Can the IRS take my Social Security?

Yes. The IRS states it on two notices — CP91 and CP298 — in the same words: it intends to levy "up to 15% of your Social Security benefits for unpaid taxes."

Read "up to". The IRS states a ceiling, not an amount, and does not publish on either page how the actual figure is set.

The most practically useful thing on either notice is who to call, and it is not who most people call. The IRS answers the question directly on CP298: "Should I contact the Social Security Administration (SSA)? No, contact the number listed on the notice. The SSA can't stop the levy or assist you in resolving the tax issue."

Social Security benefits also appear in the IRS's general list of what a levy can reach, alongside wages and other income, bank accounts, business assets, personal assets including a car and home, and state tax refunds.

The routes out are the ordinary ones. Both notices name a payment plan and the offer in compromise. If a levy is causing immediate economic hardship, the IRS states hardship is a determination it makes — defined as the levy preventing you from meeting basic, reasonable living expenses — and that it will usually need financial information to make it.

The records this answer comes from

This page exists because no single one of those answers the question on its own. The answer spans two notices, a levy-scope list and the hardship rule. The single most useful sentence — do not call the SSA — appears on one notice page and nowhere else on this site.

Sources

• Understanding your CP298 notice — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-21
• Understanding your CP91 notice — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-21
• Understanding your CP177 notice — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-21
• What if a levy is causing a hardship? — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-08-21

Sourced to primary IRS materials and editorially reviewed. Not reviewed by a tax professional. Not tax advice.