The Treasury Department and IRS have issued proposed regulations regarding the sale of a taxpayer’s property that the IRS seizes by levy. They actually make a lot of sense.
The proposed amendments would allow the IRS to maximize sale proceeds for the benefit of the taxpayer whose property the IRS has seized. The current regulations date all the way back to 1954 and therefore do not take technological advances into account. Some of the proposed changes that would improve the sales process and help the taxpayer include:
- Providing for online sales, which are expected to attract a wider range of buyers and higher bids.
- Permitting buyers to pay electronically, or by credit or debit card.
- Removing the current $200 minimum bid and replace it with the bid specified in the public notice.
- Banning revenue officers from purchasing the property they have seized.
The proposed rules will apply to property seized on or after the date the rules are published in the Federal Register as final regulations - which sometimes takes a while.