Automatic is partially true. The IRS follows a set procedure that includes many fail safes before a levy on an account. It can take several months and several attempts to contact before a levy is done. When they exhaust the "good cop" procedures they implement the bad cop-normally a levy.
Even after the levy there are circumstances that can be used to get them to return the money. One of them is if the amount in all accounts is only enough to cover monthly expenses.
In other news, the Dow is down 120 in the first two minutes.
I thought “automatically” wasn’t quite right so I put it in quotes.
Separate from “normal” IRS levy procedures, I believe Obamacare, by itself, provides for debiting peoples accounts that have not provided proof of “approved” health insurance coverage - the fine/tax/fee question we hope will be moot shortly. ;-)