{"id":28168,"date":"2026-10-05T02:41:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T02:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/chapter-13-tax-debt-repayment-plan\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T02:41:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T02:41:25","slug":"chapter-13-tax-debt-repayment-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/chapter-13-tax-debt-repayment-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 13 Tax Debt Repayment Plan (2026 Guide)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#039;m Darrin Mish. For 32 years I&#039;ve practiced federal tax litigation \u2014 routine audits, Tax Court cases, and everything in between. If you&#039;re facing an IRS issue, here&#039;s what you need to know first.<\/p>\n<p><!-- mish-intro-v1 --><\/p>\n<p><strong>I&#039;m Darrin Mish. Tampa tax attorney, 32 years in, more than $100 million in IRS debt resolved.<\/strong> What follows isn&#039;t theory. It&#039;s what I&#039;ve actually watched work.<\/p>\n<p>You owe the IRS tens of thousands. They&#039;ve filed a lien or started garnishing your paycheck, and every other option looks out of reach. Someone mentioned Chapter 13 bankruptcy. You&#039;re wondering if a chapter 13 tax debt repayment plan can actually solve this, or if you&#039;re just trading one nightmare for another.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#039;s the reality. Chapter 13 doesn&#039;t make your tax debt disappear. It puts it into a court-supervised repayment structure that forces the IRS to follow the plan, not their collection timeline. Some taxes get paid in full through the plan. Some might be partially discharged at the end. And the garnishment? It stops the day you file.<\/p>\n<h2>How a Chapter 13 Tax Debt Repayment Plan Actually Works<\/h2>\n<p>Chapter 13 is a wage-earner bankruptcy. You propose a three-to-five-year repayment plan to the court, and if the judge confirms it, you make one monthly payment to a Chapter 13 trustee. The trustee divides that payment among your creditors according to the plan. The IRS is one of those creditors.<\/p>\n<p>Not every debtor qualifies. You need regular income and your debts can&#039;t exceed certain limits set by statute. As of 2026, unsecured debts must be under $465,275 and secured debts under $1,395,875. (These adjust for inflation every few years.) Tax debt counts as unsecured unless the IRS has recorded a lien before you file.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/xqvnmkjynbkcujcrtubi.supabase.co\/storage\/v1\/object\/public\/article-images\/6eb65d9e-d150-4ff7-a0f0-54d0b313e930\/inline-1-1791167703584.jpg\" alt=\"Chapter 13 payment flow\"><\/p>\n<p>When you file Chapter 13, the automatic stay kicks in immediately. Levies stop. Wage garnishments end. The <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/bankruptcy-for-tax-problems\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">IRS collection machine halts<\/a>. The stay doesn&#039;t eliminate the debt, but it gives you breathing room while the court evaluates your plan.<\/p>\n<p>Your plan must pay priority claims in full. Recent tax debts are priority claims. Older ones aren&#039;t, which changes everything about what you&#039;ll actually pay.<\/p>\n<h2>Which Tax Debts Are Priority Claims (And Must Be Paid in Full)<\/h2>\n<p>Not all tax debt is created equal in bankruptcy. Priority tax debts must be paid 100% through your chapter 13 tax debt repayment plan. Non-priority tax debts? They&#039;re lumped with credit cards and medical bills, and they usually get pennies on the dollar.<\/p>\n<p>A federal income tax debt is priority if:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The tax return was due (including extensions) within three years before you filed bankruptcy<\/li>\n<li>The IRS assessed the tax within 240 days before you filed<\/li>\n<li>You filed the return late and it&#039;s been on file less than two years<\/li>\n<li>The tax was assessed as a result of fraud or tax evasion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>For example:<\/strong> You file Chapter 13 in October 2026. Your 2023 federal tax return was due April 15, 2024. That&#039;s within three years, so the 2023 tax debt is priority. Your 2020 return was due April 15, 2021, more than three years ago. That debt is non-priority unless another exception applies.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscourts.gov\/court-programs\/bankruptcy\/bankruptcy-basics\/chapter-13-bankruptcy-basics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Courts&#8217; Chapter 13 overview<\/a> explains priority claims in detail. The IRS publishes its own guidance in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/publications\/p908\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Publication 908 (Bankruptcy Tax Guide)<\/a>, which walks through the timing tests.<\/p>\n<h3>Trust Fund Taxes and Payroll Debt<\/h3>\n<p>If you ran a business and fell behind on <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/small-business-payroll-tax-problem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">payroll tax deposits<\/a>, the trust fund portion (the employee withholding you should have paid over) is always priority. Always. The employer portion might be priority or non-priority depending on the timing rules above.