The Internal Revenue Service has released the 2010 update to the Allowable Living Expense Standards on March 1. The ALE standards are used to reduce subjectivity in determining what a taxpayer may claim as basic living expenses necessary to avoid undue hardship when the taxpayer must delay full payment of a delinquent tax. The standard allowances provide consistency and fairness in collection determinations by incorporating average expenditures for basic necessities for citizens in similar geographic areas.

More information on the ALE standards is available at the Collection Financial Standards Web page.