text: the irs put a lein on my bank for past tax while in process of offer/comprmise,mistake by irs? release?   when you say "in process" does that mean an offer has been submitted and you have not received an answer? if that is the case then i would suspect that this is a mistake on the part of the irs. if you have submitted an offer, you should already have a contact there that you are dealing with: that is where to start. if you get now satisfaction from that route, get on-line at www.irs.gov and find the telephone number for your local taxpayer advocate. this person can put an immediate stop to collections for a limited period of time and will look into the facts prior to re-starting a collection action. be persistent.