Just about two months, I received a demand for payment from a CA concerning a debt (arising from property taxes on a car) from about 5 years ago. It's not appearing on any reports yet but I proceeded to send a VL to the CA. I disputed the amount not the debt. My VL was simply ignored and instead, I received another demand from the CA (a violation!). I was about to send an estopel when I received this letter from the original "creditor": Notice of Tax Lien/Garnishment. It's addressed to my employer with all my details there. It does not have a court order (I suppose these people can do this). Payment must be made by the end of may or else they (my employer I guess or I) will be made to appear in court if summoned or something like that..it's full of legal jargon. What can I possibly do here. BTW, I live in a different state from the "debtor"..dont know if this helps.
I have actually had a tax lien with garnishment and what you are describing seems very unlikely. Only a government agency can initiate a tax lien. What I think is happening is that you are receiving a "scare letter" from this CA. Please post the text from the letter and the CA name and we can help you more.
Sound like the CA is pretending to be a government agency which I think is a criminal offense. Or am I way off base here? I've never heard of a tax lien given to a CA! The taxing authority I thought sends the lien to the debtor's county and the county places on CR. Also I thought a lien didn't mean garnishment but a levy was needed. I could be all wrong but its sounds like they are trying to scare you and commiting violations.
Definately sounds like a scare letter. I would contact an attorney and find out what they think. BTW How much are they trying to get from you? Did you find out the SOL for your state?
Oh no, this is not a scare tactic! The letter is not from the CA but rather from the Finance Dept of the County of XYZ on their letterhead. No gimmicks. It reads: County of XYZ Department of Finance To: My Employer Attn: Lien/Garnishment Processing Whereas, DM4X, SSN#, risiding at HYG, is indebted to the county of XYZ for personal property taxes for the year 1997 in the amount of $300. And wheras, it appears that you are indebted or have in your possession estate of the said person, firm or corporation assessed with unpaid taxes. Now therefore such taxes is hereby given to you and demand made for payment thereof persuant to section 12.3-4567 of the Code of State X, or for so much thereof as may be in your hands on account of such estate or indebtness. Your are further notified that unless such payment be made on or before the 31st day of May 2002, I will apply to a justice of the peace or clerk of a court of record or to the clerk of the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the city for a summons commanding you to appear before the appropriate court for interogation on oath and such further proceedings and judgment as may be proper, pursuant to Section 12.3-4567 of the Code of State X. Given my hand this 12the day of March, 2002. Signed Director of Finance Well this is what is before me. I dont what the SOL of my state is or where to find that out. But, I must prevent this from appearing on my reports. The amount is relatively small, just over $300. So it's not like I can not pay. Any suggestions? Need to do something on Monday. dm4x
I've been told that if you pay a tax lien it comes off your reports immediately. I've had no experience with this but this is what I've heard. I know you can can contact the taxing authority and ask that the lien be released once you have paid. Since you just received the letter, it's probably not on your reports yet (sometimes tax liens don't appear reports). If you pay now, you could possibly head-off anything being placed on your report.
Did you actually call the County and verify it yourself or are you relying solely on this letterhead? Have you ever seen a letterhead from the county to know exactly what it looks like? These CA's can do some really underhanded BS. If I were you, I would call and verify with the county 1st before I pay anyone a penny.
Yes, verify this before you send any money. What is the address you are supposed to send money to? Coldata is handling government debts, they are sneaky!!! Post it! let us check it out for you!!
I have no doubt that this is from the county. The CA is in a another city. The letter came in an official county envelope and post marked from the same city. Mind you this letter is addressed to MY EMPLOYER and all I recieved is a copy. It therefore means I dont have to send in any money but they will get it through a deduction from my paycheck. Is this not what a garnishment is supposed to be? Am I mistaken in assuming that this is the case?
OK, if you don't want to check it out, then you better pay it quick. Your choice, We can't tell you - we can't see it.
There are plenty of people who can tell you about how they were "served" with fake court summonses by some pimply-faced teenager, as they arrived home from work or some other similar situation. When they called the court, no action had been taken. CA's will do it, trust us. If there is a tax lien it will be filed in district court. You seem to want to discuss the problem, with incomplete information, rather than solve the problem by getting complete information. That won't work.
No offense you people, but it sounds to me that what this guy has received is a notice stating that his employer has the paperwork to start deducting his paycheck. At this point he has no choice. This is similar to what I received 5 years ago for child support. (from the state). Once his employer receives file notification they have to process it or he has to pay it. There must be some lien or judgment against him that he isn't aware of. My suggestion would be to go to the Public Records area and find out what he has under his name.
So in essence what you're saying is just because someone sent a letter to your employer on what you call "official letterhead" from the county stating pay or be garnished with a lien, you won't perform your on due dilligence and make a phone call to verify that the county actually sent this to you. You said the account was over 5 years old and few months shy of your sol. You posted here requesting feedback. I think everyone so far has looked out for your best interest and given you plenty of advice. This forum is filled with posts of CA's committing malicious and fraudulent acts. You can just pay it because its only $300 and you can afford that. It may just be the right thing to do. But if it were me, I would make sure that it was totally legit first and then decide what to do next.
I used to do collection several years ago (ok everybody don't start throwing rotten vegetables!) and this is what i had to do to get a garnishment, granted this is virginia, and a little bit of time has passed but i suspect it's similar at least in most parts of the country. The first thing that has to be obtained is a judgement. This involves filling out a summons to appear in court, which the court signed and filled out the time of the court appearance. The sherrif would have to serve the individual, and additionally I would have to send 1 copy of the warrent to the individual certified mail. After the court appearance if a judgement was entered, i could then fill out another court document that requested a particular account, or employer to garnish wages. The return date was 3 months. This NEVER and I emphasize NEVER involved requiring the employer to make a court appearance. Generally the court would send the documents to the employer, who would then withhold whatever wages, and would, after 90 days send us $$. I hope this helps. I was never to good at collecting because I didn't have the heart to pursue people, esp when the debt was occured during a hospital stay when the person's pet died (I worked at a veterinary office) . I was glad when they got someone else to do it and i went back to being a technician
