The IRS is known as the most ruthless and aggressive collection agency on the face of the planet. A recent report may prompt it to up its game as billions in uncollected tax revenue remains outstanding. So unpaid tax bills should have you worried.

The IRS Wants Your Unpaid Tax Bills

A recent IRS report noted that nearly $7 billion taxes remain unpaid, encompassing nearly half a million tax returns. But of that massive sum, almost $2 billion stemmed from tax payers not found by IRS agents because the IRS didn’t do its due diligence.

The IRS is known for doing their due diligence. Just ask some of the thousands of taxpayers every year who become subject to a bank levy, wage garnishment, or tax lien.

But the $1.9 billion that remains uncollected hasn’t been erased. The IRS has ten years to collect back tax debt, and renegade tax debtors who try to hide from Uncle Sam can get a wage garnishment if they show in the IRS’s radar during that time.

The new report highlights the IRS’s efforts to track down tax debtors.

What Actions Does the IRS Take?

The IRS performs ten actions to hunt them down. They include tracing many types of records: court records, postal records, and a taxpayer’s records filed with a state’s motor vehicle department.

And if the tax debtor requires a public warning issued against them, the IRS will make it happen. Most likely in a local, community newspaper.

If that’s you and you find your name in a newspaper’s public notice section,  you’re most likely the subject of a tax lien. Tax liens are security interests against your property, and can be filed against your cars, business assets, or even your home.

Tax liens can also negatively impact your credit score, ruining your once promising creditworthiness for a period of seven years.

To get that nearly $7 billion in uncollected tax debt, the IRS will also probably use wage garnishments. These are some of the most inconvenient tax collecting measures, as they take a chunk of your paycheck and redirect to the IRS’s coffers. The agency will seize 30 times the minimum hourly wage or a quarter of your paycheck.

How to Pay Your Unpaid Tax Bills

If your back tax debt is manageable, better to make efforts to pay it now. Rather than suffer the embarrassment of a wage garnishment, try an installment plan.

And if it’s not too much trouble, the IRS will go through all the procedural notice requirements. They may institute a bank levy against your savings or checking account.

Bank levies work pretty simply. The IRS finds your financial accounts, and takes a part of what’s in there. If the IRS knows about your bank accounts, it’s likely that they know more about your finances than you’d like.

When it comes to collecting the nearly $6.9 billion in tax debt, the government may just use a wage garnishment, tax lien, or bank levy against some of these nearly half million tax debtors. Don’t get caught in their crosshairs. Pay your unpaid tax bills now.