Judgment Enforcement – an essential part of the Division’s work

Judgment Enforcement – an essential part of the Division’s work

Judgment enforcement is an essential part of the Division’s work. It requires imagination, perseverance, and skill in using federal tax lien and levy law, post judgment discovery, judicial understanding procedures, the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act (FDCPA), and say judgment enforcement laws. This Tax Division Judgment Collection Manual sets forth the Tax Division’s collection policies, explains the laws authorizing judgment enforcement, and furnishes recommendations as to how to collect tax judgments. The legal discussions and recommendations are not intended to be exhaustive, but merely to serve as a guide for judgment enforcement. This manual and the exhibits and forms included with it are not intended to create or recognize any legally enforceable right in any person.

A. Timeliness Judgment enforcement should be pursued promptly, as well as vigorously, uniformly, and fairly; delay greatly reduces the likelihood of judgment enforcement. In most cases, the trial attorney should complete judgment enforcement efforts within nine months after entry of judgment. Judgment enforcement of amounts owed pursuant to a settlement, especially in the primeval stages, should be monitored closely. If default occurs, appropriate a judgment enforcement action should be taken promptly.

B. Referral or Retention After initial judgment enforcement efforts have been completed, the trial attorney and section chief or assistant chief should decide whether to retain the case or refer it to the IRS (or United Says Attorney). In making that decision, an attorney should think about whether the IRS has already attempted to effect judgment enforcement. If the IRS has referred a suit to reduce assessments to judgment and to foreclose the tax liens on identified property of the taxpayer, it is likely that the IRS has already fatigued its judgment enforcement efforts. Cases in this category are often prime candidates for referral to the IRS for monitoring as soon as the uncollectibility of the judgment is confirmed. The determination of uncollectibility must be made as of the time the judgment enforcement is obtained and should not be based on the IRS’s determination made when the case was initially referred (a determination that often is made years early than the date of the judgment). The steps necessary to transfer a judgment to the IRS are set forth at § VII.B, infra. In some cases, however, judgment enforcement either were not acquirable to, or were not fatigued by, the IRS. For example, liabilities for unfortunate to honor a levy and liabilities under I.R.C. § 3505 are not assessed, and thus, can't be the subject of a judgment enforcement. Also, in trust fund recovery penalty refund suits and other partial-payment refund cases involving divisible assessments in which we file counterclaims, the IRS is generally required to defer collection during the pendency of the litigation. The IRS might not have worked these cases thoroughly from a judgment enforcement standpoint, and many of the cases might have substantial judgment enforcement potential. If initial investigation or postjudgment discovery reveals judgment enforcement potential, a case should be retained by the Tax Division.

C. Using paralegals Successful judgment enforcement will require substantial amounts of the trial attorney’s time, but the attorney should seek the assistance of a paralegal for some of the more routine judgment enforcement tasks, such as initial demand letters and initial judgment enforcement interrogatories.

D. Reporting activities As explained in Part VI, infra, it is essential that attorneys and paralegals accurately and promptly report their judgment enforcement and judgment enforcement activities on TaxDoc, the Division’s automated case management system. Additionally, paralegal and attorney time spent on judgment enforcement matters should be reported on TaxDoc time reports as “judgment enforcement Activities” for the designated case. Accurate time and activity reporting enables Division management to track both the position of outstanding judgments and the amount of attorney and paralegal time devoted to judgment enforcement.

Important Steps for Successful Judgment Enforcement

Important Steps for Successful Judgment Enforcement

Judgment enforcement is the most essential step in division’s work which requires perseverance, imagination and skills in using post judgment discovery, judicial understanding procedures, the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act (FDCPA), and say judgment enforcement laws. The Tax Division Judgment Collection Manual sets Tax Division’s collection policies which explain the laws authorizing judgment enforcement & furnishes advice for collecting tax judgments. The legal discussions and recommendations are merely to serve as judgment enforcement guide. This manual and forms included with it are not for creating or recognizing any legal enforceable right in any person.

Some of the important steps for successful Judgment Enforcement are timeliness, referral or retention, using paralegals and reporting activities. Judgment enforcement needs to be pursued promptly, uniformly and fairly. If there is any delay then it will greatly reduces the likelihood of judgment enforcement. After entry of judgment, the trial attorney should complete judgment enforcement efforts within nine months. Judgment enforcement of amounts should be monitored closely but if default occurs then the judgment enforcement action should be taken promptly.

Once the initial judgment enforcement efforts have been finished then the trial attorney and section chief should decide whether to retain the case or refer it to the United Says Attorney. While making the decision an attorney should think about whether the United Says Attorney or IRS has already attempted to effect judgment enforcement. If the IRS has referred a suit to reduce assessments to judgment & to foreclose the tax liens on identified property of the taxpayer, it is likely that the United Says Attorney has already fatigued its judgment enforcement efforts. The determination of uncollectibility need to be made as of the time the judgment enforcement is obtained. In some cases, judgment enforcement was not acquirable to the IRS or was not fatigued by the United Says Attorney. In trust fund recovery penalty refund suits and other partial-payment refund cases involving divisible assessments in which we file counterclaims, the IRS is generally required to defer collection during the pendency of the litigation. The United Says Attorney might not have worked these cases thoroughly from a judgment enforcement standpoint, and many of the cases might have substantial judgment enforcement potential. And, if initial investigation reveals judgment enforcement potential, a case should be retained by the Tax Division. Successful judgment enforcement need substantial amounts of the trial attorney’s time, but they should seek the assistance of a paralegal for some of the more routine judgment enforcement tasks, such as initial demand letters and initial judgment enforcement interrogatories.

