How long does a tax lien stay on your credit report? This question is about Credit Reports

How long does a tax lien stay on your credit report?

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This question is about Credit Reports

Lauren Smith, WalletHub Staff Writer

@laurenellesmith • 08/16/22 This answer was first published on 08/16/22. For the most current information about a financial product, you should always check and confirm accuracy with the offering financial institution. Editorial and user-generated content is not provided, reviewed or endorsed by any company.

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A tax lien does not stay on your credit report at all. The three major credit bureaus removed all tax lien information from consumer credit reports as of April 2018, and new tax liens are no longer added to credit reports.

Previously, a paid tax lien stayed on your credit report for up to 7 years. An unpaid lien could remain on your report for up to 10 years.

You can check your credit report for free here on WalletHub. If a tax lien is still listed on your credit report, you can file a dispute to remove the record.

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How do I remove a tax lien from my credit report?

Tax liens are no longer a part of credit reports.

Tax liens used to appear on your credit reports maintained by the three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). Even if you paid the lien, it stayed on your reports for up to seven years, while unpaid liens remained on your reports for up to 10 years.... read full answer

In 2017, however, all three credit bureaus implemented changes to eliminate civil judgment records and half of all tax lien data. By April 2018, all tax liens were removed from credit reports by the bureaus.

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How many points does a tax lien decrease your credit score?

Tax liens do not appear on credit reports anymore and will not impact your credit score. The three major credit bureaus began removing tax lien data from credit reports in 2017 due to inaccurate reporting linking tax lien data to the wrong person. As of April 2018, all tax lien data was removed from all credit reports. Research conducted at the time of the removal predicted that the impact would vary among consumers, from having little effect to a score increase of as much as 30 points.... read full answer

When tax liens were listed on credit reports, they could have an impact of up to 100 points and would remain on a credit report for 10 years. Even though tax lien data is no longer listed on credit reports, it can still impact your life negatively in other ways. The IRS is still able to file a public Notice of Federal Tax Lien that creditors have access to. This could damage your ability to get a loan, especially if you are shopping for a new home or looking to refinance your mortgage. Federal tax liens are often discovered during the title search process of buying a home and could jeopardize the sale.

Just because tax liens currently are not listed on credit reports does not mean they will be kept off forever. After a settlement with the government, all three credit bureaus agreed to stop listing tax liens on credit reports only until January 2020. There has been no indication that tax liens will return to credit reports any time soon, but their removal isn’t necessarily permanent.

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