A terse envelope titled “Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing” (Letter 1058/LT11) is the IRS’s loudest knock at your door. Ignore it, and the IRS can garnish wages, empty bank and certain retirement accounts, or—yes—padlock your business and auction your home. In FY 2023, the IRS issued nearly 300,000 levies and seizures, collecting a record $4.7 trillion in tax revenue. Contrary to popular belief, you can stop, delay, or even reverse these actions, but only if you move quickly to hire experienced dual-licensed tax attorneys & CPAs who can help you understand the procedural weak points baked into the levy statutes.

If an IRS levy notice—whether a CP letter, LT11, or Letter 1058/L-1058—has landed in your mailbox, the clock is already ticking toward garnished wages, frozen bank accounts, or the forced sale of your home. First, note the notice code printed in the upper-right corner; that code tells us where you are in the levy pipeline and what statutory rights still remain. Then, call the tax law offices of David W. Klasing immediately. Our team of dual-licensed Tax Attorneys & CPAs know every administrative off-ramp—CDP hearings, CAP appeals, hardship releases, Installment Agreements, Offers in Compromise—and how to invoke them before the IRS liquidates your assets. Protect what you have worked a lifetime to build: dial 800-681-1295 today for a reduced-rate IRS-levy consultation, or contact us online here.

The IRS Levy Sequence and Your 30-Day CDP Window

The IRS seldom leaps straight to padlocks and tow trucks. Instead, collection follows a strict notice ladder—each letter escalating in urgency and narrowing your response window:

• CP14: Your first bill, showing the amount due and the basic payment deadline.
• CP501: A friendly reminder urging you to act before more serious steps.
• CP503: A sterner follow-up signaling that collection efforts are intensifying.
• CP504: The final warning that the IRS intends to levy your state tax refund.
• Letter 1058/LT11: The “Final Notice of Intent to Levy,” which opens a 30-day Collection Due Process (CDP) window under IRC § 6330.

Fail to respond within those 30 days, and a Revenue Officer can immediately issue:

• Form 668-A/C to freeze your bank or certain retirement accounts (banks hold funds 21 days for disputes);
• Form 668-W to garnish wages or contractor payments each pay cycle;
• Form 668-B to seize tangible assets (vehicles, equipment, real estate), with property advertised for sale just 10 days later.

File a Bullet-Proof CDP Request

Stopping a levy begins with Form 12153—your request for a Collection Due Process hearing—which must reach the IRS within 30 days of Letter 1058/LT11. The form itself is only two pages long, but mistakes or omissions can cost you your only pre-sale judicial review. We complete every line for you, ensuring the IRS has the following:

• Your full legal name, Social Security or EIN, address, and best daytime phone number.
• The precise tax periods, tax types, and form numbers pulled directly from the levy or lien notice.
• Any claim for innocent spouse relief under IRC § 6015 (available only for individual income or self-employment taxes).
• A clear statement of grounds—installment-agreement negotiation, Offer in Compromise, economic-hardship CNC status, terminal illness, or outright liability dispute.
• A concise privilege-protected explanation of procedural defects (wrong taxpayer, premature notice, improper mailing, or failure to follow levy protocol).

At the hearing, our dual-licensed tax attorneys and CPAs can dispute the underlying tax if no valid notice of deficiency was issued; present a full-pay or partial-pay Installment Agreement; demonstrate economic hardship and secure currently non collective status; or negotiate an OIC that settles for less than the full balance. If the settlement officer rules against you, we preserve every issue for the U.S. Tax Court—the only forum that offers judicial review before a single asset is sold.

At the tax law offices of David W. Klasing, we can draft CDP petitions that lock in every defense while shielding privileged strategy. We gather the required financials, craft hardship narratives, and marshal supporting exhibits—so you walk into the hearing with a complete, persuasive package and walk out with the levy lifted, modified, or frozen while we finalize a payment solution.

Negotiating with the Revenue Officer—and Reversing or Releasing a Seizure

When your 30-day CDP window closes, the case lands with a Revenue Officer (RO) poised to levy. Our dual-licensed Tax Attorneys and CPAs will engage immediately with the RO to freeze enforcement and explore voluntary resolutions:

• 60–120-day hold while we compile up-to-date financials.
• Streamlined or Partial-Pay Installment Agreement under IRC § 6159.
• Offer in Compromise—Doubt as to Collectibility when income and equity meet IRS thresholds.
• Collection Appeals Program (CAP) request for a quicker freeze (though without Tax-Court review).

Solid documentation of hardship, a spotless compliance history, and the prospect of costly litigation often persuade the RO to postpone seizure and accept one of these alternatives.

If the RO has already executed Form 668-B and hauled away an asset, a different playbook kicks in. The IRS immediately orders an appraisal, calculates a minimum bid price (fair-market value minus costs), and gives you just 5–10 days to challenge the number. Next, the IRS publishes a Notice of Sale online or in local papers and waits at least 10 days before the auction. Sale proceeds first cover seizure and advertising expenses, then reduce your tax debt; any surplus is refundable via Form 8546. We contest inflated valuations, demand a detailed accounting of sale costs, and, if the IRS drags its feet on refunds, file a wrongful levy suit in federal district court.