It is essential that attorneys and paralegals accurately and promptly report their judgment enforcement & activities on the Division’s automated case management system. Additionally, paralegal and attorney time spent on judgment enforcement matters should be reported on TaxDoc time reports as “judgment enforcement Activities” for the designated case which will be helpful for division management to track both the position of outstanding judgments and the amount of attorney & time devoted to judgment enforcement by paralegal.

Obtaining a Better Credit Score

“We’ll have to obtain your credit report.”  If those words creep you out further than any horror film, your credit is in all likelihood a tiny alarming.  Maybe it’s totally frightful.

After all, your credit report carries a seven-year history of your debts and bill payments (even lengthier in the case of certain bankruptcies and tax liens), so the thought of getting back on your feet might seem daunting.

First of all, accept that there is no supernatural bullet to exterminate a bad credit report. There’s no way to go back in time. No chance to catch up with all those missed payments. No covering up that bankruptcy.

Reconstructing your credit won’t materialize overnight – even after you’re up-to-date on your payments. But it is never too late for a clean start. Here’s a road map:

Point 1: PREPARING

Realize that bad credit might bear hard outcomes on your life for several years to come. You will make it hard to impossible to attain certain life goals – such as buying a home or automobile, capturing a new apartment or new job, or going for a business loan – if you spend recklessly, do not pay your bills on time or carry great amounts of debt.

Beware of credit-repair companies that lay claim they can wipe off bad payment history from your credit report – whenever you dispute true data, you are committing fraud. Additional organizations might extend to establish a new credit report for you by getting you a new Social Security number. This is illegal.

It should go without alleging, but get your spending in check – particularly whenever your poor credit is because you continue spending money you do not have. Formulate a budget or a spending plan. Cut down those unnecessary coffees. Pack your lunch. Rent a motion picture or read a book rather than going out. Arrange a moratorium on purchasing clothes and gifts. Do whatever you have to do to control your spending.

You might not know how bad your credit is, so get a copy of your credit score. You can get a free copy of your credit score from all four major reporting credit bureaus at http://www.freecreditratings.info/

Review apiece of your four credit reports. Verify that all information is correct, including credit-card accounts, loans, payment history, collections and inquiries. Mark anything that looks suspicious or that you don’t recognize so you can dispute it later.

Learn your FICO score. If you have a credit report, you have a FICO score. This is a number typically between 300 and 850 that gauges your credit risk. It is also the number that prospective creditors think about when deciding whether to issue you a loan or extend you credit. A strong FICO score can range from 720 to 850. You can order your FICO score at http://www.freecreditratings.info/ and look into what kind of interest rates you are healthy to get with your FICO score.

Think of what you desire for the future and set a goal. Do you want to purchase a house? A car? A business loan? Do you want to refinance? Looking for a new job? Bad credit makes it hard to accomplish many such goals because everyone from landlords to loan companies to potential employers can check your credit report. A poor credit history can haunt you for seven years – and for 10 years in the case of tax liens and Chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcies.

Point 2: CHANGING

Pay all your bills punctually. If you are having difficulty paying your bills in one calendar month, do not even think about skipping over the month – this will weigh against you even if you make a “double payment” the following calendar month. Utilities typically do not report your payment history to credit-reporting agencies unless you default on an account. In that case, a phone or telegram company could send your statement to collections, and that gets reported on your credit report.

Poor credit sticks for a long time, so the thought of improving your bad debt might seem daunting. If you think you’ll never be healthy to keep a consistent payment history for seven years, try thinking small. Begin with a goal of paying your bills on time for one year, or maybe just six months. At the end of that time, you’ll have trained yourself for the long haul.

Do your ideal to pay off your credit-card bills in full apiece month. This will help your credit report, but it will also reduce the amount of interest you pay, making it easier to pay down debt.

Dispute items you believe are incorrect. To do this, write to the credit-reporting bureau on whose report the incorrect information appears. You can also file an online dispute by going to the agency’s Web site. The credit-reporting bureau will contact the creditor about the alleged incorrect information. By law, the remarks must be removed from your credit report if the creditor does not respond to the inquiry. In rare cases, the negative information that has fallen off your report might reappear if the creditor confirms it later, states Maxine Sweet, vice president of Costa Mesa-based Experian.

Keep at the least one charge card active – but use it sparingly. In the effort to clean up your financial act, you might be tempted to close all your credit-card accounts. That’s the wrong move, Sweet says. Revolving credit accounts, like credit cards, can carry more weight on your credit report, and subsequently on your FICO score, than an installment payment, such as a automobile or mortgage payment. By keeping one of your revolving credit-card accounts open, you demonstrate your capability to manage your debt more than you do with a fixed payment. Note: You still have to make your automobile or mortgage payments on time. Point 3: MOVING ON

If you don’t measure up for a regular charge card, think about a secured card. These cards anticipate you to deposit money, usually an amount equal to what the issuer will let you charge on the card. You can’t withdraw this deposit while you have card. The drawback: Secured cards usually charge annual fees and very high interest rates. The upside: If you can’t get an unsecured card, wise use of a secured card can help you rebuild consistent payment history, which eventually might help persuade another company to issue you an unsecured card. You can get a secured card at http://www.securedvisanow.info/.

If you’re having trouble acquiring a bank-issued credit card, attempt applying for a card with a local merchant or smaller retail store. It can be easier to secure a card this way, but be sure the card issuer will report your good payment history to a credit-reporting agency. If they don’t, you won’t benefit from the card.

Monitor your credit report at least once a year to assess your payment history.

If you’re getting married, think complete disclosure. Exchange credit reports with your forthcoming spouse. This information can be just as important as sharing family health history, previous relationships or ambitions for the future. If you and your partner have dreams of buying a home or financing a home business, poor credit can make it difficult or temporarily impossible to achieve those kinds of crucial life goals.