Child Support Tax Refund Offset Rule Amended
Until 2006, federal tax refund offsets were available only to collect child support for children who still were minors or for children who, while minors, were determined to be disabled. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 changed this process to permit tax refund offsets for all minors after they reached majority.
President Bush signed this Act on February 8, 2006, but our federal government moves slowly. It was only on October 22, 2007, that the Treasury Department's Financial Management Service amended its rules to allow the changes in the law to be implemented. Said the Treasury:
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Public Law 109-171, amended the Social Security Act to remove a restriction on the collection of past-due support obligations by tax refund offset. Prior to this change, tax refund offset to collect past-due support obligations being collected by States on behalf of an individual was only available if the support was due to or on behalf of a qualified child (a child who is a minor or who, while a minor, was determined to be disabled). The amendment to the law allows for the collection of past-due support by tax refund offset on behalf of individuals who were owed child support as minors but reached the age of majority without having collected the full support amount owed to them. The changes to this rule conform to the statutory change by removing the definition of Qualified child and by deleting the requirement that past-due support be owed to or on behalf of a qualified child to be eligible for collection by tax refund offset.
If I am counting correctly, it took the Treasury Department a bit more than one year and eight months to implement a statutory change.
