Sunbelt Tastee Freeze, Inc.

99-15

The corporate officers of the Taxpayer had signed personal guarantees as security for an installment agreement between the Taxpayer and the Department in lieu of the Department filing a lien to secure its interest. The Taxpayer defaulted on the payments called for by the installment agreement and the Department defaulted the first agreement and negotiated a second installment agreement with the Taxpayer. The Department did not have the corporate officers sign new personal guarantees of the second installment agreement. When the Taxpayer defaulted on the terms of the second installment agreement, the Department proceeded to levy upon the personal bank accounts of the corporate officers for the tax debt. The corporate officers objected to the Department’s levy, arguing that the personal guarantee only guaranteed payment of the first installment agreement, which was voided when the Department entered into the second installment agreement. Protest denied. In addition to guaranteeing the payment of the first installment agreement, the personal guarantees had language guaranteeing payment of the corporate liability, and much of that liability remained unpaid. The corporate officers also objected to the Department’s levies against their personal account because the levy also referenced corporate liabilities which were not covered by the first installment agreement or their personal guarantees. Because the amount the Department collected from its levies against the corporate officers did not exceed the amount of liability covered by the first installment agreement, which the corporate officers had guaranteed, the Department’s levies were not improper or illegal.