Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Unpaid Court Obligations to be Taken out of State Tax Refunds

If you have overdue court fees or fines, don't count on getting your full state income tax refund.

The Supreme Court has announced that "the State Tax Commission may intercept any state tax refunds due to the individual up to the amount owed to the court and will transmit those funds to the court to satisfy the overdue obligation" pursuant to I.C. section 1-1624. Refunds may also be withheld or reduced to pay delinquent court ordered child support.

The statute does not require prior notice of an intent to withhold all or part of the refund. It does provide for an after-the-fact procedure for those who want to contest the action. "Upon remittance of any set-off or part thereof, the court shall cause a written notice to be sent to the taxpayer whose refund is subject to the set-off." The taxpayer then has twenty-one days to file a written request for an "administrative waiver of the set-off."

This statute has been around since 2003, but the Court's news release might be a harbinger of increased efforts to collect past due debts.

Here's a link to the news release: http://www.isc.idaho.gov/Tax%20Return%20-%20Release-1-10.pdf

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