My bank account has been levied by IRS

Normally you will get a letter or phone call from your financial institution informing you that the Internal Revenue Service has levied your bank account and the amount in the account that day has been frozen. This isn't exactly the news you were hoping for but all is not lost. The money isn't sent to the IRS for 21 days. During this period of time an opportunity may exist to get a full or partial release of the levy from IRS. Wage levies are continuous while bank levies are one time events. Just the amount of money in the account that day is frozen. You can use your bank account the next day unless IRS levies again which is unlikely and I have never seen in 27 years of representing taxpayers. A word of caution not all financial institutions understand the one time bank levy process. I have sent the Internal Revenue Manual section on bank levies to financial institutions to help them understand that future bank deposits aren't subject to the levy. If IRS timing is bad and the bank balance is low then only a small amount is frozen. As always to get IRS to release levies you must be in compliance. Don't ignore IRS notices and let your bank account be levied. There are many options to prevent this from happening if you act on your tax issues.