<\/p>\n<p>Trust fund tax is never dischargeable in bankruptcy. Even after your plan is complete, that debt survives if it wasn&#039;t paid in full. This makes Chapter 13 a harder fit for business owners with large payroll tax problems.<\/p>\n<h3>Penalties and Interest<\/h3>\n<p>Tax penalties are generally non-priority. They get treated like credit card debt. Interest that accrued before you filed bankruptcy can sometimes be non-priority, depending on when the underlying tax was assessed. Interest that accrues during the bankruptcy is added to the claim but doesn&#039;t accrue at the normal IRS rate if the plan is paying the priority portion.<\/p>\n<h2>What You&#039;ll Actually Pay in the Plan<\/h2>\n<p>Your chapter 13 tax debt repayment plan must pay priority claims in full and secured claims at least to the value of the collateral. After that, you pay what&#039;s left to unsecured creditors (including non-priority tax debt) based on your disposable income.<\/p>\n<p>Disposable income is everything you earn minus reasonable living expenses. The bankruptcy code defines &quot;reasonable&quot; using IRS Collection Financial Standards in most cases. If you&#039;re above median income for your state and household size, you&#039;re locked into a five-year plan. Below median, you can propose three years, but the court might push you to five if it means creditors get more.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><strong>Claim Type<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Priority in Plan<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Must Be Paid?<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>Example<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Priority tax debt (recent income tax)<\/td>\n<td>First after secured<\/td>\n<td>100%<\/td>\n<td>2024 Form 1040 debt filed in 2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Trust fund payroll tax<\/td>\n<td>First after secured<\/td>\n<td>100% (never discharged)<\/td>\n<td>Employee withholding not remitted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Non-priority tax debt (old income tax)<\/td>\n<td>General unsecured pool<\/td>\n<td>Pro rata share (often 10-30%)<\/td>\n<td>2019 Form 1040 debt filed in 2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tax penalties<\/td>\n<td>General unsecured pool<\/td>\n<td>Pro rata share<\/td>\n<td>Failure-to-file or accuracy penalties on old returns<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Let&#039;s say you owe $40,000 total to the IRS. $25,000 is priority (2024 and 2023 returns), and $15,000 is non-priority (2020 return and penalties). Your plan must pay the $25,000 in full over three to five years. The $15,000 goes into the unsecured pool with your credit cards. If your disposable income only covers priority debts and secured debts, the unsecured pool might get zero. If you have income left over, unsecured creditors split it pro rata.<\/p>\n<p>You also need to stay current on new taxes during the plan. If you owe $3,000 when you file your 2027 return in April 2028, you must pay that outside the plan or the trustee can move to dismiss your case.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/xqvnmkjynbkcujcrtubi.supabase.co\/storage\/v1\/object\/public\/article-images\/6eb65d9e-d150-4ff7-a0f0-54d0b313e930\/inline-2-1791167705623.jpg\" alt=\"Tax debt allocation in Chapter 13\"><\/p>\n<h2>Chapter 13 vs. Installment Agreement With the IRS<\/h2>\n<p>You&#039;re probably wondering why you&#039;d bother with bankruptcy if the IRS already offers payment plans. <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/irs-payment-plan-vs-offer-in-compromise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">An installment agreement is simpler<\/a>, and it doesn&#039;t trash your credit the way bankruptcy does.<\/p>\n<p>Chapter 13 makes sense when:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The IRS won&#039;t agree to a payment plan you can afford<\/li>\n<li>You have other debts (credit cards, medical bills, car loans) that you also can&#039;t pay<\/li>\n<li>The IRS has already levied your bank account or wages and won&#039;t release it<\/li>\n<li>You&#039;re behind on your mortgage or car payment and need to catch up under court protection<\/li>\n<li>A significant portion of your tax debt is non-priority and can be partially discharged<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>If your only debt is to the IRS and it&#039;s all priority, Chapter 13 rarely makes sense.<\/strong> You&#039;ll pay it in full either way, but in bankruptcy you&#039;ll also pay trustee fees (usually 3-10% of every dollar) and deal with court oversight for years. A direct installment agreement is cleaner.<\/p>\n<p>But if half your tax debt is old and non-priority, and you&#039;re drowning in credit card debt, Chapter 13 becomes the better option. You pay priority taxes in full, discharge the old tax debt along with the credit cards, and walk away after five years.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nclc.org\/nclc-digital-library-best-practices-in-responding-to-irs-debt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">National Consumer Law Center&#8217;s guidance on IRS debt<\/a> lays out the comparison clearly. They&#039;re consumer advocates, not IRS apologists.