Harvester (Libre) provided this quote:
Many well intentioned patriots fall into the mental trap of thinking the NOFTL is part of curing out the lien. It's not part of perfecting the lien at all, it's notice to third parties that the lien is already cured because the Treasury had first lien.
No, not exactly.
The lien is indeed effective
as between the IRS and the taxpayer as of the date of assessment by the IRS -- which date is generally well before the date on which the Notice is issued and filed.
The purpose of the filing of the Notice
IS INDEED to "perfect" this
already existing lien -- as between the U.S. Treasury and various third party creditors. The perfection of the tax lien helps to establish its
priority as between and among all the secured creditors putatively having an interest in the taxpayer's property that is subject to the lien.
Further, neither the assessment (which provides the effective date of the creation of the lien) nor the perfection of the lien (by filing the Notice) necessarily establishes that the Treasury has a "first" lien. The
priority (first lien, second lien, third lien) depends on various other factors. Even if the IRS has perfected the tax lien (by filing the Notice in the proper place), certain prior liens AND certain subsequent liens may still have priority over the federal tax lien. See, e.g., Internal Revenue Code section 6323.
"My greatest fear is that the audience will beat me to the punch line." -- David Mamet