How the IRS stole my entire paycheck in just 3 days - a cautionary tale for 2025 filers

I'm still in shock over what happened this week. Yesterday, April 15th, I got home after a crazy day at work to find an envelope from my company's HR department in my mailbox. The letter (dated April 9th) was from payroll letting me know they received a wage garnishment order from the IRS for the pay period ending April 14th. Since the IRS was already closed by the time I opened this yesterday, I called their Taxpayer Advocate Service first thing this morning (April 16th). They told me they had no record of any garnishment, but claimed I hadn't filed returns for three years (2018, 2019, and 2022). Said nothing could be done until I filed those missing returns. They also suggested I verify if the garnishment was legitimate or if someone was scamming my employer by pretending to be the IRS. I raced to work early and immediately downloaded the 1040 forms and W2 transcripts for those missing years. I filled everything out and called the IRS right away. After waiting 25 minutes, I finally got someone who had me fax the forms while on the call. They confirmed that yes, there really was a garnishment order on my wages. By this point, I only had a few minutes before my shift started. I begged them to cancel the garnishment immediately. They said I'd need to either set up a payment plan or file for CNC (Currently Not Collectable) status due to hardship. Being completely broke, I chose CNC. They told me to complete Form 433-F and call back later since they closed at 8:00 PM and I had to start work. This morning (April 17th), I got to work early again, thinking I'd need to use the fax machine. I called the IRS explaining I needed to file for CNC and had completed the form. Instead of asking me to fax it, the agent just took my information over the phone. After putting me on hold for about 10 minutes, she came back saying she'd processed the CNC and faxed a release of levy to my payroll department. She advised me to call payroll in 10 minutes to make sure they received and understood the paperwork. I was so relieved, thinking I'd avoided financial disaster. I waited and called payroll as instructed. The administrator confirmed she received the fax, but then dropped the bombshell - payroll had already been processed YESTERDAY, and since it's a payroll check, they couldn't put a stop-payment on it. She suggested I call the IRS back and ask them to return the money to the company. Completely panicking with only 30 minutes before my shift, I called the IRS again to explain what happened...

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18 comments

Keisha Jackson

•8M

This is unfortunately how the IRS collection process works, and they don't make timing exceptions even when they're the ones who made communication errors. The key issue here is that the IRS is required to send multiple notices before issuing a wage garnishment. Did you receive any prior notices at your current address? They typically send at least 3-4 letters before taking this step. For anyone reading this who might be in a similar situation, here's what you need to know: The IRS won't garnish wages without sending several notices first. If you've moved recently or think you might have missing mail, you should create an online account at irs.gov to check for any outstanding issues. The good news is that the CNC status should prevent future garnishments as long as your financial situation doesn't improve significantly. The bad news is that the IRS very rarely returns already processed garnishments - even when they're canceled the same day.

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Keisha Jackson

•8M

The garnished funds will be applied to your outstanding tax debt for those unfiled years. Even though you've now filed the returns, the assessments and penalties that triggered the garnishment still exist. The funds won't be returned, but they will reduce your overall balance owed. For state tax issues, the procedures are often different and some states are more willing to return funds in certain situations. The IRS typically only returns garnished funds if they determine the entire debt was an error on their part (not just the timing of the garnishment).

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Amina Diop

•8M

I went through something really similar last year with unfiled returns. I was literally losing my mind trying to find my old W-2s and figure out how to file returns from years ago. Then I found this AI tax assistant at https://taxr.ai that seriously saved me so much time. It analyzed all my old tax docs and helped me figure out exactly what I needed to file. The thing that was most helpful was that it could read all my old employer statements and tell me which forms I was missing for each year. Turns out I had everything I needed but didn't realize some documents were actually different versions of the same form! I probably spent days stressing over nothing before finding this tool. I think the IRS is getting way more aggressive with collections in 2025. My brother just got a similar letter and he's using the same service to sort out his mess.

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Amina Diop

•8M

It works great with older returns - that's exactly what I used it for. You just upload whatever documents you have (even if they're disorganized or partial) and it figures out what years they belong to and what's missing. It helped me piece together everything from 2015-2020 when I had a mix of W-2s, 1099s and some investment stuff. The service works with both federal and state returns - it helped me identify which states I needed to file in for years when I worked in multiple places. It doesn't connect directly to IRS computers - it's more about analyzing your documents and giving you guidance on what to file. You still have to actually submit the returns yourself, but it makes the preparation way easier.

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Natasha Romanova

•8M

Wow, I was totally skeptical about that taxr.ai thing but decided to give it a try after my post yesterday. I had a huge backlog of unfiled returns that I was avoiding dealing with. The tool actually helped me sort through 5 years of jumbled tax documents in like 2 hours! I'm shocked at how well it worked. It saved me from paying my accountant like $1500 to sort through my mess. It found deductions I would have missed on my own too. Just filed everything yesterday and feel like a massive weight is off my shoulders. If you're dealing with multiple years of tax problems, definitely worth checking out.

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NebulaNinja

•8M

After dealing with the IRS for months about a similar issue, I finally just gave up trying to call them directly - it was impossible to get through. That's when a coworker told me about this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that gets you through to an actual human at the IRS without the insane wait times. They have a demo video here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c It was a life-saver when I had to deal with my wage garnishment. Instead of calling for days and getting nowhere, I was talking to an actual IRS agent within 20 minutes. They helped me set up a payment plan that actually worked with my budget instead of the automatic garnishment that was taking way too much. The IRS is super backed up this tax season, so getting through to them quickly made all the difference in my situation.

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NebulaNinja

•8M

They use a system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you, then calls you when an actual agent picks up. No special connection - they just do the waiting so you don't have to. When they call you, you're already connected to an IRS person, not another automated system. The service literally saved me days of frustration. I know it sounds too good to be true, but after trying for weeks to get through on my own, I was connected to an IRS agent in under 25 minutes. They can't help with what the IRS says once you're connected, but at least you get to talk to someone who can actually help with your case instead of just waiting endlessly.

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Paolo Moretti

•8M

Hate to admit I was wrong, but I tried the Claimyr service after being super skeptical. I was honestly just desperate after getting nowhere for weeks with the IRS about my garnishment situation. I literally got a call back in 17 minutes with an actual IRS agent on the line! The agent was able to see that there had been a mistake with my account and they had sent garnishment papers to my employer by accident. They fixed it while I was on the phone and faxed a release right away. If I hadn't gotten through when I did, I would have lost another full paycheck. Not having to sit on hold for hours was worth every penny. Never thought I'd be recommending something like this, but it literally saved me thousands of dollars.

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Emma Wilson

•8M

The IRS did something similar to my girlfriend last month! They claimed she hadn't filed for 2020 and 2021, but she definitely had and even had her copies and confirmation numbers. Make sure you keep ALL your tax records, especially confirmation numbers if you e-file! When you get your issues resolved, request an account transcript for all the years in question. It'll show everything that's happened with your account and any remaining balances. You can get these online now through the IRS website if you create an account.

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Emma Wilson

•8M

Unfortunately, it's very difficult to dispute a garnishment after it's been processed, even if you never received notices. The IRS considers it your responsibility to keep your address updated with them, separate from any address changes you make with USPS. Your best bet is to request a Taxpayer Advocate to review your case. Explain that you never received notices because they were sent to an old address. Sometimes they can help in situations where standard IRS procedures caused undue hardship. In the meantime, definitely get those transcripts and keep copies of everything!

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