Are Tax Liens Dischargeable in Bankruptcy?

Tax liens can significantly complicate financial recovery, leaving many wondering if bankruptcy can provide relief. You might be asking: Are tax liens dischargeable in bankruptcy in Georgia?

In Georgia, tax liens are generally not dischargeable through bankruptcy. While filing for bankruptcy stops collection actions temporarily, the lien remains attached to your property until the debt is satisfied, negotiated, or resolved separately.

With decades of experience helping clients address tax liens through bankruptcy, I’ve guided countless Georgians toward effective solutions. Let’s explore how tax liens are treated in bankruptcy and what steps you can take to manage them.

 

How Does Bankruptcy Treat IRS Liens in Georgia?

Dealing with IRS liens can add complexity to a bankruptcy case, leaving many wondering how these liens are handled. You might be asking: How does bankruptcy treat IRS liens in Georgia?

In Georgia, bankruptcy can discharge certain tax debts, but it cannot remove a federal tax lien once it’s attached to your property. While filing for bankruptcy may reduce your personal obligation, the lien remains on the property unless it’s satisfied or negotiated separately.

 

Some tax liens can be discharged or waived in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. It gets a little tricky when there is tax debt and the IRS has a lien filed against your house or property. A discharge under Chapter 7 will only discharge the debt owed to the IRS. The discharge will do nothing to the lien that covers your house or land. The lien will remain in place. The practical point of this is that the IRS cannot come after your bank account or your wages because the debt has been wiped clean. The bad news is that since the lien is still there, if and when you go to sell your property you will have to pay off the lien with the proceeds from the sale.

There are avenues that an experienced bankruptcy lawyer can do to challenge the lien, assuming there are certain facts available:

  • The lien was not filed properly in the technical sense — the document was missing things that were necessary;
  • The lien was filed at the courthouse after the protective automatic stay was issued by the bankruptcy court;
  • The lien was recorded but against the wrong property;
  • The lien is more than 10 years old.

The easiest way to remove a tax lien, however, is to pay off the debt to the taxing authority, assuming you can afford to. Often, you can negotiate with the taxing authority to lower the amount owed if you promise to pay off the remaining debt within a certain time period.

 

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