IRS Form 668-W is the continuous wage levy notice the IRS sends to your employer, directing them to withhold part of every paycheck and send it to the Treasury until your tax debt is paid or the IRS releases the levy.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6331 – Levy and Distraint Unlike a one-time bank levy that grabs a single account balance, this one attaches to every paycheck that comes after your employer receives it. The form includes a worksheet your employer uses to figure out how much of your pay is protected, and a Statement of Dependents and Filing Status that you have to fill out fast.
Return the Statement of Dependents Within Three Days
This is the single most urgent thing to do when a 668-W lands on your employer’s desk. Your employer must give you a copy of the Statement of Dependents and Filing Status included with the levy, and you have three days to complete and return it.2Internal Revenue Service. Internal Revenue Manual 5.11.5 – Levy on Wages, Salary, and Other Income
If you miss the three-day window, your employer is required to calculate the exempt amount as though you’re married filing separately with zero dependents, which is the lowest possible exemption on the table.3Internal Revenue Service. What if I Get a Levy Against One of My Employees, Vendors, Customers or Other Third Parties You can submit the form late and your employer will adjust the exemption going forward, but any excess already sent to the IRS is gone. Fill it out the day you receive it.
How Much of Your Paycheck the IRS Actually Takes
The IRS does not take your entire check. Federal law guarantees a minimum exemption meant to cover basic living expenses, and your employer looks up that exempt amount in the tables in IRS Publication 1494, which the IRS mails along with the levy.4Internal Revenue Service. Information About Wage Levies The tables in effect were revised in December 2025 and apply to levies collected in 2026.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 1494 – Tables for Figuring Amount Exempt from Levy on Wages, Salary, and Other Income
The exempt amount depends on your filing status and how many dependents you claim on the statement. Your employer starts with your take-home pay after mandatory deductions like federal and state income tax withholding, Social Security, and Medicare. They then look up your exempt amount on the Publication 1494 table matching your pay period. Everything above the exempt amount goes to the IRS. If your biweekly take-home is $2,000 and the table shows $1,250 as exempt, your employer sends $750 to the IRS that pay period.
Bonuses and Commissions
Here is where people get blindsided. For levy purposes, wages include bonuses, commissions, fees, and similar compensation, and the exempt amount is calculated once per pay period, not once per payment. If your regular paycheck already used up your exempt amount for that period, a separate bonus paid during the same period gets levied in full.4Internal Revenue Service. Information About Wage Levies The IRS receives the entire bonus. If you’re expecting a year-end bonus or a commission check while a wage levy is active, plan on losing all of it unless you’ve already arranged a release.
If You Pay Child Support
A court-ordered child support obligation that predates the levy takes priority. The IRS will release from the levy the amount needed to comply with the support order, but only if the order was in place before your employer received the 668-W.4Internal Revenue Service. Information About Wage Levies The support exemption is written into the federal statute listing property exempt from levy.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6334 – Property Exempt from Levy You cannot claim the same child both for support and as a dependent when your exempt amount is calculated. If your employer didn’t factor in the support deduction, call the IRS at the number on your copy of the levy form.
How to Get the Levy Released
Federal law requires the IRS to release a wage levy in several specific situations.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6343 – Authority to Release Levy and Return Property Pick whichever route fits your situation, or combine them.
Pay the Balance
The fastest option. Once the debt is fully satisfied, the IRS must release the levy. If you can borrow from family, use savings, or take a personal loan at a lower effective cost than the ongoing drain of the levy, full payment ends the problem right away.
Enter an Installment Agreement
The most practical route for most people. The IRS must release a levy once a taxpayer enters an installment agreement under Section 6159.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6343 – Authority to Release Levy and Return Property Streamlined installment agreements are available to individuals who owe less than $50,000 and can pay within 72 months, and they don’t require detailed financial statements.8Taxpayer Advocate Service. Installment Agreements Larger balances or longer timelines may qualify for a non-streamlined agreement, but no agreement can extend beyond the 10-year collection statute.9Internal Revenue Service. IRM 5.14.2 – Partial Payment Installment Agreements and the Collection Statute Stay current on all future filings and payments, or the agreement defaults and the levy comes back.
