Section 6334 contains 13 statutory categories of property exempt from IRS levy. The statute generally does not recognize state-law exemptions, although the IRS also provides certain administrative protections as a matter of policy. Everything you own that falls outside those protections is reachable, including your retirement accounts, your car, your business equipment, and in rare cases your home.
The exemptions are set forth in 26 U.S.C. § 6334. Subsection (c) closes the door on everything else: “no property or rights to property shall be exempt from levy other than the property specifically made exempt by subsection (a).” This page lists what is protected, with the 2026 dollar limits, and explains what the IRS must do before it can take a house.
These are the 13 statutory categories of exemption under § 6334. Two of them carry dollar caps that are adjusted each year.
| Exempt category | 2026 limit | Statute |
| Wearing apparel and school books necessary for you or your family | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(1) |
| Fuel, provisions, furniture, personal effects, arms for personal use, livestock, poultry | $11,980 | 6334(a)(2) |
| Books and tools necessary for your trade, business, or profession | $5,990 | 6334(a)(3) |
| Unemployment benefits | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(4) |
| Undelivered mail | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(5) |
| Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment benefits, Medal of Honor special pension, and survivor annuities under chapter 73 of title 10 | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(6) |
| Workmen’s compensation | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(7) |
| Judgments for the support of minor children | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(8) |
| A minimum amount of wages, salary, and other income | Set by filing status and dependents | 6334(a)(9) |
| Certain service-connected disability payments | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(10) |
| Certain public assistance payments | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(11) |
| Assistance under the Job Training Partnership Act | No dollar cap | 6334(a)(12) |
| A residence where the levy is $5,000 or less, and a principal residence or business property absent the required approval | See the sections below | 6334(a)(13) |
The $11,980 and $5,990 figures come from Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and change annually under § 6334(g). The statute itself still prints the 1998 base amounts of $6,250 and $3,125, so a source quoting those numbers is reading the code without the inflation adjustment.
No. State exemption law does not affect a federal tax levy.
Treasury Regulation § 301.6334-1(c) says it directly: no provision of a state law may exempt property from levy for the collection of any federal tax, and property exempt from execution under state personal or homestead exemption laws “is, nevertheless, subject to levy by the United States for collection of its taxes.”
Section 6334(c) is even broader. It overrides “any other law of the United States,” and names Social Security Act § 207 as an example. If Congress’s own anti-alienation statute does not survive, Michigan’s homestead statute never enters the analysis.
State exemptions do matter in bankruptcy, which is a separate proceeding governed by different rules. They do not matter in an IRS administrative collection case.
Yes. However, a principal residence generally cannot be levied without written approval from a federal district judge or magistrate judge. Physical seizures of property are rare, though the IRS does not publish a residence-specific count.
Section 6334(a)(13)(B) makes your principal residence exempt except as provided in subsection (e). Section 6334(e)(1)(A) supplies the exception: a principal residence is not exempt “if a judge or magistrate of a district court of the United States approves (in writing) the levy of such residence.” Subsection (e)(1)(B) gives district courts exclusive jurisdiction over that approval.
Business property gets a weaker protection. Under § 6334(e)(2), tangible personal property or real property used in your trade or business can be levied on the written personal approval of a senior IRS official, with no court involved, or where the IRS finds collection is in jeopardy. The official must first determine that your other assets are insufficient to pay the amount due.
The government files a petition and asks the court to order you to show cause why the levy should not be approved.
Treasury Regulation § 301.6334-1(d) sets out what the government must demonstrate: that the liability is unsatisfied, that the requirements of applicable law and administrative procedure were met, and that no reasonable alternative for collection exists. You get a hearing if you file a timely objection raising a genuine issue of material fact on one of three grounds: the liability has been satisfied, you have other assets that could satisfy it, or the IRS did not follow the applicable law and procedures.
You cannot argue the merits of the underlying tax in that proceeding. That fight belongs earlier, in an audit, an appeal, or a collection due process hearing.
