IRS TO PROVIDE RELIEF !!!

In an article written in last weeks Wall Street Journal, Tom Herman reports:  "IRS officials say they are speeding up efforts to provide relief for homeowners in financial distress.  The Internal Revenue Service has developed an "expedited process" to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages or sell their homes without having a federal tax lien delay or even block the process....IRS Commissioner Dough Shulman said ...there are more than one million federal tax liens outstanding tied to real estate and personal property...When IRS files  a lien on someone's property, it's in effect making a formal claim to that property as security or payment for a tax debt.  The lien also tells other creditors that the government has a claim on the property...IRS officials will respond more quickly to taxpayer requests to clear away liens and allow homeowners to proceed with refinancing or home sales.  In the past, the process usually has taken about 30 days after a completed application is filed, a spokesman said.  Officials didn't say how much more quickly they will respond, but they did say they are increasing staffing, as necessary, to speed up the processing time and the decision-making process...If you're trying to refinance or sell a home with a lien attached to it, you have several options.  You or a representative, such as a lender , can ask the IRS to make its lien secondary to the claim of the lender that's refinancing, or restructuring the loan, IRS said.  Another option:  If you're selling your home for less than the amount of the mortgage lien on that home, you can ask the IRS to "Discharge" its claim  on it.  That doesn't erase your tax debt.  It just clears that home from the lien so that the home can be sold, or the debt refinanced