Exempt From IRS Levy: Wages, Benefits, and Household Goods

Federal law shields a specific list of income and property from IRS seizure: Supplemental Security Income, needs-based public assistance, service-connected VA disability, court-ordered child support, necessary clothing and school books, undelivered mail, a portion of your wages tied to your filing status and dependents, up to $11,980 in household goods for 2026, and up to $5,990 in books and tools of your trade.¹² The list lives in Internal Revenue Code Section 6334, and it is the exclusive federal list—state exemption statutes do not apply to IRS levies. The catch worth knowing before you read any further: several categories that look fully exempt on that list can still be reached at 15% through a separate program called the continuous levy.

Income and Benefits Fully Off-Limits

These categories cannot be levied at all, at any percentage, through any IRS program:

Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Title XVI needs-based payments for aged, blind, and disabled individuals are protected by statute and excluded from every IRS levy program.¹
Needs-based public assistance. State and local welfare payments where eligibility depends on an income or means test.¹
Service-connected VA disability. Disability compensation tied to a service-connected condition under Title 38. Non-service-connected VA pensions are not on the statutory list and do not get this protection.¹
Court-ordered child support. The portion of your wages needed to meet a child support judgment for minor children.¹
Necessary clothing and school books. For you or family members. No dollar cap.¹
Undelivered mail. Anything addressed to you that hasn’t yet been delivered.¹

Social Security and the 15 Percent Catch

This is where the exemption list misleads most people. Regular Social Security retirement and survivors benefits under Title II are federal payments, and the IRS can reach them through the Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP). Under FPLP, the IRS takes up to 15% of each monthly check until the tax debt is satisfied.³ For non-tax federal debts the first $750 per month is protected; for tax debts under FPLP there is no minimum benefit floor.⁴

The authority is IRC Section 6331(h), which allows a continuous levy of up to 15% on “specified payments,” including federal payments whose eligibility is not based on income or assets.⁵ Two exceptions matter:

Social Security disability insurance benefits (SSDI, Title II) have been excluded from FPLP since October 2015.⁴
SSI (Title XVI) is never subject to the program.⁴

Other “Exempt” Payments the Continuous Levy Still Reaches

Section 6331(h) also overrides Section 6334 for several payment types the exemption list otherwise labels as protected. These are reachable at 15% through the continuous levy even though a one-time levy cannot touch them:⁵

Unemployment compensation.
Workers’ compensation.¹
Railroad Retirement Act payments, Railroad Unemployment Insurance benefits, and military survivor annuities.

Read the labels carefully. “Exempt from levy” under Section 6334 is not the same as “the IRS cannot touch this.” If you receive any payment on this list and owe back taxes, the IRS can still take 15 cents on the dollar, automatically, month after month, until the balance is paid or the levy is released.

How Much of Your Wages Stays Yours

The IRS cannot take your entire paycheck. A minimum amount of your wages is exempt each pay period based on your filing status and number of dependents, roughly equal to your standard deduction plus a per-dependent allowance divided across your pay periods.⁶ The exact figures live in Publication 1494, which your employer uses to run the math.⁷

The 2026 tables break the exempt amount down by pay period (daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly) and by number of exemptions. A single taxpayer paid weekly with three dependents, for example, keeps roughly $615 per pay period. Everything above the exempt amount goes to the IRS.

One trap catches people off guard. When your employer receives the wage levy, they will give you a Statement of Dependents and Filing Status. If you don’t return it within three days, your employer must calculate the exempt amount as if you were single with no dependents—the lowest figure on the table.⁶ Filling out the form quickly is the simplest way to protect more of your paycheck.

Household Goods, Tools, and Your Home

Two categories of physical property are protected up to inflation-adjusted dollar caps. For 2026:²

Household goods, up to $11,980. Fuel, food, furniture, and personal effects in your home. This also covers firearms for personal use and livestock or poultry.¹
Books and tools of your trade, up to $5,990. The books and tools necessary for your trade, business, or profession.²

These are aggregate caps, not per-item limits. If your household goods are worth $15,000 in total, the IRS can seize items in excess of $11,980. The revenue officer appraises the property and sets aside the exempt amount. Disagree with the appraisal, and you can require the IRS to bring in three disinterested individuals for a fresh valuation.

Your principal residence gets two additional layers of protection. If your total tax debt is $5,000 or less, real property you use as a residence is completely exempt.¹ Above that amount, the IRS cannot seize your principal residence without written approval from a federal district court judge or magistrate. The government has to petition the court, show that the debt is unpaid, that procedures were followed, and that no reasonable alternative exists. You get a hearing to challenge the petition, but you can only contest whether the levy itself is appropriate, not the underlying tax bill.⁸ The IRS rarely pursues home seizures because of this judicial hurdle. Rarely is not never.

