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I'm helping a friend with getting IRS tax liens withdrawn and removed from their credit report. Thus far, Experian and TransUnion were cleared fairly easily, however, Equifax is proving tricky. There are three records reporting on Equifax, two of them we should eventually prevail on because the IRS has withdrawn them and we have proof of that and these were the two recently removed from Experian and TransUnion, however, Equifax has a third entry that the IRS says they did not report and thus cannot withdraw. It is for an adjacent county and matches the amount of one of the other two valid ones in the correct county of residence. The IRS says they cannot withdraw a lien they did not file. My friend has not moved in over ten years and has never lived in this other county. What should we do about this lien on the report that the IRS says they never placed since it is the wrong county court? Should we go into the court and request some kind of report that there are no liens for that name or amount? I imagine there is some kind of computer glitch here, but not sure how to proceed. Could this lien be on his Lexis-Nexis report and we need to dispute there first so that it does not appear confirmed when Equifax looks into it?

I filed my taxes in 2012 but I was in prison at that time. I was released in January of 2013 and immediately started working again. I recently found out (in early 2014) that my identity had been stolen. I called the IRS but they have been giving me the run-around for around 9 months. I'm poor and I need help getting my 2013 tax return. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get this resolved? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

During recent surveillance of my credit reports I noticed the IRS very recently made an inquiry into my Equifax credit report. I have done nothing I can think of to warrant their attention. I file my tax returns, don't own a small business, recently got married, etc. What could this mean? I am going to contact them ASAP to see if there is some sort of action coming down the pipeline.

Please advise.... Today (5/22/2014) I received a letter from NYS Dept. of Taxation and Finance claiming I owe them $1000.03 (Tax amount assessed $793.00 + Interest amount assessed $207.03) Payment due day date: 06/09/14. The letter claims I owed the NYS Tax dept. because of Forgive Fed. Debt $7,600.00 CITIBANK SOUTH DAKOTA NA. They claim I was sent notification from IRS on 04/09/2012 of the above charges to my 2010 federal income tax return. I remember back in 2009 I settled a debt with Rubin and Rothman LLC for $10,000 on a $20.000 debt that was before I knew about Creditboards. I kick myself everyday that I paid them so much on a debt they paid pennies on the dollars for. I know dealing with the IRS is like dealing with KGB, and maybe I am shooting in the dark for a resolution, but I never was notified about this debt. My question is will I be able to dispute the interest that was assessed on the money?? I never received a letter. Why wait two years again to send me another notification strong arming me to pay within two weeks. Any insight will be greatly appreciated -RealMckoy

in 2012 I applied for a lien withdrawal and was denied. I later found lots of useful information on this board and today just received Form 10916 from the IRS in the mail. Woo-whooo! Backstory: The IRS filed a lien in 2009 to include tax from tax years 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2007. I entered a payment plan in 2012 and converted it to auto-debit after learning of the withdrawal process. I sent in all of the paperwork and that request was denied. Reasons given were that the 2002 taxes had been self-released (past 10 year SOL and uncollectible) and that I was not in a repayment plan. Little did I realize that another requirement was to have filed the last three years tax returns, timely. I had not done that, but it wasn't cited as a reason. In December of 2013, I found a few threads here on CB and read them all from beginning to end. I then completed the form again, requesting the withdrawal. I also sent a very personal cover letter detailing the troubles and what I had done to resolve and address my past tax problems. I included documentation to demonstrate that I was in the auto-pay plan and how much of the debt I had already paid. I also explained why I had been unable to pay the 2002 portion before it self-released. Lastly, I included a memorandum from the IRS that allows for the approval of the request via manager review and asked that such a review be conducted. Four weeks later I followed up via phone to the Advisory for my area (I was terrified to call, but based on what I read, I bit the bullet) to find out the status. Called and talked to a very nice woman who told me that she had sent my paperwork to another department because I had checked both "open" and "released" on my request form. I explained to her the self released portion and indicated that is why I had checked that box. She immediately knew it would need manager review and told me to fax her the paperwork and she would get that going. She also gave me the number to contact the department that she send the paperwork to, so they would have a heads up. I did both and the department said they would forward the file back to the Advisory. This was the last week of January. This past Friday, February 28, 2014 I got the letter from the IRS that request was approved. I almost fainted. Today I got the Form 10916. Based on everything I read, my next step is to obtain certified copies from the City Register's office and send to the CRAs with a concise letter disputing the entry on my reports and requesting a deletion. I checked online today and it the document hasn't been recorded yet. Thanks, CB. I seriously could't have done it without the contributions from you all. I followed it diligently and am excited with the results. I hope my post can help someone in the future. Success since returning to CB in November 2012 - Withdrawal of federal tax lien - CMRE Medical collection deleted - 12 late payments (each) on Sallie Mae Private loans - Increase in credit lines on Wal-Mart, Chevron and PayPal credit cards totaling $1580 (nice utilization bump!) - New Roaman's store credit card (another $750 available credit to help with utilization) Baddies left - Confirming Barclays UPromise card will report (they sent a letter confirming they would report the card, still waiting for it to appear. Every since Barclays took over the account, it disappeared from the reports and it is my highest limit and oldest open credit card.) - Target - 1 -30 day late (called a CSR who agreed to remove it, still waiting for that to be reflected) - Citicard - 1 30 and 1 60 day late (Have tried both GW and dispute, to no avail. Will come back to it) Planning to buy an apartment (in NYC) in the next 12 months, so this has been extremely beneficial. Wooo-whooo! Can't wait to have the lien removed once and for all and see the impact to my scores.

