Palm Beach Wage Garnishment Lawyer

Palm Beach Wage Garnishment Attorney

Unfortunately, it can be easy to get behind on your taxes, which only leads to penalties that may make it harder to pay. If you continue to ignore tax debt, it will only grow as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sends you requests for payment. If these requests are ignored, the IRS may take more severe measures, including garnishing your wages. If you are dealing with IRS collection actions, a Palm Beach wage garnishment lawyer can help you.

Losing a portion of your income can be devastating and even make it impossible for you to support yourself and your family’s daily needs. When you do not have the financial ability to pay back your debt, there may be other options. The right Palm Beach tax debt settlement attorney can help you navigate this process and protect your financial future.

TaxSmith, LLC: Supporting Taxpayers in Palm Beach

At TaxSmith, LLC, our team has collective decades of tax law experience. Our goal is to find the method of resolving your wage garnishment that protects your future financial interests the most. We know how frustrating and straining it can be to deal with garnishment. Let us provide you with compassionate and diligent legal counsel and protect your interests. We want to find the right way to reduce or eliminate the financial burden of your tax debt.

Wage Garnishment in Palm Beach

Individual income taxes totaled nearly $2.8 trillion in the U.S. in 2024, and $301 billion of that was from Florida. This revenue is important, and the IRS will take action to secure all needed payments from individual and business taxpayers. Wage garnishment is one type of collection action.

The IRS will notify your employer that you owe tax debt, and your employer is legally required to deduct the stated amount from your paycheck to send to the IRS. If you do not address this, your wages could be garnished until the entire debt is paid back. The IRS may also take other actions if you do nothing, such as placing liens or levies on your assets. In 2024, the IRS sent 313,792 requests to third parties as part of levying wages, bank accounts, and other assets.

Wage garnishment can affect your hourly wages, salary, governmental benefits, pension periodic payments, and accounts receivable. Many other types of income can also be included in wage garnishment. These actions can significantly impact your finances and even your professional relationships.

Options for Resolving Wage Garnishment

You can resolve wage garnishment most quickly by paying your entire owed debt. However, the IRS is open to negotiating with taxpayers who do not have the financial means to pay back their tax debts. For some individuals, paying back a tax debt would put them in severe financial hardship. When this is the case, you and your attorney can consider other options, including:

• Applying for the head of household exemption for state tax debt, which can prevent the agency from garnishing some or all of your income
• Negotiating the amount being garnished with the state or federal agency
• Resolving the debt another way, such as entering into a payment plan, filing for penalty abatement, or providing an offer in compromise
• Filing for bankruptcy, as some types can prevent some creditors from garnishing your wages

The Taxpayer Assistance Center nearest to Palm Beach is in West Palm Beach, at 625 N Flagler Drive. A skilled attorney can represent you to the IRS and determine what options you have.

What Are the Benefits of Working With a Wage Garnishment Attorney?

Working with an attorney can help you discover and secure the most financially beneficial outcome to your situation. Often, taxpayers deal with wage garnishment without realizing the options available to them and, therefore, pay more than they need to.

When you review your situation with an attorney, they can provide you with individualized advice about your tax situation and ways you can resolve it. An attorney can determine if you qualify for certain debt resolutions or how you can negotiate for a lower garnishment. Working with an attorney can also lower the stress you have in the situation, as they help you make informed choices, prepare for talks with the IRS, and represent your interests.

FAQs About Palm Beach, FL Wage Garnishment Law

What Is the Maximum They Can Garnish From Your Paycheck?

Federal law limits how much a creditor can take from paychecks. Most creditors can take the lower of the following amounts:

1. 25% of your paycheck
2. The amount that your disposable income exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage

However, these limits do not apply to every type of debt. Debts like unpaid state or federal taxes, child support, or alimony do not have these limits. Unpaid support could result in garnishment of up to 50 or 60%.

Can You Go to Jail for Wage Garnishment?

You cannot go to jail for wage garnishment. If you avoid paying your debts, you could face wage garnishment. This is how your creditor would recover the debt or judgment you owe them. If you are held in contempt of court, such as by ignoring a court-ordered judgment, this could result in criminal charges.

If the wage garnishments are from a tax agency that determines that you are committing tax evasion or fraud, this could result in criminal penalties.

How Do You Survive Garnishment?

The easiest way to stop garnishment of your wages is to pay off the debt for which the garnishment is for. If this isn’t a financial possibility, there are other methods to deal with garnishment. You can negotiate with the creditor to lower the amount being garnished.

Creditors like the IRS are open to negotiation when the garnishment is causing you financial hardship. The IRS also provides other options, such as installment agreements, penalty abatement, and offers in compromise.

Does Garnishment Hurt Your Credit?

Wage garnishment does not directly affect your credit, but there are several ways that it can indirectly impact your credit. Wage garnishment occurs most often when you have an unpaid debt, which in itself harms your credit. The garnishment may also prevent you from paying other bills, worsening your credit. The fact that you are delinquent on debt will also be reported, which will hurt your credit.

Contact TaxSmith, LLC Today

At TaxSmith, LLC, we know how to deal with the IRS and address wage garnishment. When you are dealing with tax debt, wage garnishment, or other tax problems, we can help. Contact us today.