Statutory Grounds to Release or Return Seized Assets

Under IRC § 6343, the IRS must release a levy or return seized property when any of these conditions apply:

• You pay the liability in full, or it becomes time-barred (CSED).
• Releasing the property will actually facilitate collection (e.g., selling one piece pays the debt).
• You enter an Installment Agreement that bars further levies.
• The seizure creates immediate economic hardship, preventing you from meeting basic living expenses (rent, medicine, payroll).
• The asset’s value far exceeds the tax owed, and release won’t hinder collection.

For levies served on or after March 23, 2017, a third-party wrongful levy claim must be submitted within two years of the levy date. (Earlier levies retain the former nine-month deadline.) Our dual-licensed Tax Attorneys and CPAs can prepare and file these claims, docket every limitations period, and, if necessary, appeal denials under Publication 1660 and IRM 5.11.2, compelling the IRS to meet its statutory obligations.

Assets the IRS Cannot or Rarely Takes

• Household goods, furniture & personal effects up to $11,710 total fair-market value (Rev. Proc. 2024-40) (§ 6334(a)(2))
• Books & tools of the trade up to $5,860 (§ 6334(a)(3))
• Unemployment compensation & workers’ compensation—entire amount (§ 6334(a)(4))
• Certain public‐sector and service-connected pensions (e.g., VA disability, military-medal, Railroad Retirement Tier II)—fully exempt (§ 6334(a)(8),(11))
• Portion of wages & salary equal to the standard deduction plus $5,100 per dependent, divided across pay periods (Publication 1494 tables) (§ 6334(d))
• Primary residence—levy allowed only with prior U.S. District Court approval and Chief Counsel sign-off (§ 6334(e))
• Social-Security benefits (retirement & SSDI) subject to a 15 % continuous levy; Supplemental Security Income (SSI) fully exempt (IRC § 6331(h))

Our dual-licensed Tax Attorneys and CPAs use these built-in exemptions, citing § 6334 caps, furnishing valuation evidence, and reminding the Revenue Officer that seizing exempt assets is automatically void. Leveraging Publication 1494 tables and the 15 % ceiling on Social Security levies, we steer the IRS toward streamlined installment agreements, Offers in Compromise, or temporary hardship “Currently Not Collectible” status—avoiding intrusive seizures altogether.

Contact the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing if You’re Worried About IRS Asset Seizure

If a levy notice has arrived—or you fear one is next—the fastest way to protect what you own is to call our dual-licensed Attorneys & CPAs at the tax law offices of David W. Klasing. We deploy every statutory defense and administrative workaround the moment you retain us because time lost equals assets lost. Depending on where your case sits in the pipeline, we may:

• Freeze enforcement with a payment plan – qualify you for an Online Payment Plan when your individual balance is ≤ $50,000 (business ≤ $25,000) or craft a custom Installment Agreement under IRC § 6159, ensuring the proposal is grounded in your actual ability to pay so the IRS will accept it.
• Use small-business relief – for employers, we secure an In-Business Trust-Fund Express (IBTF-Express) Agreement when payroll taxes total ≤ $25,000 and can be cleared within 24 months, sparing you and your officers from Trust-Fund Recovery Penalty exposure.
• Settle for less – prepare a data-driven Offer in Compromise on Doubt-as-to-Collectibility, Doubt-as-to-Liability, or Effective-Tax-Administration grounds; our acceptance rate far exceeds the Service-wide 36 percent average.
• Invoke hardship shields – document living-expense shortfalls on Form 433-A/F to place your account in Currently Not Collectible (CNC) status or, if all else fails, trigger the automatic stay of a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy to halt levy under 11 U.S.C. § 362.
• Exercise every appeal right – file a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing request within 30 days of Letter 1058/LT11 or a faster Collection Appeals Program (CAP) protest when speed is critical while preserving your right to U.S. Tax Court review when possible.

Because CPAs and bookkeepers have no attorney-client privilege and can be forced to testify—often shifting blame—retaining the tax law offices of David W. Klasing locks every communication behind attorney-client and work-product protection. Our forensic accountants operate in total confidentiality, narrow IDRs to the bare essentials, arrange read-only inspections of your electronic records, and negotiate Installment Agreements, OICs, or CNC determinations that keep collection civil and your assets intact. These strategies have produced levy releases, refunds, and penalty abatements for thousands of taxpayers—with no client ever criminally prosecuted for evasion of payment.

David W. Klasing is one of fewer than an estimated 24,000 professionals nationwide who hold both attorney and CPA licenses—and one of under 3,000 who also earned a Master’s in Taxation. We charge a single transparent hourly rate based on the tax professionals assigned to your case, maintain appointment-only satellite offices across the country, and David—an instrument-rated private pilot, can fly our Cirrus SR22 to meet you without billing travel time or expenses in appropriate circumstances. Our A+ BBB rating and perfect 10.0 AVVO score underscore an unbroken record of stopping levies before the IRS liquidates client assets.

Act now—before the government sells what you worked a lifetime to build. Call 800-681-1295 or use our encrypted online scheduler for a reduced-rate initial consultation. We will file the right appeal, negotiate the right agreement, and keep your property where it belongs—in your hands, not the IRS’s.