The regulation also reaches further than the statute. It applies the judicial approval requirement to a residence occupied by your spouse, your former spouse, or your minor child, not only one you live in yourself. Those family members receive notice, but they may not be joined as parties and have no standing to contest the levy.
When the levy is for $5,000 or less, section 6334(a)(13)(A) exempts any real property used as a residence by the taxpayer, and any real property other than rental property used as a residence by someone else, where the amount of the levy does not exceed $5,000.
The $5,000 is measured by the amount of the levy, not your total balance. And unlike the household-goods and tools caps, it is not inflation-adjusted, because § 6334(g) indexes only paragraphs (2) and (3).
No. Your 401(k) and your IRA are reachable, and the only thing standing between the IRS and those funds is internal policy.
Internal Revenue Manual 5.17.3.10.19 is blunt: “The list of exemptions set forth in IRC 6334 is exhaustive. Courts have held that a participant’s interest in a retirement plan is not exempt from levy under IRC 6334.” Separately, a federal tax lien attaches broadly to a taxpayer’s property and rights to property, including a vested benefit in a profit-sharing, stock bonus, pension, 401(k), or 403(a) plan, the Thrift Savings Plan, or an IRA, but whether the IRS actually levies those assets is a distinct question, governed by the policy below.
What the exemption list does cover is narrow. Section 6334(a)(6) protects four things: Railroad Retirement annuities and pensions, Railroad Unemployment Insurance benefits, the Medal of Honor special pension, and survivor annuities under chapter 73 of title 10. Ordinary military retired pay is not on that list.
The practical protection comes from IRM 5.11.6.3, which requires the revenue officer to exhaust other assets and alternatives, determine that your conduct was flagrant, and confirm you do not need the funds for necessary living expenses. The manual states that if the taxpayer did not engage in flagrant conduct, do not levy on retirement accounts. Our page on when the IRS will levy a retirement account covers the flagrant-conduct standard in detail.
Certain federal payments can be levied continuously through the Federal Payment Levy Program, generally at up to 15% for covered payments, with some vendor and Medicare payments reaching 100%.
This runs through § 6331(h) and the Federal Payment Levy Program rather than § 6334. Because § 6331(h) applies notwithstanding § 6334, the ordinary exemptions do not shield these payments. Social Security retirement and survivors benefits are within the program. Supplemental Security Income and Social Security disability benefits are not. Our page on the Federal Payment Levy Program covers which payments are reached and at what rate.
A weekly amount set by your filing status and number of dependents. Everything above it goes to the IRS on every payday until the levy is released.
Section 6334(a)(9) creates the exemption and § 6334(d)(4) computes it: the standard deduction plus $5,300 per dependent for 2026, divided by 52. The IRS publishes the tables in Publication 1494. A single taxpayer paid weekly with no dependents keeps $309.62; each dependent adds $101.92.
Self-employed people face a different calculation, and often a worse one, because a levy served on a client as a receivable carries no exempt amount at all. Our page on whether the IRS can garnish self-employed income covers that distinction.
A seizure is one form of levy. In everyday IRS collection practice, “levy” often refers to taking money or rights to property, while “seizure” usually refers to the IRS taking physical possession of property.
Section 6331(b) defines the term: “The term ‘levy’ as used in this title includes the power of distraint and seizure by any means.” So a seizure is a levy. The distinction the IRS draws is procedural, and IRM 5.10.1.5.2 makes it visible by listing a paper levy as one of the alternatives a revenue officer must consider before seizing.
| Feature | Paper levy, Form 668-A or 668-W | Seizure, Form 668-B |
|---|---|---|
| What happens | A third party holding your money is ordered to hand it over | The IRS physically takes and sells the property |
| Who issues it | Automated Collection System or a revenue officer | A revenue officer in Field Collection |
| Typical targets | Bank accounts, wages, receivables | Vehicles, real estate, business equipment, inventory |
| Notice required first | Same collection due process notice | Same collection due process notice |
| Who sells it | Nothing is sold | A property appraisal and liquidation specialist |
Before a physical seizure, the IRS is expected to file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien on all open periods, and to seek consent before entering private premises. A writ of entry is requested only after consent is refused.