HI Everyone, I have a freeze on my credit reports with all 3 agencies. When I recetnly looked at my reports, one of them had an inquiry from Internal Revenue Services dated July 2013. Is this a scam ( I thought it was spelled Internal Revenue Service ( singular). If not a scam, why would they look? I have super scores and credit and no tax problems Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

There's growing chatter here as of late about the flurry of 1099-c forms going out to (former) debtors. Before the threads go in a hundred different directions, I was hoping we could wrangle all the questions and answers into one thread or perhaps one of the board gurus can slap together a Master Thread. I ask this not only in the spirit of altruism (so that future generations can find a central repository for our knowledge and not go nuts as we all did in the past looking in 100 places for one answer to one question), but also for personal reasons... The gurus here helped me fix up my wife's and my credit years back (thanks again) so I moved on to helping the family. My brother's repair has been a thorn in my side for YEARS. It went well at first and I took care of everything EXCEPT two chargeoffs...I've been stuck on them for YEARS. I've tried everything (except paying, LOL) without any movement. Today, however...he got two of those 1099-c forms stating "We will no longer attempt to collect the unpaid debt on your account"--one from Chase and one from Citi. This, obviously, is something new and I want to figure out how to leverage it in my favor with regard to credit repair. In other words, any movement on the part of the creditor is good news--it's just a matter of figuring how to work it into a deletion. So...If I'm reading the other threads correctly (and please correct me if I am wrong): 1) The amount on the 1099-c must be factored into his income and taxes paid on it. In other words, if chase is 2k and citi is 1k, he's going to owe tax on 3k. Assuming federal tax to be around 30% for his current bracket, that would be about $900 which is great news as paying that would be a lot less than $3,000. 2) Furthermore, if he can prove he was insolvent at the time (he was), he will pay nothing 3) Any "Identifiable event code" other than "H" (his was "G") means that the debt was written off and not sold off. In other words, no CAs will be harrassing him (?). I don't know if that's all correct, I'm culling it from other answers in other threads. If not, please let me know. Anyway, this brings us to the big question vis-a-vis credit repair (this is the purpose of the Web site, after all): ARE THERE ANY NEW SUGGESTED STRATEGIES FOR REMOVING THE CHARGE-OFFS ASSOCIATED WITH THESE ACCOUNTS NOW THAT THE LENDERS HAVE OFFICIALLY WASHED THEIR HANDS (1099'D) OF THESE DEBTS? I see the angle here for the lenders--the banks are probably getting more of a net addition to their balance sheets by writing it off as bad debt since, in this day and age, collection agencies are bidding less and less for debt (especially small debt) and with any luck they will soon go the way of the dodo. In other words, the banks are doing it with the bottom line in mind, not to help people (even if they do so in a roundabout way). Anyway, the banks are minimizing loss on the debt and they are happy, does that mean (I'm assuming/hoping so) that they now could care less whether or not there is a CO on Joe Schmoes CR? In other words, will a deletion through a dispute--or, perhaps a Goodwill letter--be easier now? Any answers from experience, gut feelings, crystal ball-readings or jut plain educated guessing will be great for the discussion.

I had applied to the IRS to withdraw a federal tax lien that was paid (settled for less than the full amount) in 2012. All indications were that they likely would not do the removal because of the settlement but today I got two letters from them: One was the notice informing me that they were indeed withdrawing the lien, and the second was the lien withdrawal certificate itself. I could not be more happy!! Has anyone ever done a lien withdrawal before? What’s the best way to get this lien off my CRs? Should I just dispute it as incorrect with the CRAs online, or mail a copy of the letter to each CRA and write asking them to withdraw? Thanks so much for all your advice, guys. My CRs are (will be) totally clean for the first time in ... I can't remember. Now I can rebuild. Yay!

