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CCA 200848074: Military-pay levy must use FPLP and remain in abeyance during deployment

Number
200848074
Outcome
Advice
Document type
Chief Counsel Advice
IRS subject
Levy and Distraint
Topics
Procedure, penalties, and administration
Code sections
§ 6331
Ruling dated
August 25, 2008
Publicly released
November 28, 2008
Source
View Official PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page covers legal advice the IRS Office of Chief Counsel wrote for IRS staff, issued in 2008, which can't be cited as precedent. Ask about your situation and see what the current Code and IRS guidance say, with citations.

Currency note: this determination was released in 2008
Statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later IRS guidance may have changed the analysis since then. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, threshold, or position mentioned here.
Not precedent. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6110(k)(3), this written determination may not be used or cited as precedent. It is advice from the IRS Office of Chief Counsel to IRS personnel on the facts they presented, and identifying details were redacted by the IRS before release. The official IRS release (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source.
About this page: The plain-English summary and ruling snapshot below were written by Ezel based on the official IRS release. The full text is the IRS's own document.
View official IRS release (PDF)

Plain-English summary

Chief Counsel advised that the IRS should not serve paper Forms 668-A or 668-W for a continuing levy on military pay. The levy had to proceed through the Federal Payment Levy Program, the automated system used to administer IRC § 6331(h). Because the Defense Finance and Accounting Service could not always identify deployed personnel, an agreement then required it to hold all such levies in abeyance. The IRS could submit the levy through the automated program, but collection would wait until the agreement ended and the service member was no longer a deployed employee.

Ruling snapshot

  • Question: How may the IRS levy the pay of active-duty military personnel who may be deployed overseas?
  • Outcome: Advice given. Use FPLP rather than a paper levy, with the levy held in abeyance under the existing DFAS agreement.
  • Key authorities: IRC § 6331(h); IRM 5.11.7.2.

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA-825105-08 Number: 200848074
Office: --------------
Release Date: 11/28/2008

UILC: 6331.00-00

From: ------------------
Sent: Mon 8/25/2008 10:55 AM
To: ------------------
Cc:
Subject: RE: Levy on military personnel on active duty - -----------------

My reviewer and I have researched your question below. First of all, there is an issue with erving a Form 668-W. The Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP) is the automated levy program that the IRS has implemented with the Department of Treasury, Financial Management Service. The FPLP was developed as the means to administer IRC 6331(h), continuing levy on certain payments, so no paper levy documents (Form 668-A or Form 668-W) should be served for this type of levy. IRM 5.11.7.2. Additionally, at this time, because the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) may not always be able to determine whether a levy is against a Deployed Employee (which would not be acted upon while the military personnel is a deployed employee overseas in support of military operations), there is an agreement in place that all levies served to the DFAS are being held in abeyance until some later date. Therefore, at this time for your case below, a levy could be served under FPLP and it will be held in abeyance until the agreement is lifted and the military personnel are not deployed employees. Please let me know if you have any questions.

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