Economic Hardship Release
If the levy prevents you from meeting basic living expenses such as rent, utilities, and food, the IRS is required to release it.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6343 – Authority to Release Levy and Return Property Call the phone number on the levy notice and be ready with detailed financial information. The IRS will usually want Form 433-A, a collection information statement covering your income, expenses, and assets.10Internal Revenue Service. What if a Levy Is Causing a Hardship A hardship release stops the withholding; it doesn’t erase the debt.
Offer in Compromise
An Offer in Compromise settles the debt for less than you owe when there’s genuine doubt you could ever pay in full, or when the offered amount reflects the most the IRS could realistically collect. The process takes months and requires application fees and partial payments, so this is not a quick fix for an active levy. If you qualify, it can eliminate the underlying debt.
The 30-Day CDP Window
Before issuing the 668-W, the IRS was required to send you a Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing at least 30 days earlier, usually as Letter 1058 or LT11.11Taxpayer Advocate Service. Notice of Intent to Levy That notice carries the right to a Collection Due Process hearing, which you request by filing Form 12153 within 30 days of the notice date.12Taxpayer Advocate Service. Collection Due Process (CDP)
Filing on time matters enormously. A timely CDP request stops the IRS from levying in most cases, suspends the 10-year collection clock while the hearing is pending, and preserves your right to petition the U.S. Tax Court if you disagree with the outcome.13Internal Revenue Service. Form 12153 – Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing At the hearing you can challenge whether the IRS followed procedure, propose an installment agreement or Offer in Compromise, or argue economic hardship.
If you missed the 30-day window, you can still request an equivalent hearing within one year of the notice date. It covers the same ground but has two significant drawbacks: it does not stop the levy, and you cannot take the case to Tax Court if you disagree with the result.14Taxpayer Advocate Service. Equivalent Hearing (Within 1 Year) If the IRS never sent you the required final notice at all, that’s one of the strongest procedural grounds for challenging the levy.
Emergency Help
If a levy is causing immediate financial harm and you can’t get anywhere through normal IRS channels, the Taxpayer Advocate Service can step in. Request assistance with Form 911, describing the tax issue and the hardship.15Internal Revenue Service. Form 911 – Request for Taxpayer Advocate Service Assistance You can submit by mail, by fax to (855) 828-2723, or by email to tas.form.911.request.for.assistance@irs.gov, though the IRS notes email is not encrypted and recommends other methods for sensitive documents. If you don’t hear back within 30 days, call TAS directly at 877-777-4778.
If you can’t afford professional help, you may qualify for free or low-cost representation from a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic. The IRS keeps a directory at irs.gov/advocate.
What Happens If You Change Jobs
Form 668-W is served on one specific employer. If you leave, that employer stops withholding because there are no more paychecks to touch. The underlying debt doesn’t go away, and the IRS routinely serves a new levy on the next employer once it identifies where you’re working through W-2 filings and other reporting. There is often a gap between jobs with no withholding, but treating that gap as a strategy is a mistake. A new levy usually follows within a few pay periods of the new start date.
Social Security Benefits Are a Different Process
Form 668-W is not used to levy Social Security. The IRS uses a separate mechanism called the Federal Payment Levy Program, which can take up to 15% of Social Security retirement and survivors benefits, and sends a different notice (CP 91 or CP 298) beforehand. Supplemental Security Income is not subject to the program, and since October 2015 the IRS no longer systematically levies Social Security disability insurance benefits through it either.16Internal Revenue Service. Social Security Benefits Eligible for the Federal Payment Levy Program If your income is benefits rather than wages, the rules that apply are different from the ones covered here.