A Federal Tax Lien is a public document and is recorded at the County Clerk's office or the Secretary of State, depending on local law. If you are facing a federal tax lien, or have received notice from the IRS it is not too late to take action. When faced with a mountain of unpaid tax debt, your best bet is to work with the IRS in order to prevent the execution of a federal tax lien. If you do have a Federal Tax Lien filed against you then your options for financing anything are nearly impossible. A Federal Tax Lien (FTL) is a legal instrument that secures the claim of the United States in the right, title, and interest of a debtor taxpayer's assets. A Federal tax lien is a way that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses to collect past due tax debts. The fact of the matter is that the Internal Revenue Service has well trained tax experts working for them. You will need some professional assistance yourself, especially when looking at huge sums of money. However, the IRS did release a paper that identifies four reasons whereby a tax lien can be removed from public records. This includes public records like credit reports.