  We reexamine the role of electron binding effects in the inelastic
neutrino-atom scattering induced by the neutrino magnetic moment. The
differential cross section of the process is presented as a sum of the
longitudinal and transverse components, according to whether the force that the
neutrino magnetic moment exerts on electrons is parallel or perpendicular to
momentum transfer. The atomic electrons are treated nonrelativistically. On
this basis, the recent theoretical predictions concerning the magnetic
neutrino-impact ionization of atoms are critically discussed. Numerical
calculations are performed for ionization of a hydrogenlike Ge$^{+31}$ ion by
neutrino impact.
