Actually, that's not precisely what the law states; more on that below.My Social Security Benefit payments, for over a year now, are being levied at around 57%. Section 1024(2)(h)(1) of PL105-24 [Note: His citation is garbled; he really means subsection (a) of section 1024 of Public Law No. 105-34 (not 105-24), which amended section 6331 of the Internal Revenue Code back in August of 1997 by adding what is now subsection (h)] clearly states that the IRS is only authorized to levy up to 15% of my monthly Social Security Benefit payments.
Later, "smudge" writes:
http://www.losthorizons.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2863Received the reply to my question from:
Bill Banowsky
Director, Campus Compliance Operations
Ogden Small Business/Self-Employed Division [of the Internal Revenue Service]
(I'm only quoting the relevant parts of his reply)
"You asked about the percentage the IRS is authorized to deduct from your social security benefits."
[ . . . ]
"There is no similar restriction on how much the IRS can receive from manual levies. A manual levy was completed on July 27, 2010, raising your payment to $1,189.20"
[ . . . .]
Any suggestions anyone?
"Smudge" then continues his commentary at a web site called codebusters dot com, where several current and former CtC regulars have been posting over the past few months:
http://www.codebusters.org/post739.html#p739[ . . . ] IRM 5.11.7.2.7 [a citation to a provision of the IRS Internal Revenue Manual] doesn't apply in this situation, because the "Manual Levy" and FPLP [the Federal Payment Levy Program] were not running concurrently, however, during the period of time i was "enrolled" in the FPLP and 15% of my monthly Social Security benefit payment was being diverted to the IRS, the remaining 85% was directly deposited in my bank account. One of Mr. Shulmans [sic] employees [meaning an IRS employee; Douglas H. Shulman is the Commissioner of Internal Revenue] at the Fresno Campus [the IRS Fresno facility] did send a "Notice of Levy" to my bank and had the remaining 85% of my benefit sent to the IRS. I intend to write another letter to Mr. Schulman [sic] requesting the return of my property, they will probably reply that the statute of limitations has expired, but at least i will be on record. I also have a few questions for Mr. Banowsky [the IRS employee mentioned earlier]. Who un-enrolled me from the FPLP and what was their criteria, what is a "manual levy", who authorized it and what criteria did they use to determine the ammount [sic] to levy, what law did they go by, if not a law, what portion of Title 26 did they rely on to over-ride the applicable section of P.L. 105-34, and request a copy of the "manual levy".
It appears, at any rate, that "smudge" is confused about (A) what an ordinary manual levy is, and (B) the difference between an ordinary levy and a "continuous levy." Ordinary manual levies are governed generally by subsection (a) of Internal Revenue Code section 6331. For an ordinary manual levy, subsection (a) provides no restriction on the percentage of a taxpayer's Social Security benefits that can be seized or distrained.
By contrast, for a "continuous levy" under subsection (h) (such as an FPLP levy, which is an automated levy) there is a statutory maximum percentage of Social Security benefits that can be seized or distrained: 15%.
See also IRS Publication 4418, "What You Need to Know: The Federal Payment Levy Program as it applies to your Social Security Benefits" (Rev. March 2008).
As a side note: legal scholar Weston White contributes this pearl in the same thread at codebusters dot com:
I see Weston's magnificent legal prowess is the same as it has always been.....Oh and to touch on my own predicament[,] the IRS is garnishing me (so perhaps you will not have to feel so bad, hehe), not for one, but for two charges from TY-2007 (even though there are absolutely zero records concerning any of the other charges), and every new tax year I am mailed a brand new charge for TY-2007 in addition to a new charge for that current tax year. And as additional icing on the preverbal [sic] cake the IRS had started its garnishment against me about two-weeks after the statute of limitations for TY-2007 penalties had expired. To date all of my correspondence has been entirely ignored by the IRS, they will not give me the time of day.