My husband died 5 years ago. At that time, his employer did a year's due diligence before releasing the first of 5 annual dispursements to me from his ESOP plan. I have since received 3 dispursements. I have just become aware that my late husband had federal tax liens from 2001 and 2002 . (we were not married at that time). Can the IRS take my dispursement to satisfy those liens? There was no estate when he died and he would not have had access to the ESOP funds for years to come (if still alive). Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It depends. Is the ESOP currently in your name or your late husband's name?

If it has been transferred to your name, then, IMHO, you have nothing to worry about, because you have NO tax liability for the 2001 and 2002 returns.

If the ESOP is still in your late husband's name, then the IRS may be able to garnish any income NOT YET DISBURSED to satisfy those tax liens.

Im not sure (paperwork is at home)...the certificate has his name on it. However it is dispursed with my social security number and I pay the taxes on it each year..I dont know if that matters or not. May I contact you tomorrow once I have the paperwork in front of me? And thank you for you help already!

You can email me at dpmtax@<hidden>.