Short answer: a filed tax lien sits on your assets, so a new lender needs it paid off from loan proceeds or formally subordinated. It doesn't automatically kill a deal if there's enough equity to cover it.
Real examples
- An industrial contractor with about $658K of payroll-tax debt on a payment plan still received a bridge approval, with the plan disclosed up front.
- A California manufacturer found its filed IRS lien was about $600K versus roughly $374K on its books. The refinance has to be sized to the filed figure, not the internal one.
What to do
- Pull the actual filed lien amounts before talking to lenders.
- Keep any payment plan current.
- Size the loan to pay the lien at closing.
Related: Cash-out refinance · Bridge loans
Related case studies
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From MCAs and a tax lien to a $6.75M USDA loan for a rural industrial contractor
- Loan amount
- $6,750,000
- Property
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- Location
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Cutting $300K+ a year in debt costs for a California aerospace manufacturer
- Loan amount
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- Property
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- Location
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