Congress should amend the second line of IRC 6331 (a) by replacing the words "within 10 days after notice and demand" with the words "within 30 days after notice and demand." The first two lines of IRC 6331(a) will then read:

    If any person liable to pay any tax neglects or refuses to pay
    the same within 30 days after notice and demand, it shall be
    lawful for the Secretary to collect such tax....

Reasons for Change:

The 10-day notice and demand period is not reasonable for a taxpayer who needs to borrow the money or raise cash in some way. Thirty days is more reasonable.

As a practical matter, because of the IRS notice process, where three or four notices are sent to taxpayers over a 12 week period, very few levies are made within 30 days of assessment. The levies that do occur within this period are usually related to unpaid employee withholding taxes, and usually where the revenue officer has obtained a voluntarily filed form 941 and has promptly assessed the tax. Revenue officers frequently threaten to seize a taxpayer's business within hours of obtaining an immediate assessment, thereby illegally invoking the jeopardy authority under IRC 6331(a), using the fact of the delinquency itself as evidence that collection of the tax is in jeopardy. Then, in order not to break the law, the revenue officer waits 10 days and then seizes. Once the wheels are in motion to seize, the revenue officer will not withdraw from the process for any reason other than full payment. A rapid seizure may actually jeopardize collection itself by making it more difficult for the taxpayer to borrow money to pay the tax. Private and commercial lenders may then be reluctant to lend money for a business already under seizure by the IRS.