Okay guys. I’m a bit dejected right now. I have a thin credit file – one 2.5-year-old auto loan, paid on time, and a two-month old Cap 1 secured card with a limit of $350. My negatives are a paid IRS tax lien that was satisfied in 2012 ($21K) and a civil judgment that was satisfied in 2010. I applied to have the tax lien withdrawn under the Fresh Start program, and the IRS initially said yes, and now they’re saying no because they accepted a settlement and so don't qualify for the withdrawal. I’m so frustrated. EQ is my cleanest report, showing the positive TLs but also the lien. EX and TU show both the lien and the judgment. My EQ Fico score is 679. I make $57K a year. Do you think DCU, which I understand pulls EQ, would approve me for a credit card? Not sure if Logix would approve me, and I doubt Discover would either. I need to add another positive TL to raise my score but I don’t want to waste and inquiry and ding my score if it’s not likely to be a favorable result. I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

HI ALL. MY PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT (I'M A P/T "INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR"/ CONSULTANT )) HAS RECEIVED NOTICE OF LEVY FOR MY OUTSTANDING $30K IN TAXES (INCLUDING PENALITIES, FEES) . BEFORE THIS, (I.E. AT LIEN STAGE), I WAS IN THE PROCESS OF HIRING TAX LAWYER/FIRM TO REPRESENT ME AND WORK OUT IRS PAYMENT SCHEDULE INCLUDING POSSIBLE LUMP SUM FUTURE PAYMENT. THE LAW FIRM IS CHARGING $3500. QUESTION: IS ANYONE OUT THERE EXPERIENCED WITH DEALING DIRECTLY WITH IRS RE LEVY ? I'M FEELING AS THOUGH IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO HIRE ATTY BUT WONDERING IF THERE IS ANY CHANCE THIS COULD BE HANDLED DIRECTLY WITH A POSSIBLE HALF-WAY REASONABLE OUTCOME. OBVIOUSLY THE $3500 COULD GO TOWARDS TAXES -- BUT I REALIZE LAWYER EXPENSE MAY BE A NECESSARY EVIL AT THIS POINT. THE FIRM HAS AGREED TO A FAIRLY REASONABLE PAYMENT SCHEDULE. ANY SUGGESTIONS, RECS GREATLY APPRECIATED. MANY THANKS! SATIN LADY

Does anyone have any experience getting a Withdrawn and Released IRS tax lien removed from public record? I was told that once these are a matter of public record, they are permanent and the CR bureaus have different policies on reporting these withdrawn liens. I have heard of public records being expunged but would like some advice on the process.

As some of you know, last March, I received a notice from the IRS that I had underreported my income for 2010 by more than $2700 as a result of 1099-C filed by Portfolio Recovery Associates. I argued my case with the Automatic Under Reporter unit but, this past August, I was issued a Notice of Deficiency with a tax bill (including interest) of over $800. While this isn't a huge sum, I objected primarily because the debt that generated this supposed income was defaulted on in the mid-90's and I believe that I had evidence that an "identifiable event" had occurred long before 2010. Rather than paying up, I decided to take my case to Tax Court. I filed my petition in November, received the IRS' answer in December and was contacted by the IRS Appeals Office in February. I provided my Appeals Officer with documents (monthly statements and letters) as well as an outline of how case law supported my position. I had my Appeals Conference this morning and I am THRILLED to say that, after reviewing the facts, the appeals officer sided with me - I do not have to include the $2700+ from cancellation of debt in my income and no additional taxes are due!!!! My only "gripe" is that this decision does not include the taxes that I have already paid on a 2nd, smaller 1099-C issued by PRA for the same year. At the time, I wasn't sure how to fight it but I knew that the IRS would have record of it so I included it. (For the record, Turbo Tax doesn't give you much info about how to deal with 1099-Cs.) I included this amount in my petition to the Tax Court, indicating that I was due a refund for any taxes paid ($175 by my count) so, if we had actually gone to court, I think I could have gotten a ruling on this as well. The appeals officer indicated that I could file an amended return but I will have to talk it over with my wife and tax advisor. My case was quite similar to another recent Tax Court case - Stewart v Commissioner (2012) - same original creditor, same junk debt buyer, default occurred in mid-90's, 1099-C issued years later after debtor sent cease communication letter, etc.. My petition was different (I stayed away from issues that were dismissed by the Court) but this opinion is a must read for anyone who receives a 1099-C for an old, out of statute debt. Each case is different but I believe that the thing that swayed the appeals officer was the amount and type of documentation I provided. If you don't have anything because it's an older debt, you'll probably have a tougher fight. Thanks for the support and info I found on this board while I was researching this issue and preparing my case.