I owe back child support and know they will take out of my refund my question is will it be taken from my federal or state refund?

[JulieH1 · Accepted solution]

The federal government will take it first.  As far as the state goes, it depends on if your state has been notified that you owe it.  If you still live and file in the state where you owe the child support, most likely they will intercept the state return.  If you have moved or no longer live in that state, the new state may or may not be aware that you owe child support yet.  

Who can garnish

OVERVIEW

Depending on the laws of your state, private creditors may have access to those funds. However, it's best to get all the facts before you start to panic.

If you’re expecting a tax refund but have concerns about creditors garnishing it, you may be worrying too much. Federal law allows only state and federal government agencies (not individual or private creditors) to take your refund as payment toward a debt. However, once you deposit the refund into your bank account, these rules no longer apply. Depending on the laws of your state, private creditors may have access to those funds.

Treasury Offset Program

The Treasury Offset Program (TOP) is administered by the United States Department of Treasury’s Financial Management Service (FMS). It allows federal and state government agencies to collect outstanding debts owed to them by garnishing, or offsetting, your debt with your tax refund.

Government agencies frequently garnish federal income tax refunds since they are the most common federal payments. The TOP is the only way your refund can be garnished; private creditors such as credit card companies don’t have access to your tax refund. Moreover, only certain types of government debts are eligible for TOP. These include past-due court-ordered child support payments, outstanding debts with federal agencies other than the Internal Revenue Service, past-due state income taxes and any unemployment compensation you must pay back.

IRS priority

Before any other federal or state agency can garnish your tax refund, you must be current on your federal income tax payments. This is because the outstanding taxes you owe to the IRS must always be paid first. For example, if you owe taxes for a prior year, but expect a tax refund in the current year, the federal government doesn’t view this as an overpayment to which non-IRS government agencies have access. In this scenario, the IRS applies the current tax refund to your past-due tax balance. In other words, the IRS pays itself first, before making your tax refunds available for garnishment by other government agencies.

Child support payment

If you overpay your income taxes and have an amount eligible for a refund, the state agency that governs your child support order has first claim to that refund if your support payments are unpaid. The state can continue to garnish tax refunds each year until all child support payment obligations are satisfied.

Nontax federal debts

Any federal agency you owe has the next shot at garnishing your tax refund. For example, let's say you will get a $5,000 tax refund, but you have $3,000 in past-due Stafford loan payments. Also, you're current with your federal income tax obligations, but you owe $2,000 in past-due child support. The state is eligible to take $2,000 for your past-due child support, and the Department of Education can take the remaining $3,000 to pay for your past-due Stafford loan payments.

State debts

State government agencies have the lowest priority when it comes to garnishing IRS refunds. Therefore, if you’re required to return unemployment compensation payments, or you have outstanding state income tax debts, your federal refund can be garnished to repay these obligations as well.

[anthonyshelton19]

I am trying to find out if I owe child support can the state take my earned income that I claim for my child that I have custody of

[SweetieJean]

EIC is part of the refund, so yes it can be taken.

[XAVIER87]

I owe back child support and I was wondering will they take all my taxes or half I just started working dis year 

[xmasbaby0]

They can take all of your refund if you owe that amount.  If you file a joint return with a spouse your spouse may be able to file as injured spouse to protect part of the joint refund.

INJURED SPOUSE

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1910698-how-do-i-file-form-8379-injured-spouse-allocation

 NOTE: You can contact the IRS Treasury Offset Program Call Center at 1-800-304-3107 to ask if they have an offset for you on file. TurboTax would not have that information.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/tax-payments/who-can-garnish-an-income-tax-refund/L7cPPzDyc

[Monka143]

I’m asking for my husband. He owns back child support for his oldest daughter. But he claimed our kids this year. Will we get some of it back, or will it all go for his back child support? 

[LindaB1993]

They can take all of your refund if you owe that amount.

[MatneyD77]

If I owe 4000 in back support but I'm caught up and current on all of my payments into this, will my Tax return still be offset for the remaining amount or do I continue to make payments?

[macuser_22]

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@MatneyD77 wrote:

If I owe 4000 in back support but I'm caught up and current on all of my payments into this, will my Tax return still be offset for the remaining amount or do I continue to make payments?

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Only the agency that placed the offset can tell you that.

[MatneyD77]

I contacted the BFS and they said I had no offsets. My return was sent by the IRS but I got a warning that I may be garnished.

[macuser_22]

The IRS can garnish for back taxes and money that you owe the IRS.  That is not administrated by BFS.   Child support is handled by BFS.

[kbthug123]

How long does the irs hold your taxes if u owe child support??  I only owe 300 dollars so do they take awhile and do they only take out what I owe them? 

[SForrestLO]

For more information on this please contact the IRS.

How do I contact the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3301592

Please contact the IRS Treasury Offset Department at 1800-304-3107

[FartBuster]

They will take however much you owe plus any fees and late charges

To the state it does not matter if you die from paying child support, you are a tool and they will use you like a tool so someone else who is on welfare and needs drugs gets the addictions to make them happy.  

USA is full of methheads.