If I owe the IRS? can they take my state tax return

[DDollar · Accepted solution]

Yes. It's called a Tax Offset.  If you owe money because of certain delinquent debts, the IRS or the Department of Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS), which issues IRS tax refunds, can offset or reduce your federal tax refund or withhold the entire amount to satisfy the debt.

If you owe federal or state income taxes your refund will be offset to pay those taxes. If you had other debt such as child support or student loan debt that was submitted for offset, FMS will take as much of your refund as is needed to pay off the debt, and send it to the agency authorized to collect the debt. Any portion of your refund remaining after an offset will be refunded to you.

[stephenmoore80]

Is there a form I need to fill out in order to make sure they take my state taxes? Or will it just happen?

[DDollar]

It will just happen.

[marshall-l-ford]

if they do offset do i get a receipt of such?

[esteelynn]

Will I receive a letter in the mail indicating a credit for this money?  I just want to ensure that I get credit for the money being received.

[Jennlp24]

Did this change in the middle of 2019? I had my taxes done in Feb of 2019 and even though I owed money to federal, I still got a few dollars back from state.

[JohnW222]

No, this policy hasn't changed -- the IRS can still levy your state tax refund.

Under the State Income Tax Levy Program, the IRS is allowed to take your state tax refund to satisfy your federal income tax debt.

Bear in mind that, when levies such as this occur, the IRS is basing its action on the information provided by the state.  It's possible that the state information that it relied on was incorrect.

For more information on IRS levies of state refunds, please see Federal and State Levy Programs on the IRS website.

[Main_will]

Hello I Just Filed My Taxes A Few Days Ago And It Says I Owe 35$ In State Taxes But They Was Asking Me When Will I Pay It But I Have A Federal Refund Of 713$ Which Is Now 678$ Because They Took $35 Dollars Which Makes My Refund 678$ So Do I Still Have To Pay 35$ Again If They Took It Out My Federal Taxes Themselves

[BrandiLO]

TurboTax cannot pay your state taxes using your refund. Please click here for more information. If your refund was less than expected, this may be due to fees charged by TurboTax to process your refund. To view the fees you were charged, if any, please click this link for instructions. Otherwise, please click here for some other possibilities of seeing a refund lower than you expected.

[marttmartt1234]

If when the offset is resolved, how long before I get my refund?

[marttmartt1234]

How long did it take?