MSAD #17 Statement on IRS Tax Lien
Full Abatement Expected by District Finance Team
On May 4, 2026, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service filed a Notice of Federal Tax Lien in the Oxford County Registry of Deeds against Maine School Administrative District 17 in the amount of $516,185.39 in penalties for failure to meet its 2022 filing obligations as an employer under the Affordable Care Act.
District records, including a file name and receipt identification number, verify that a filing was submitted to the IRS on March 21, 2023 prior to the March 31st deadline. The district shared these records with the IRS in July of 2025 immediately after it first received a failure to file notice from the agency.
The MSAD 17 finance team began working closely with a revenue officer from the IRS offices in South Portland at the start of 2026 to submit relevant records and resolve the issue. Earlier this month the district received instructions on how to request an abatement from the IRS that will resolve this error and release the lien.
This formal request for abatement will be submitted next month. A full abatement of the tax penalty and a release of the lien is expected with no cost to the district or its taxpayers as soon as the IRS resolves the issue.
District officials plan regular updates to the School Board’s Finance Committee in its public meetings until the issue is resolved.
“We have been working with the IRS since July to verify that we have met our 2022 filing obligations as an employer under the Affordable Care Act,” said Heather Manchester, Superintendent of the Oxford Hills School District. “It is a complex process, but we have been making good progress toward resolving the issue and requesting a full abatement since we began working directly with an IRS revenue officer here in Maine.”