Mike's payroll check was due to be processed on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. and unless his Payroll Department received a Wage Levy Release before then, he would lose about $1,000 to the levy. Time was really short, so I put him on the fast track.

HE hadn't filed tax returns in a loooooooong time, so I had to quickly prepare 1999 - 2004 before IRS would even consider a Wage Levy Release. Done on Monday.

I then called IRS automated Collection Service (ACS) and the rep I spoke to agreed that this taxpayer qualified for CNC; however, he refused to fax the Wage Levy Release (WLR) to either the employer or to me even though payroll deadline was Wednesday. He said he would mail the WLR to the employer, but not to me. He said, "I'm putting the WLR in the mail today (Monday), so the employer will get it by Wednesday." I told him that the US mail could not deliver the WLR to the employer in two days, so since this case was being CNCd and the WLR was agreed upon, that to avoid an "undue economic hardship" on the taxpayer, IRS regulations required that he fax the WLR to the employer. He again refused to do so and said that there was a new nationwide IRS policy "not to fax any WLRs at all any longer." I knew better and told him so, but clearly I would get nowhere.

Knowing I was right, I then placed a call to the Taxpayer Advocate Office (TAO) and spoke to one of the tremendously nice and helpful ladies there. I told her about this supposedly "new" IRS policy not to fax any WLRs any longer under any circumstances. Her reply was ,"That's not right." I told her I agreed. She immediately promised to get the TAO's ACS Liason involved since we had a hardship case.

Well, within a couple of hours my fax machine churned out a WLR for Mike. Looked like the TAO straightened out ACS about their "new" Nationwide No WLR Fax Policy.

All Mike knew was that I had gotten his WLR in record time. That's all he wanted.

Enjoy Friday's full paycheck, Mike. .

This case is another example of why I love this work. I'm sure the IRS rep was just following instructions from his manager. No telling exactly where this "new" policy originated, but I knew it was BS. And so did the TAO rep I talked to ....... and she worked faster than an IRS rep who smelled some easy although undeserved money and get Mike the WLR he deserved..