IRS Bank Levy

Another Form of Levy is a Bank Levy. If you do not pay your tax balance, the IRS will send you a series of notices before they actually do levy anything. First there will be two notices of bills or reminders of a balance owed.  The third notice will be a “ Notice of Intent to Levy”.  After this notice you have exactly thirty days until you are sent to the IRS Collections Systems where the IRS can put a levy on your bank accounts. 

A bank levy will allow the IRS to take all the funds you have in your bank accounts, including your checking, savings, mutual funds, and money markets. Once your bank receives a levy notice, they will pull all your funds from your bank account and hold it for 21 days. You have that 21 day period of time to work with the IRS to release your funds. The 21 days start from the date the bank put a hold on your funds, not the date the IRS notice sent to you. Once the levy is released, they will allow you to have access to your funds. If the levy is not released, the bank will send your money to the IRS.