<\/p>\n<h2>Tax Liens and Secured Claims in Chapter 13<\/h2>\n<p>If the IRS filed a Notice of Federal Tax Lien before you filed bankruptcy, that lien survives your discharge. The debt might be gone, but the lien stays attached to any property you owned when the lien was filed.<\/p>\n<p>In Chapter 13, a filed tax lien makes the debt secured up to the value of your property. Let&#039;s say the IRS has a $30,000 lien, and your home has $20,000 in equity after the mortgage. The first $20,000 of the debt is secured. The remaining $10,000 is unsecured (priority or non-priority depending on the timing tests).<\/p>\n<p>Secured claims must be paid in full through the plan if you want to keep the property. So even if the tax debt is old and otherwise non-priority, the lien forces you to pay it to the extent of your equity. This is called &quot;stripping down&quot; the claim in some circuits, though tax liens are harder to strip than other secured debts.<\/p>\n<p>After you complete your plan and receive a discharge, the unsecured portion of the debt is gone. But the lien remains on your property for the amount that wasn&#039;t paid. If you sell your house, the IRS gets paid from the proceeds up to the lien amount. You can sometimes negotiate a lien release for less than the full balance, but that&#039;s a separate fight after bankruptcy.<\/p>\n<h3>Stopping a Lien From Being Filed<\/h3>\n<p>If you file Chapter 13 before the IRS records a lien, the debt stays unsecured. The automatic stay prevents the IRS from filing a new lien while your case is active. If the debt is non-priority and you complete your plan, it&#039;s discharged and the IRS can&#039;t go back and file a lien later.<\/p>\n<p>Timing matters. If the IRS sent you a Notice of Intent to Levy or a Final Notice, you have 30 days before they can file the lien. Filing Chapter 13 during that window keeps the debt unsecured.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Propose a Plan the IRS and Court Will Confirm<\/h2>\n<p>Your attorney files a proposed plan with your bankruptcy petition. The plan lists your income, necessary expenses, and how much you&#039;ll pay each month to the trustee. It also classifies each debt as secured, priority, or general unsecured.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS files a proof of claim. This is their official statement of what you owe, broken down by tax year, type of tax, penalties, and interest. Sometimes the IRS claim is wrong. They might classify debt as priority when it&#039;s not, or include penalties that should be non-priority. Your attorney can object to the claim and force them to amend it.<\/p>\n<p>The court holds a confirmation hearing. The judge reviews your plan to ensure it meets the code&#039;s requirements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You&#039;re paying all disposable income into the plan<\/li>\n<li>Priority claims are paid in full<\/li>\n<li>Unsecured creditors get at least as much as they&#039;d receive in Chapter 7 liquidation (the &quot;best interests of creditors&quot; test)<\/li>\n<li>The plan is proposed in good faith<\/li>\n<li>You can actually make the payments for three to five years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The IRS can object to confirmation. They usually do if they think you&#039;re hiding income or inflating expenses. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscourts.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2024-12\/guide-vol04-ch08-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Understanding what the court will scrutinize<\/a> helps you build a defensible plan.<\/p>\n<p>If the court confirms your plan, you make payments. On time. Every month. Miss a payment, and the trustee can file a motion to dismiss. The IRS isn&#039;t patient, and neither is the court.<\/p>\n<h2>What Happens to Non-Priority Tax Debt After Discharge<\/h2>\n<p>You finish your plan. You&#039;ve made 36 or 60 monthly payments, and the trustee files a notice of completion. The court issues a discharge order. That discharge wipes out any remaining balance on general unsecured debts, including non-priority tax debt.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#039;s revisit that earlier example. You owed $15,000 in non-priority tax debt (old income tax and penalties). Your plan paid unsecured creditors 20 cents on the dollar because that&#039;s all your disposable income allowed. The unsecured pool received $3,000 of the $15,000. The remaining $12,000 is discharged. Gone. The IRS can&#039;t collect it, and it won&#039;t appear on future IRS transcripts as a balance due.<\/p>\n<p>Priority tax debt, however, was paid in full through the plan. If the plan couldn&#039;t pay it in full, the remaining balance survives the discharge. You still owe it, and the IRS can resume collection after your case closes.<\/p>\n<p>Trust fund payroll tax is never discharged. If your plan paid $50,000 of a $75,000 trust fund liability, you walk out of bankruptcy still owing $25,000. The IRS will send you letters, and the clock starts again on their 10-year collection statute.<\/p>\n<h3>Filing Form 982 for Discharged Debt<\/h3>\n<p>When tax debt is discharged in bankruptcy, it&#039;s not treated as taxable income for federal purposes. But you still need to report it to the IRS. You file <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/publications\/p4681\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Form 982 (Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness)<\/a> with your next tax return.