• Pay the outstanding tax debt, or make payment arrangements, as soon as possible. Penalties and interest may continue to increase the amount you owe
• The NFTL is a public record that can affect you and your property and assets. A federal tax lien generally attaches to property you currently own and property you acquire in the future while the lien remains in effect.
• An unpaid federal tax debt can affect your ability to obtain or keep a U.S. passport if the IRS certified the debt as seriously delinquent.

You have a balance due on your tax account which has not been paid. After the IRS assesses a tax liability, sends a notice and demand for payment, and the balance is not fully paid, the IRS can file an NFTL. When the NFTL is filed, it alerts creditors that the government has a legal claim against your property.

The NFTL secures the priority of the government’s claim to your current and future property and assets until the balance is paid in full. While NFTLs no longer appear on credit reports, they may still affect your ability to get credit if a potential creditor uses other resources, such as public records, to discover the NFTL.

• Review the Letter 3172 and the enclosed Form 668(Y)(c) for the type, tax period, assessment date, unpaid balance, and deadline to request a hearing.
• Pay the amount you owe, contact the person listed at the top of the notice for the current payoff amount, or consider a collection alternative to stop additional collection actions. See payment options for more information.
• If you disagree with the IRS filing a NFTL, you can request a Collection Due Process (CDP) by the deadline shown in the letter 3172 using the Form 12153, Request for Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing. If you miss the CDP deadline, you may be able to request an Equivalent Hearing within one year of the notice date, but you genrally will not be able to petition the U.S. Tax Court if you disagree with the Appeals decision. See Publication 1660, Collection Appeal Rights, for a full explanation of the CDP process.
• You may also request a conference with the IRS Independent Office of Appeals using the Form 9423, Collection Appeal Request.

The NFTL is released when: the balance is full paid, the time when the IRS can collect has expired, or the IRS accepts an offer in compromise.