Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia
My husband and I have 2 state tax liens for the state of Georgia on our credit report that have been paid and released. Georgia says they do not report tax liens to credit reporting agencies and from what I understand the information is gathered by the credit agencies through county public records. Is their any way to have these tax liens withdrawn from my credit report? I know the IRS has a new system in place for withdrawals of federal tax liens. Will the state of GA do this? Is their any recourse through the county or through the Credit Reporting Agencies?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Nope unless the paid tax liens are older than 7 seven years. The credit bureaus have their own people scour the court records. Paid tax liens can remain on your credit file for 7 years after it was paid.
There is no recourse through the county/state because they do not report. There is no recourse through the credit bureaus because they are allowed to report it as per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. � 1681c(a)(3):
(a) Information excluded from consumer reports Except as authorized under subsection (b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing any of the following items of information: ... (3) Paid tax liens which, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than seven years.
You do not indicate when this was paid. If you are outside the 7 years then it can be disputed and removed.
You would have to ask a tax lawyer or the GA department of revenue if they will remove the lien. My guess is no - the state DOR is not the IRS and can do what it wants.