<\/p>\n<p>Form 982 tells the IRS the debt was discharged in a Title 11 bankruptcy case and claims the exclusion from gross income. You&#039;ll also reduce certain tax attributes (like net operating loss carryforwards) by the amount of discharged debt. Most individual debtors don&#039;t have significant tax attributes, so this is a paperwork step more than a substantive hit.<\/p>\n<h2>Staying Current on New Tax Obligations During the Plan<\/h2>\n<p>Chapter 13 doesn&#039;t freeze time. You&#039;ll file tax returns every year while your case is open. If you owe tax on any of those returns, you must pay it in addition to your plan payment.<\/p>\n<p>The trustee monitors your compliance. In some districts, you&#039;re required to file copies of your tax returns with the court each year. If you fall behind on a new tax obligation, the IRS or the trustee can file a motion to dismiss or convert your case to Chapter 7.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Self-employed debtors need to be especially careful.<\/strong> Estimated tax payments don&#039;t stop just because you&#039;re in bankruptcy. If you underpay estimates and owe $5,000 when you file your 2027 return in 2028, that $5,000 is a post-petition debt you must pay separately. The court won&#039;t let you modify your plan to include it unless you show a substantial change in circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>W-2 employees have it easier. Adjust your withholding so you don&#039;t owe at filing. Breakeven or a small refund is the goal. Refunds can be tricky because the trustee in some jurisdictions treats them as disposable income that should go into the plan.<\/p>\n<h2>Common Mistakes That Torpedo a Chapter 13 Tax Plan<\/h2>\n<p>Filing bankruptcy is one thing. Completing it is another. The majority of Chapter 13 cases filed are dismissed before discharge. Here&#039;s where people fail:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Proposing a plan they can&#039;t afford.<\/strong> Overpromising monthly payments to get the court to confirm, then missing payments six months in.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Not filing tax returns on time.<\/strong> Even if you&#039;re in bankruptcy, April 15 still matters. File late, and the trustee will move to dismiss.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hiding income or underreporting expenses.<\/strong> The trustee and IRS will find out. Your case gets dismissed, and now you&#039;re worse off.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ignoring the requirement to stay current on new taxes.<\/strong> This is the number one reason tax-heavy Chapter 13 cases fail.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Failing to object to an inflated IRS proof of claim.<\/strong> The IRS files a claim saying you owe $60,000, you know it&#039;s $45,000, but you don&#039;t object. You just agreed to pay $15,000 you don&#039;t owe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After 32 years, I&#039;ve seen <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/about-us\/darrin-t-mish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clients navigate these issues<\/a> successfully and others stumble. The difference is usually whether they had good counsel before filing and stayed in communication during the plan.<\/p>\n<h2>Alternatives to Chapter 13 for Tax Debt<\/h2>\n<p>Bankruptcy isn&#039;t the only path. Sometimes it&#039;s not even the best one.<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/irs-payment-plan-vs-offer-in-compromise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Offer in Compromise<\/a> lets you settle tax debt for less than the full amount if you qualify. The IRS evaluates your assets, income, and expenses and decides what you can realistically pay. If you have little equity and low income, an OIC can wipe out tax debt for $5,000 or $10,000 even if you owe $50,000.<\/p>\n<p>Currently Not Collectible status <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/tax-relief\/currently-not-collectible\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(CNC)<\/a> puts collection on hold if you can prove paying anything would cause financial hardship. The IRS stops levies and doesn&#039;t require payments. Your debt doesn&#039;t go away, but the 10-year collection statute keeps running. If it expires while you&#039;re in CNC, the debt disappears.<\/p>\n<p>Installment agreements are straightforward. You owe $30,000, you propose $500\/month, the IRS agrees. You pay it off over five years with interest. No court, no trustee fees, no public record.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Each option fits different situations.<\/strong> Chapter 13 makes sense when you have multiple debts, need to stop a foreclosure, or have significant non-priority tax debt that can be discharged. If your only problem is IRS debt and it&#039;s all recent and priority, one of the other options is almost always better.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/law.abi.org\/title11\/chapter-13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">American Bankruptcy Institute&#8217;s Chapter 13 resources<\/a> provide practitioner-focused analysis that can help you and your attorney decide whether filing makes sense.