Will I Get My Federal Tax Refund If I Owe Child Support?
By Space Coast Daily // October 12, 2021
The Federal Tax Refund Offset Program is a collaborative approach by the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, the Financial Management Service of the Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Services, and the state Child Support Enforcement Agencies.
Initiated in 1982, the program’s objective is to intercept the owed child support by noncustodial parents from their tax refund in part or whole. If your child support is past the defined date, you’d be in arrears considered by the program. If you want to know more about how you would get your federal tax refund if you owe child support, keep reading.
Grab a paper and pen as here you are going to learn everything about past-due child support, what precisely it means and how the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program works. We’ve also explained the criteria for deduction of a federal tax refund if you owe any child support and some FAQs at the end to clear doubts even more!
What Does Arrears Mean?
The term arrears is widely used in finance and refers to a past-due child support obligation that is yet to be paid to the custodial family. You may find yourself in child support arrears if you received the orders to pay for child support, but the funds are either not paid or are just partially made as per the payment requirements.
If that’s the case, you are either owing the amount to the custodial family or the state, and any unpaid child support arrears on your side will be remitted to the state’s official child support program first. Then the funds will be released to the custodial parent/family/guardian or the government.
How Does the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program Work?
If you are due child support and meet the conditions for a federal tax offset, your name, social security number, and the total sum of funds will be considered by the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement.
Once all the cases have been listed and received by the Treasury Department’s Financial Management Service, you’ll receive a “Pre-Offset” notice as a warning to pay off your pending child support dues. If you fail to follow up and the due date is again over, your federal tax refund will be taken and transferred to the child support payer in part or whole.
The Pre-Offset Notice outlines all the procedures and the total sum of how much is to be paid when the notice is issued. Also, remember that the state holds the authority to detain the required amount through your tax refund offset and may even keep it for up to six months if it comes from a jointly filed tax return.
Also, it depends on the given current action of the support due to how much of the total cost is to be deducted from the tax refund as the funds mentioned on the notice may differ from the sum detained due to timely updates. Simply put, you may not receive a notice every time the due charges are updated, but that doesn’t mean the state won’t add up to them daily.
Will I Get My Federal Tax Refund If I Owe Child Support?
As said previously, the objective of the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program is to seize the due child support from the tax refunds of parents/guardians owing the money. However, you’ll only be eligible for the program if your case fulfills one of the following conditions:
- If you, as the noncustodial parent, are due child support of a minimum of $150 and the custodial parent gets aid via the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program
- As the noncustodial parent, you are due child support of at least $500, and the custodial parent isn’t getting aid via the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
You should also note that no money will be kept if the noncustodial parent or the parent with past-due child support doesn’t receive a tax refund. While on the other hand, the due amount will be deducted from your tax refund, and you’ll only receive what is left after deduction either via check or direct deposit.
If you are still in the process of figuring out your child support tax refund, or you have been charged the past-due amount, Application-gov.us is a good place to clear out any doubts.
Frequently Asked Questions
On What Grounds Would I Be Held For Federal Tax Refund Offset Program?
If you owe past child support, then your money would be seized by the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program from your tax refund if: (i) the noncustodial parent owes a minimum of $150 child support, and the custodial parent gets aid by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Or (ii) the noncustodial parent owes a minimum of $500 child support, and the custodial parent doesn’t get aid by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
How Would The State Deduct The Due Child Support From My Tax Refund?
The Pre-Offset Notice would explain all the terms and conditions of owed child support money, including the total sum of how much is to be paid. But the money may get updated from time to time and may differ from the amount written in the notice when it was issued. Also, you may not get notified about the sum update until the money is seized from your tax refund.