Rarely. In fiscal year 2025, the IRS conducted 50 seizures nationwide while requesting 339,137 notices of levy on third parties.
Those figures come from Table 4-1 of the IRS Data Book for 2025, covering October 2024 through September 2025. Seizures fell from 71 the prior year. The ratio is roughly 6,800 paper levies for every physical seizure.
Read that number carefully. The 50 covers seizures of every asset type conducted by Field Collection, not homes specifically. The IRS does not publish a separate count of residences. What the data supports is that seizure is an outlier remedy, and that the realistic threat in almost every case is a levy on a bank account or a paycheck.
Notice, a public sale on a fixed timetable, and in the case of real estate, an 180-day window to buy it back.
| Stage | What the law requires | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Notice of seizure | Written notice to the owner as soon as practicable, specifying the sum demanded and describing the property | 26 U.S.C. 6335(a) |
| Notice of sale | Notice to the owner plus publication in a newspaper in the county, or posting at the nearest post office and two other public places | 26 U.S.C. 6335(b) |
| Timing of sale | Not less than 10 days nor more than 40 days after public notice | 26 U.S.C. 6335(d) |
| Minimum bid | The IRS must set a minimum price below which the property cannot be sold | 26 U.S.C. 6335(e)(1)(A) |
| No qualifying bid | The property is either bought by the United States at the minimum price or released back to the owner, with the costs of sale added to the tax bill | 26 U.S.C. 6335(e)(1)(C) and (D) |
| Redemption of real estate | 180 days after the sale to redeem, by paying the purchaser what they paid plus 20% per year | 26 U.S.C. 6337(b) |
You also keep the right to stop the sale outright. Section 6337(a) allows any person whose property has been levied on to pay the amount due plus the expenses of the proceeding at any time before the sale, and the IRS must then restore the property. There is no post-sale redemption right for personal property, only for real estate.
The IRS can administratively return wrongfully levied property, and a third party can bring a wrongful-levy action under § 7426. For money returned administratively, the ordinary deadline is two years from the levy; a § 7426 lawsuit generally must also be filed within two years, subject to statutory extensions.
Administratively, 26 U.S.C. § 6343(b) lets the IRS return the property itself at any time, and return money within two years of the levy. In court, § 7426 gives any person other than the assessed taxpayer a wrongful levy action in federal district court, with two years to file under § 6532(c).
The two-year period replaced a nine-month period. That change came from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Pub. L. No. 115-97, § 11071 (2017), and applies to levies made after December 22, 2017. Sources attributing it to the Taxpayer First Act are wrong. Our page on the administrative wrongful levy claim covers what the written request must contain.
If you are the assessed taxpayer, § 7426 is closed to you. Your remedies are an administrative release, a collection due process hearing, or a damages action under § 7433, which caps recovery at $1,000,000 for reckless or intentional disregard and $100,000 for negligence, and requires you to exhaust administrative remedies first.
A taxpayer may be able to stop a pending levy or seizure by resolving the liability or qualifying for a collection alternative, depending on the circumstances.
Ayar Law handles IRS collection matters throughout the United States from offices in Farmington Hills and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Call (248) 262-3400 to request a case review, or contact us through our website. If a levy has already been issued, you may benefit from exploring how to stop IRS levies and wage garnishments. If your balance is beyond what you can pay, read about the IRS offer in compromise program.
Last updated August 2026.
This page is general information about federal tax collection procedures. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Exempt amounts are adjusted annually, and IRS procedures change. Outcomes depend on the facts of each case, and prior results do not predict future outcomes. Speak with a licensed tax attorney about your own situation before responding to a levy or a notice of seizure.
