies: What a Pending Offer Protects
- Getting Levied Money Back After the Bank Pays the IRS
Appeals and Your Rights
Collection Due Process, the Collection Appeals Program, the Taxpayer Advocate, and damages.
- Using a Collection Due Process Hearing to Stop a Bank Levy
- The Collection Appeals Program: A Fast Appeal for a Bank Levy
- Final Notice of Intent to Levy: Protect Your Bank Account Before It Is Frozen
- Suing the IRS for an Unlawful Bank Levy: Damages Under IRC 7433
- Jeopardy Levies: When the IRS Freezes a Bank Account Without the Usual Warning
- When to Call the Taxpayer Advocate About a Bank Levy
Whose Money Is It?
Joint accounts, spouses, business accounts, Social Security deposits, and third-party claims.
- IRS Levy on a Business Bank Account: Payroll, LLCs and Merchant Funds
- Can the IRS Levy a Joint Bank Account for One Person's Taxes?
- Social Security Deposits and IRS Bank Levies: What Is and Is Not Protected
- Tenancy by the Entirety Bank Accounts and the IRS: Does Florida Protection Hold?
- Wrongful Levy Claims: Getting Your Money Back When the IRS Took It for Someone Else's Tax
The Bigger Picture
Levies versus liens and wage garnishments, repeat levies, bankruptcy, and the collection statute.
- Bank Levies and the 10-Year Collection Statute (CSED)
- Bank Levy vs. Federal Tax Lien: The Claim and the Taking
- Bank Levy vs. Wage Levy: How the Two IRS Tools Differ
- Bankruptcy and IRS Bank Levies: What the Automatic Stay Does and Does Not Stop
- Repeat IRS Bank Levies: Why They Keep Coming and How to Stop the Cycle
- Substitute for Return Assessments and Bank Levies: Filing Your Way Out
Talk to a tax attorney
The longer you wait, the more they take.
If your account was levied, call the office of tax attorney Darrin T. Mish. Learn more about how the firm approaches IRS levies.