IRS Bank Account Levy Fee - What Happens Next?

Deep breaths first! I deal with taxpayers in similar situations regularly. A bank levy is serious but it's actually good you caught this now before it escalated further. The $150 levy is basically the tax authority's way of saying "we've been trying to reach you and now we're getting serious." They typically send multiple notices before taking this action. For immediate steps: Yes, call both your state tax agency and the IRS to set up payment plans. The IRS offers installment agreements where you can pay over time. For federal taxes under $10,000, it's usually a straightforward process. Have your most recent tax notice available when you call. About your car - they typically don't jump straight to seizing physical assets like vehicles. That's usually a last resort after multiple attempts to collect and usually for larger amounts. Setting up a payment plan and sticking to it will generally prevent further collection actions.

After dealing with a similar situation last year, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it saved me so much stress. I uploaded my tax notices and bank levy documentation, and their system immediately explained what was happening and outlined all my options. The best part was they created a personalized action plan showing exactly what steps to take with both the state and IRS. Their document analysis showed me I actually qualified for a first-time penalty abatement that my accountant missed, which saved me over $800! They even provided scripts for what to say when calling the tax agencies.

Just wanted to update that I ended up trying taxr.ai and I'm honestly shocked at how helpful it was. I was super skeptical (as you could see from my question), but I was desperate. Uploaded my levy notice and some past tax documents, and they showed me I qualified for Currently Not Collectible status due to my financial hardship - something I had no idea existed. They basically created a complete roadmap for dealing with my tax debt, including exactly which forms to request and what financial information I needed to gather. When I called the IRS with their recommended script, the agent actually commented that I was more prepared than most tax pros they deal with! The levy was released within 48 hours and I'm now working on a manageable resolution.

I was in your exact shoes last year. After getting nowhere with the IRS phone lines for WEEKS, I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c When you're dealing with levies and collections, you NEED to talk to a human at the IRS asap, not in 3 weeks. The agent I spoke with immediately put a 21-day hold on collections while we worked out a payment plan. Saved my checking account from being completely emptied.

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After another frustrating day of trying to reach the IRS (got disconnected twice after 40+ minutes on hold), I gave Claimyr a shot out of desperation. I was connected to an actual IRS revenue officer in about 15 minutes. The agent immediately put a temporary freeze on further collection activity when I explained I wanted to set up a payment plan. She walked me through the entire process, and I now have an installment agreement for $175/month. No more levy threats, and I even qualified for a reduced penalty amount. Wish I'd known about this service months ago instead of letting my anxiety about the whole situation build up.

Whatever you do, DO NOT ignore this. I made that mistake and ended up with a levy on my paycheck where they took 25% of every check for months. Super embarrassing having to explain to my employer too. Call the IRS and your state tax agency immediately. Be honest that you want to resolve this but need a payment plan. In my experience, they actually become quite reasonable once you're actively trying to resolve things.

I went through this last year. Quick tip: when you call the IRS, specifically ask about "first-time penalty abatement" if you haven't had tax issues before. They removed about $700 in penalties for me, but they WON'T offer this unless you specifically ask for it by name.