Frustrated with Federal Tax Lien Searches at the US District Court – Boston? You’re Not Alone!

What This Is:
Information about the ongoing outage of the IRS Federal Tax Lien terminal at the US District Court – Boston and its impact on Federal Tax Lien searches in Massachusetts.

What This Means:
Until the terminal is restored, searches for Federal Tax Liens on personal property are unavailable, creating uncertainty for legal and financial professionals conducting due diligence.

Ongoing Issue with Federal Tax Lien Searches in Massachusetts

The IRS Federal Tax Lien terminal at the US District Court – Boston, meant for public Federal Tax Lien searches, has been inoperable for many months. This affects everyone’s ability to determine if Federal Tax Liens have been filed against entities and individuals, specifically impacting liens on their personal property. This gap in searching for Federal Tax Liens hinders a variety of sound lending and legal decisions. And there does not appear to be a solution in sight.

Where to Search for Federal Tax Liens in Massachusetts

• County Register of Deeds: Search where the debtor has real property for Federal Tax Liens attaching to the real property.
• US District Court – Boston: Search this central index for Federal Tax Liens against the debtor when there may be Federal Tax Liens attaching to personal property..

When the federal government files a Federal Tax Lien against real property, it is filed with the County Register of Deeds where the property is located. If the debtor owns real property in multiple counties, separate searches should be conducted in each county. There are 14 counties and 21 county recording offices in Massachusetts. And there are no issues with searching for Federal Tax Liens at any County Register of Deeds offices for liens attaching to real property.

In fact, we strongly recommend determining which County Register of Deeds office(s) should be searched for Federal Tax Liens, along with any other necessary liens, when conducting due diligence searches. Multiple searches may be necessary if the debtor has real property in more than one county.

Federal Tax Lien Searches and the US District Court – Boston

Why is this an Issue?

The terminal at the US District Court – Boston for Federal Tax Lien searches is often inoperable for extended periods, currently for many months. This prevents due diligence searchers and service providers from determining if any Federal Tax Liens are on record attaching to a debtor’s personal property in Massachusetts. This uncertainty affects lending decisions and corporate transactions involving parties in Massachusetts where a Federal Tax Lien may be filed but cannot be uncovered during a search.

Based on Massachusetts case law and statutes, searches to uncover Federal Tax Liens against personal property should be conducted at the USDC-Boston terminal, which is currently unavailable. Therefore, there is no alternative process for searching for Federal Tax Liens filed against a debtor’s personal property. For this reason, the public remains in a holding pattern concerning these specific searches.

What is Being Done About This?

As a member of the National Public Records Research Association (NPRRA), Cogency Global plans to raise this issue with the IRS in conjunction with other service providers in our industry. The objective will be to convey to the IRS that the current situation is not acceptable to the legal and lending communities.

When the IRS makes Federal Tax Liens available again for searching at the US District Court – Boston, we will inform our readers and clients with additional updates.

What is the IRS and/or US District Court – Boston Saying About All This?

Unfortunately, not much. Their last update, according to their website, says the following:

Federal Tax Lien – Lien Search Information

Currently the IRS Tax Lien computer located in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, is not operational.

The IRS and U.S. District Court are currently in the process of updating the process and procedure for looking up federal tax liens at the U.S. District Court.

Please call or fax the IRS Centralized Lien Operation to verify a federal tax lien at 1-800-913-6050 or e-fax 1-855-390-3530.

*We will update this message when we have more information. Updated (10/10/2024)

Cogency will continue to monitor the situation and keep our subscribers and clients informed.