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Tax Return Interception

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AllisonChainns

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? TX

Hello to everyone, first time poster. I have sat here for about the last hour reading through the Child Support forum and I must say that I wish I had found you guys a LOT sooner!

I have gone through 10 years of BS, self-research (self-doing) and fighting with the OAG and having this place through all of that would have been nice, I can't imagine why I just now found it.

So, my question. I have searched and searched trying to find out about intercepting tax returns. I was never married to the 'sperm donor', but we have a visitation/support order and have had since 2001. Not to mention a medical insurance order that has never been followed. The last I knew he was living in Kansas. We have gone 6 years with no contact from him, but he does have a withholding order for support, so when he does work, I get payments.

I do know that Texas law states that they will intercept tax returns. I have also found that it doesn't matter what the laws of the state are where he resides, that they have to abide by the state in which the order is out of. True? Also, if my case is through the OAG, wouldn't they automatically intercept those refunds? Granted, if he even is getting a refund.

I know he has to be filing, he is working. I know he is working because I am getting child support payments. *knocks on wood*

I have tried to contact local IRS offices, emails, phone calls and personal visits and I keep getting re-directed to Nancy down the hall who is too busy doing her nails to mess with me so she then sends me to someone else. It is frustrating to say the least.

I hadn't really thought about this until last year when I had my taxes done and it was mentioned to me that there may be money 'somewhere' for me from his tax returns. I, of course, as a single mom busting her butt to stay above water thought that sounded kinda good!

I am just out of places to look and people to ask so I thank you for any help or advice at all.
 


moburkes

Senior Member
Smart people (seriously, not being funny at all) don't get money back from the government in April. Instead, they underpay throughout the year, and write a check in April. A smart person who is avoiding tax return intercept would do the same thing.
 

AllisonChainns

Junior Member
I understand what you are saying, but the word 'smart' and this man do not go in the same sentence. I almost spit my drink onto the keyboard when I saw them together.

We were together for 6 years and stuff like that he was completely clueless about. I did all that stuff. Although, he has been able to get away with some pretty crazy BS by dumb luck of meeting just the right person to stupidly help him. I suppose that could be the case.

I'm not sure that he even knows I can intercept his returns, unless as stated before someone has alerted him. This is a man that, for 3 years, was reading the temporary visitation order fighting with me about holiday visitation, and I mean 'fight' as getting lawyers involved and the like. I figured the first time could have been an honest mistake, even for him, but to do it for 2 more years?
 
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TinkerBelleLuvr

Senior Member
1. If your ex owes the government in some way, shape, or form, they get the money FIRST - as in tax returns. Outstanding student loans, back taxes, etc.

2. Now, just because he is working doesn't necessarily mean he is filing taxes either. If a person figures out that they would NOT owe the government if they did file, they don't necessarily have to ... so, the government keeps the extra money and you don't get any. That's my ex's game ...

3. He's figured out to have less than the full tax bill each year when file his taxes AND he then just pays it - therefore, no tax refund.

If your ex owes more than ************** (fill in the amount for your state), AND you ask for enforcement, then maybe you MIGHT get a refund.
 

AllisonChainns

Junior Member
1. To my knowledge he does not owe anything. As I said before, while we were together and I did all of this, he would always get a refund and quite a hefty one at that. I do know that he hasn't gone to school since, but I do not know about his taxes, for instance you said back taxes.

2. I was under the impression that if you made over $600.00 for the year that you were required to file and wouldn't that catch up to a person sooner or later? Not filing?
 

TinkerBelleLuvr

Senior Member
I have prepared taxes for a living .... there's a whole set of rules for deciding if you HAVE to file taxes. Generally most people do it anyway, but for the savvy (or possibly stupid), there are loopholes.

If you make less than your personal exemption and the standard deduction, you don't HAVE to file - assuming you can claim yourself. Whole set of other rules otherwise. You may want to file to get any federal withholding or earned income credit (if you qualify).

Say you figure out that you've had enough withheld from your check, filing a tax return, using the standard deduction (no Schedule A), and you'll get a refund - you don't have to file the return. now, you will NOT be eligible to get a refund after 3 years from when the return should have been filed.

Now, say the government goes thru your w-2 and 1099's and figure out that you owe, they will send you a love letter demanding the amount you owe in taxes, plus penalties and interest.

If you are a church employee or a self-employed person, you HAVE to file a return if you earned more than 400.28.
 

CJane

Senior Member
2. I was under the impression that if you made over $600.00 for the year that you were required to file and wouldn't that catch up to a person sooner or later? Not filing?
If you don't end up owing the IRS and you didn't owe the previous year, you do not HAVE to file. They have more important things to do than track down people who don't owe them anything.

A guy I used to know didn't file for 14 years in an effort to avoid having his CS held from his refund.

A friend of mine, due to sheer laziness, didn't file taxes for 6 years... no reason - just didn't get around to it.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? TX

Hello to everyone, first time poster. I have sat here for about the last hour reading through the Child Support forum and I must say that I wish I had found you guys a LOT sooner!

I have gone through 10 years of BS, self-research (self-doing) and fighting with the OAG and having this place through all of that would have been nice, I can't imagine why I just now found it.

