Tax Lien Deleted

[Anonymous]

Hello. I hope I can explain this well enough to get an appropriate answer. I have a Federal Tax Lien which covers 4 different tax years, which was scheduled to be heard in the tax court earlier this year. Prior to my court date, I was contacted by the IRS because there was some concern that there might have been an error made in computing the tax I owe, because  it was a joint liability (we have been divorced for 8 years) an she was granted Innocent Spouse relief. So, I visited with my local IRS office, they went over my income and expenses, and decided that the tax lien was "Currently Non Collectible". I am in the process of applying for a mortgage, and I was told that the status of the tax lien needed to show something other than "Filed".  So, I called TU and told them I was disputing how the status of the lien was being reported, and that I had documentation from the Tax Court showing that the lien is currently Non Collectible. This was about a month ago. Well, today I received the results of their investigation, and they deleted the tax lien from my credit report! So, here's my questions:

1) Is the IRS going to find out that the lien was deleted, and will it get put back onto my TU credit report?

2) If I call the other 2 bureaus (or send them a letter), what are the chances they would delete this also?

3) The SOL for the earliest tax year that is included in the lien will expire next year sometime. Does this affect the tax lien at all?

4) If part of the tax lien is no longer collectible, doesn't that change the accuracy of the tax lien? For example, if the tax lien is $20,000, and $5000 is no longer collectible, it seems that the tax lien is being reported incorrectly.

5) Will the IRS remove the current tax lien, and then file a new lien with the correct amount?

Thanks.

[RobertEG]

IRS trumps any decision made by a CRA regarding credit reporting.  If the debtt is not paid, it is reportable.

[bigman023]

Also, and I could be wrong, I don't think there is an SOL for Federal Debt... You may want to look into that.

[Anonymous]

There is a 10 year SOL for collection on income tax. The clock stops if you make a payment of submit an OIC. I found it interesting that TU deleted this lien from my credit report.

[Anonymous]

IN GENERAL You are correct that there is a ten year period where the IRS can collect on an unpaid tax lien however the FCRA does not state a limit on the reporting time of an unpaid tax lien. 

 If you ever maintained a copy of your Equifax report one of the back pages under the heading Facts You Should Know states:

public records: 

                               Unpaid tax liens remain indefinately. with the exception of the state of california which ironically has an indefinite collection period.

If you do not choose to pay your taxes you can be caught in the unique position where they refuse to collect because you are past the sol and the report does not drop the bad tradeline simply because they don't have to.  This has been reported previously by fellow myfico members.

The Op's situation is unique that the debt has been ruled currently uncollectable.  Which from no previous dealings in the matter this is just my thoughts one can assess that the IRS witholds the right upon reveiw of future tax filings and bank statements which they have access to can resume collection within the ten year period and re report the tax lien as simply unpaid.  Outside the ten year period they shouldn't be able to rereport becuase they can no longer collect on the debt.  THe OP is concerned whether they can report a lesser amount to re establish the ability to collect on the debt which can be the case if they are willing to forgive a portion of the debt in order to guarantee payment of the remainder of the debt.