Tax lien

Arkansas Business, Feb 25, 2008

The IRS has hit Joseph E. Blankenship of Heber Springs with a federal tax lien of $4.6 million.

The lien, filed against Blankenship and his wife, Brenda, is for the tax periods ending Dec. 31, 2002, and Dec. 31, 2004, and 2005. The worst year was 2002, when the lien showed a $4.1 million unpaid balance.

The lien was filed on Jan. 11 in Cleburne County Circuit Court.

The lien "has been appealed and there'll be a retraction coming out," Blankenship told your Whispers staff, and he declined to comment further.

An IRS spokesman, though, said he can't think of a circumstance where a tax lien would be appealed.

"I have never heard of that, appealing a lien," said IRS spokesman David Stell. "We file a lien in circumstances where we want to protect the government's interest when there is an outstanding tax bill due."

That way the property the delinquent taxpayer owns can't be sold without the lien being addressed.

Blankenship didn't return a call to clarify what was being done in his case.

We're not sure what Blankenship does, but he's been listed as a Little Rock real estate investor. Blankenship has been a fixture in the "Real Deals" section of Arkansas Business for buying homes worth more than $500,000.

Real estate records indicate the Blankenships spent $1.8 million between 2002 and 2004 on land in Little Rock's Valley Falls Estates. And their 14,156-SF home in the neighborhood carried a $2.7 million building permit.