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/xqvnmkjynbkcujcrtubi.supabase.co\/storage\/v1\/object\/public\/article-images\/6eb65d9e-d150-4ff7-a0f0-54d0b313e930\/inline-3-1791167705716.jpg\" alt=\"Tax debt resolution options comparison\"><\/p>\n<h2>The Credit Impact and Life After Chapter 13<\/h2>\n<p>Chapter 13 stays on your credit report for seven years from the filing date. That&#039;s better than Chapter 7 (which stays for ten), but it&#039;s still a hit. Your score drops, sometimes 150 points or more depending on where you started.<\/p>\n<p>Lenders see the bankruptcy. You&#039;ll have trouble getting approved for credit cards, car loans, or a mortgage while the case is active. After discharge, it gets easier, but you&#039;ll pay higher interest rates for years.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerfinance.gov\/ask-cfpb\/how-long-does-a-bankruptcy-appear-on-credit-reports-en-325\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains<\/a> how the seven-year clock works and what you can do to rebuild. Start with a secured credit card. Make on-time payments. Keep balances low. By year three or four, some borrowers are back in the 700s.<\/p>\n<p>Some employers run credit checks. Certain professional licenses ask about bankruptcy. You&#039;ll check &quot;yes&quot; on loan applications for seven years. It&#039;s not the end of the world, but it&#039;s not nothing.<\/p>\n<h2>When You Need an Attorney (And When You Don&#039;t)<\/h2>\n<p>I&#039;ll be blunt. If you&#039;re considering a chapter 13 tax debt repayment plan, you need an attorney. The forms, timing rules, claim objections, and confirmation process are beyond what a non-lawyer can handle competently.<\/p>\n<p>Tax debt in bankruptcy is a niche within a niche. You want someone who understands both the Bankruptcy Code and the Internal Revenue Code. Most bankruptcy attorneys know the basics, but <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/tax-resolution-attorney-fees-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tax-focused representation<\/a> makes the difference between a plan that confirms and one that gets shredded by the IRS objection.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/tax-resolution-attorney-fees-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">there are costs<\/a>. Attorney fees for Chapter 13 often run $3,000 to $6,000, plus the filing fee (currently $313). Many bankruptcy attorneys let you pay part of the fee through the plan itself, so you don&#039;t need the full amount upfront.<\/p>\n<p>DIY bankruptcy exists. People file pro se. Some even succeed. But when the IRS is involved and you&#039;re trying to thread the priority\/non-priority needle, the risk of an expensive mistake outweighs the savings. One missed deadline, one miscalculated claim, and you&#039;ve paid more in the long run than you would have spent on competent counsel.<\/p>\n<h2>How the Chapter 13 Tax Debt Repayment Plan Ends<\/h2>\n<p>Your last payment hits the trustee&#039;s account. The trustee files a final report and disburses the remaining balance to creditors. The court reviews your case to confirm you&#039;ve met all requirements, including filing tax returns and staying current on post-petition taxes.<\/p>\n<p>If everything checks out, the court issues a discharge order. Priority tax debts are satisfied. Non-priority debts are wiped out. You receive a copy of the order in the mail. Keep it forever.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS updates its records. Discharged balances are removed from your account transcripts. If there was a lien and it wasn&#039;t satisfied in full, the lien stays but you no longer owe the underlying debt personally. That&#039;s an important distinction if you ever want to sell property.<\/p>\n<p>You&#039;re done. No more plan payments. No more trustee oversight. You file taxes like everyone else, and if you owe next April, you pay it or set up an installment agreement like a normal taxpayer.<\/p>\n<p>The relief is real. Three to five years is a long time, but it&#039;s a finish line. And for many people, it&#039;s the only realistic path to getting the IRS off their back while dealing with the rest of their financial life.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>A chapter 13 tax debt repayment plan can give you the breathing room and structure to deal with IRS debt when other doors have closed, especially when you&#039;re juggling old non-priority tax debts alongside more recent balances. For more than three decades, the <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Law Offices of Darrin T. Mish, P.A.<\/a> has helped taxpayers across the country evaluate whether Chapter 13, an Offer in Compromise, or another strategy fits their situation best. If you&#039;re facing wage garnishment, a federal tax lien, or just can&#039;t see a way to pay what you owe, let&#039;s talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paying IRS debt in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Which tax debts must be paid in full, which can be discharged, and how the plan really works in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28169,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28168\/revisions\/28169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}