So, my question. I have searched and searched trying to find out about intercepting tax returns. I was never married to the 'sperm donor', but we have a visitation/support order and have had since 2001. Not to mention a medical insurance order that has never been followed. The last I knew he was living in Kansas. We have gone 6 years with no contact from him, but he does have a withholding order for support, so when he does work, I get payments.

I do know that Texas law states that they will intercept tax returns. I have also found that it doesn't matter what the laws of the state are where he resides, that they have to abide by the state in which the order is out of. True? Also, if my case is through the OAG, wouldn't they automatically intercept those refunds? Granted, if he even is getting a refund.

I know he has to be filing, he is working. I know he is working because I am getting child support payments. *knocks on wood*

I have tried to contact local IRS offices, emails, phone calls and personal visits and I keep getting re-directed to Nancy down the hall who is too busy doing her nails to mess with me so she then sends me to someone else. It is frustrating to say the least.

I hadn't really thought about this until last year when I had my taxes done and it was mentioned to me that there may be money 'somewhere' for me from his tax returns. I, of course, as a single mom busting her butt to stay above water thought that sounded kinda good!

I am just out of places to look and people to ask so I thank you for any help or advice at all.

Since you have wage withholding in place and your regular payments are getting to you ok, (at least from time to time) any tax intercepts would as well.

That tells me that he either is not filing his tax returns, or does not have a refund.
 

majomom1

Senior Member
I agree with the other posters... if he were filing or getting a refund you would already have it. My ex got behind and he owed other state money. They intercepted his refund, took the state's money, then mine... then refunded him the rest. He was furious, but has never done that again!

How often are you getting payments now? Even with a withholding order, if he is jumping from job to job, and especially in various states, his employer will not know to withhold anything from his wages unless he tells them to... which is doubtful.

I have a background in accounting and know from doing payroll... a lot of these guys change jobs quarterly, to coincide with the employers quarterly unemployment reporting. I saw many times over where I would receive a withholding order for CS, it would come out of one check and then they would quit and be gone.

Employers file wages quarterly, so he can start work at the beginning of a quarter and not be found out until almost 3 months later. When they show up on this state report, that is how the CS finds him and a withholding order is then sent to that employer to start deducting this. It sounds like that is what is happening here, if you are only getting payments sometimes. I also saw many who knew exactly how to time these before the order actually got to the employer, and they would be gone before any money could be withheld.

Still, with each of those payments, your CS office should be sending an employment verification along with the withholding order. The employer has to provide their current address, phone # and list previous employers AND references, that were given on the employment application. You can request copies of these from your CS office. It won't get you CS, but it will get you a paper trail that shows the area he is in. Sometimes that information allows you to find him. If you can find him and find out when he starts working... you can get the withholdng order in place sooner.

I have been out of the payroll area for almost 2 years, but I do know that there was a new thing being implemented for employers to report new hires, monthly. This was in part to help catch these type of people... but not all employers were not doing this, or even required to do this.
 
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TinkerBelleLuvr

Senior Member
Because I do payroll and HR, I actually have the new employee filling in their name and address on the new hire report. These folks KNOW that I will be report them to Florida. I heard interesting tales on the child support orders and requests for information the I get from the state.

Those not interested in paying their child support are quitting very quickly!

When I worked for a different firm, I had a guy who would up and quit every time he started having child support taken out. Since I did the payroll for a number of companies in this same small town, as soon as I saw that he appeared on payroll, I was calling their HR person and letting them know about the child support orders they should be expecting.

My guess is that you probably see child support for a few weeks and then poof! gone again, huh?
 

majomom1

Senior Member
Ginny J

How funny! Our lives parallel with our ex's and now this!!!

One of my first jobs in payroll, over 10 years ago, there was a mom , (if you can believe that) on payroll that knew how to work this system. She would work long enough for this withholding order to hit, then quit. Then she would come back a month later to work... and the employer would let her!

At that time... garnishments had a start and stop date on them even for CS, and I had to repond to the withholding order and say that she no longer worked there. Based on that, I couldn't legally withhold the CS from her check when she started working again. The CS office finally called and asked "Does she work there or not?"... I told them everything I knew.

My employer was soooo pissed at me for turning her in. But I didn't really care.
 
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AllisonChainns

Junior Member
I didn't realize there were so many 'guidelines' to file or not to file. I always do mine myself because they are pretty simple.... EIC, child tax credit, daycare, I never itemize because it is way less than my standard deduction and I always get a nice return back. At least enough to pay off some bills and have a few margarita's, anyway.

I guess I could give him a little credit as I have been getting payments for nearly a year at a bi-weekly interval. I was kind of misleading there looking back at it. Now, not too much credit because that is the first time that has happened in 10 years. I actually receive my copy of the withholding order when he switches jobs pretty quick. Surprisingly. So, I guess he is letting them know. It always seems that the hire date stated on the order and the date in which they sent it to me isn't more than a month.

Now, for the past, well since the order has been in effect, I think he was just working long enough until payments started being garnished, then he hit the road because payments were sporadic at best.

I also am in HR/payroll, so that part I completely understand. Actually, going to what was mentioned regarding employers reporting employees on a monthly basis. I do that now at work. I actually fought with the corporate office and it has been implemented at all of our locations.

Anyway - thanks so much. I really appreciate the comments. I like this place and hope to stick around to give my completely unwarranted advice!
 

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