Current CA FTB Garnishment and Possible IRS Garnishment

[unsupported]

Question:

I'm currently being garnished by the CA FTB at 25%. Due to this I've fallen 4 months behind on my IRS installment agreement. How does it work if the IRS were to start garnishing my wages as well? Does the state get their 25% and the IRS takes their cut and I get the remainder? Or does the CA FTB block garnishment the IRS'? Oh and since I have a lock-in letter I'm being taxed at 0 exemptions on my pay, so how would that work? If the IRS were to garnish would it be at 1 or the stated/filed W4 exemptions, which in my case is 0?

I've read the priority law/rule on garnishments but for there isn't much in the way of IRS vs CA FTB, and quite frankly its a bit vague.

I'm trying to work with FTB on an installment plan but in the meantime...I'd like to know worst case.

Thanks

[AngelinaCat]

Hi unspported, welcome to the forum.

I will leave the bulk of your question for the members from California, particularly LadyInTheRed, as they will be better able to answer your California questions.

However, as a person who has an installment plan with the IRS, CALL them first thing tomorrow, and let them KNOW that you are having difficulty making the payments. We have been in a repayment plan since 2007, and still have about 7K to go before we can get rid of that debt. We have had to call and make adjustments to our payment plan as our finances have ebbed and flowed, just as they have for everyone else. The people we have spoken with have been very professional and cordial, and are not ogres like everyone would like to believe. They WILL work with you, but the key is that you MUST keep them informed. If you don't, then they will take action against you.

Good luck to you!

[unsupported]

Angelina Cat,

Thanks for the reply. I had to wait for some other stuff to happen in order to post my reply/findings. So, in CA once a resident is garnished at 25% by either a Child Support Order and/or Tax Order to Withhold they cannot be garnished further provided that the First in Line/Priority rules apply. If the IRS had filed first, I'd be screwed.

The section is CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE
SECTION 706.020-706.034, notably 706.031.. Also the Consumer Protection Act calls out something similar yet ambiguously...

"If a state wage garnishment law differs from the CCPA,
the law resulting in the smaller garnishment must be
observed."


I called several Fed/State agencies and ADP and got mixed messages/answers, sadly the FTB was again my "savior". They told me that since they were first in line that the IRS couldn't do anything except for the Withhold Order to either be vacated by the FTB (not a chance in hell), or for it to be paid in full. That said, I called my assigned IRS enforcement officer and explained the situation. She is local, my case is large enough to assign me a local IRS officer/agent, she understood but wasn't happy asked me the 20 questions regarding personal property, etc.. At the end of it I'm pretty sure she knows I'm running out the clock or at least trying to.

Thanks for replying.