I have a prior Tax Lien and I am getting married. What are the tax liabilities of this lien in a marriage?

Question:  Please help! I got into tax trouble a few years back and, long story short, the IRS filed a tax lien against me December last year. Since then, I’ve met a wonderful woman and we want to start a life together. Would we be safe buying a home together, since we’d be buying it after the lien’s already been established? Or could the IRS come after our home, even though we didn’t own it when the lien was filed? Also, she has a small business that she wants to make me a partner in. If she does, could the IRS go after her business because of my lien? Any help you could provide would be appreciated. Thanks.

Response: Congratulations on your domestic bliss, but you’re right to check first before going ahead with a home purchase or becoming a partner in a business. IRS tax liens are very powerful things, and they’re forward looking as well as backward looking. That means that the tax lien establishes an IRS claim against all your property, including property acquired after the lien is established. So in answer to your first question, yes, the IRS would be able to “come after” your home if it chose, even though you would be buying the home after the lien was already filed.

Similarly, while the lien would not directly attach to the business or business property, it would attach to your ownership interest in the business, since that is an asset you own.

Before buying a home or any substantial new property (such as a car), or before taking an ownership stake in a business, you want to get the lien lifted. The most straightforward way, of course would be to pay off tax liability—the amount you owe the IRS—which gave rise to it. However, assuming that’s not possible (since presumably you’d have otherwise done so), your options are:

• Negotiating an installment payment plan with the IRS, under which you will pay over time and the agency lifts the lien
• Obtaining and submitting a bond to the IRS which will guarantee the debt (since the purpose of the lien, after all, is to secure the debt)
• Demonstrating to the IRS that lifting the lien will either help you pay the tax liability faster (such as by letting you enter into a business) or that otherwise lifting the lien is in both y and the government’s interest)

Answered by Steven Zweig

Additional Resource:

• Information about tax liens
• The Office of the Taxpayer Advocate at the IRS

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