Tax Liens in Bankruptcy; Avoiding, Stripping, and Negotiating Federal Tax Liens

Your client just got a bankruptcy discharge. The tax debt is gone. Then the IRS sends a notice threatening to foreclose on their home.

This is not a mistake. And it happens more often than most practitioners realize.

Discharging the tax debt eliminates personal liability. But a federal tax lien filed before bankruptcy does not disappear. It survives. It stays attached to every piece of property your client owned at the time of filing. And the IRS can still enforce it - even after the bankruptcy case is closed.

Most practitioners advise clients on whether their tax debt is dischargeable. Far fewer advise them on what happens to the lien. That gap in advice is where clients get blindsided - and where practitioners miss the full scope of what they can do.

In Tax Liens in Bankruptcy, Enrolled Agent and bankruptcy tax specialist Elan Becker, EA walks you through the complete framework for handling federal tax liens before, during, and after bankruptcy:

- How the Section 6321 lien arises, perfects, and attaches to property - including after-acquired assets

- The critical distinction between discharging the debt and eliminating the lien - and why confusing them leads to incomplete advice

- What Chapter 7 can and cannot do about a pre-petition tax lien

- How Chapter 13 can strip down a lien to the value of the collateral under Section 506(a)

- Administrative tools: lien subordination, discharge of lien from specific property, and withdrawal

- How to negotiate the lien post-discharge using doubt as to collectibility

- Practical calendaring and follow-up procedures for active lien cases

Tax discharge without lien analysis is incomplete advice. This guide fixes that.

Written for: Tax attorneys, bankruptcy attorneys, CPAs, and enrolled agents who represent clients with tax debt and need to give complete, accurate guidance on what bankruptcy actually resolves.