Retirement Accounts Are Not Exempt

Many people assume that ERISA’s anti-alienation rules for 401(k)s, pensions, and similar qualified plans keep the IRS out. They don’t. Federal regulations state explicitly that those rules do not prevent enforcement of a federal tax levy.⁹

In practice, the IRS treats retirement funds as a last resort. Internal policy requires a finding that you engaged in “flagrant conduct” before a revenue officer will levy a retirement account, and the officer must also consider collection alternatives, whether you rely on the funds for necessary living expenses, and whether your full collection due process rights were honored.¹⁰ If you voluntarily request that the IRS levy your retirement account (sometimes done to avoid early-withdrawal penalties), the flagrant conduct requirement is waived. The IRS can only collect what you currently have a right to withdraw; if your only interest is future payments you can’t yet access, the levy attaches but the plan doesn’t pay out until you become eligible.

Bank Accounts and the 21-Day Window

A bank levy is a one-time snapshot. The IRS issues Form 668-A, and the bank freezes whatever is in the account at the moment the levy is received. Deposits that arrive later are generally not swept up by that same levy, though the IRS can serve another one.¹¹

The bank must then hold the frozen funds for 21 days before sending them to the IRS.¹¹ That window exists so you can prove some or all of the funds are exempt. This matters most when exempt payments have been direct-deposited into the account. SSI benefits sitting in your checking account remain exempt, but you have to trace them. Bank statements showing the source of each deposit are the clearest evidence.

Joint accounts create their own problem. If you share an account with someone the IRS is pursuing, the entire balance can be frozen, including money you deposited. The non-liable holder has to contact the IRS during the 21-day window with documentation—statements, deposit records, pay stubs—showing which funds belong solely to them. Once the money is sent to the IRS, getting it back is much harder.

How to Actually Claim an Exemption

Exemptions don’t apply themselves. How you assert them depends on what kind of levy hit you.

Wage levy. Return the Statement of Dependents and Filing Status to your employer within three days. The figures you put on it drive the Publication 1494 calculation.⁶

Bank levy. Contact the revenue officer named on the levy notice during the 21-day holding period. Provide bank statements tracing exempt deposits (SSI, VA service-connected disability, needs-based welfare) back to their source.

Tangible property seizure. Point out at the time of seizure which items fall under the $11,980 household goods cap or the $5,990 tools of trade cap.² If the officer’s valuation looks wrong, demand the three-appraiser review.

Stopping the Levies for Good

Claiming an exemption saves a specific asset. It doesn’t stop the IRS from coming back with a different levy. To actually turn off collection, you have to deal with the debt itself.

Collection Due Process hearing. You have 30 days from the Final Notice of Intent to Levy (LT11 or Letter 1058) to file Form 12153. Filing suspends levy action while the hearing is pending, and you can propose alternatives or, in some cases, contest the underlying liability.¹² Miss the 30 days and you can still request an equivalent hearing within one year, but you lose Tax Court review.¹³

Installment agreement. While a request is pending, the IRS is generally barred from levying. Once the agreement is in place and you’re paying, existing levies are released.¹⁴ Streamlined agreements typically run up to 72 months.¹⁵

Offer in Compromise. Under IRC 6331(k), the IRS cannot levy while an offer is pending, for 30 days after rejection, or during an appeal of a rejection.¹⁶ The offer becomes “pending” when an IRS official signs your Form 656 and enters it into the system, not when you mail it.

Currently Not Collectible status. If paying anything would leave you unable to cover basic living expenses, the IRS may pause collection entirely. You’ll file a full financial disclosure, typically on Form 433-F.¹⁷ Interest and penalties keep accruing, but active levies stop while the status holds. The IRS reviews these accounts periodically.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6334 – Property Exempt From Levy
2
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32
3
Internal Revenue Service. Social Security Benefits Eligible for the Federal Payment Levy Program
4
Social Security Administration. GN 02410.305 – Federal Payment Levy Program
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 6331 – Levy and Distraint
6
Internal Revenue Service. Information About Wage Levies
7
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 1494 – Tables for Figuring Amount Exempt From Levy on Wages, Salary, and Other Income
8
eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6334-1 – Property Exempt From Levy
9
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.401(a)-13 – Assignment or Alienation of Benefits
10
Internal Revenue Service. 5.11.6 Notice of Levy in Special Cases
11
Internal Revenue Service. Information About Bank Levies
12
Internal Revenue Service. Collection Due Process CDP FAQs
13
Taxpayer Advocate Service. Notice of Intent to Levy
14
Internal Revenue Service. Payment Plans and Installment Agreements
15
Taxpayer Advocate Service. Installment Agreements
16
Internal Revenue Service. 8.23.1 Offer in Compromise Overview
17
Internal Revenue Service. Form 433-F – Collection Information Statement