Tax Intercept

Hello, I have been lurking here on and off since 97'

History:

Paternity suit victim, child 14 years old. State of Arkansas. Stipulated to
paternity after DNA testing 6 months ago.
Mother awarded 5 years retro-active support. Retro support to be paid weekly
in addition to current support. Fines, fees and testing cost awarded to
state. Fines, fees and testing were paid off in allotted 6 months. Current
and retro support paid 2 weeks in advance thru child support clearinghouse.

Got a pre-tax intercept notice in OCT ($230.00). Wrote letter to local OCSE
requesting admin hearing, They did not answer. called after 14 days, they
could not explain how the came up with the amount. I requested that they
send me something in writing, 10 days past and I then wrote them another
letter requesting that they explain how they came up with the arrearages and
if they were going to certify the debt or not. Still no answer. Should I
write my congressman or governor? or both? While the amount is small, a
capture will just screw things up. and besides I feel they are making me out
to be a deadbeat, I have perfect payment record. That's what really sucks.

I think they are not crediting my payments in a timely manner, creating a
FALSE arrearage, so they can "claim" they increased collections and get
federal incentive dollars. I pay with a check, send payment certified mail
with return receipt, reconcile my record with the date that my check was
cashed by their bank. I keep all of this in an excel spreadsheet.

While speaking to the OCSE caseworker/drone she indicated that next year
they would try to intercept the retro-active arrearages. I asked her why,
when I was making the payments as scheduled. She indicated that it was
because by the court order it would take too long to pay it off. My first
thought was to decrease my withholding to prevent an intercept, however if I
did that I would end up owing taxes and increase my income, warranting a
modification.

Apparently these fools can do anything they wish with impunity. I plan on
using the tax tip for unwed fathers this year. My question is, if I have a
refund due can I check the box that says apply my refund towards next years
taxes thereby preventing an unlawful interception. and if I can may I do
this several years (4 more) in a row?

If anyone has any tips for dealing with the OCSE Nazi's I'd really
appreciate it.



I enjoy reading what the regulars have to say, and I plan to post more in
the future. TIA for replies

"agrich" wrote in message
hlink.net...

Hello, I have been lurking here on and off since 97'

History:

Paternity suit victim, child 14 years old. State of Arkansas. Stipulated
to
paternity after DNA testing 6 months ago.
Mother awarded 5 years retro-active support. Retro support to be paid
weekly
in addition to current support. Fines, fees and testing cost awarded to
state. Fines, fees and testing were paid off in allotted 6 months. Current
and retro support paid 2 weeks in advance thru child support
clearinghouse.

Got a pre-tax intercept notice in OCT ($230.00). Wrote letter to local
OCSE
requesting admin hearing, They did not answer. called after 14 days, they
could not explain how the came up with the amount. I requested that they
send me something in writing, 10 days past and I then wrote them another
letter requesting that they explain how they came up with the arrearages
and
if they were going to certify the debt or not. Still no answer. Should I
write my congressman or governor? or both? While the amount is small, a
capture will just screw things up. and besides I feel they are making me
out
to be a deadbeat, I have perfect payment record. That's what really sucks.

I think they are not crediting my payments in a timely manner, creating a
FALSE arrearage, so they can "claim" they increased collections and get
federal incentive dollars. I pay with a check, send payment certified
mail
with return receipt, reconcile my record with the date that my check was
cashed by their bank. I keep all of this in an excel spreadsheet.

While speaking to the OCSE caseworker/drone she indicated that next year
they would try to intercept the retro-active arrearages. I asked her why,
when I was making the payments as scheduled. She indicated that it was
because by the court order it would take too long to pay it off. My first
thought was to decrease my withholding to prevent an intercept, however if
I
did that I would end up owing taxes and increase my income, warranting a
modification.

Apparently these fools can do anything they wish with impunity. I plan on
using the tax tip for unwed fathers this year. My question is, if I have a
refund due can I check the box that says apply my refund towards next
years
taxes thereby preventing an unlawful interception. and if I can may I do
this several years (4 more) in a row?

If anyone has any tips for dealing with the OCSE Nazi's I'd really
appreciate it.



I enjoy reading what the regulars have to say, and I plan to post more
in
the future. TIA for replies

You've raised a lot of issues, but I'll try to address them one at a time.

Tax Intercepts - As long as you have an arrearage due they will go after
federal and state tax refunds. My recommendation would be to go back to
whoever you worked with to set up the payment schedule and see if they can
help you. As you might know, there are several groups within each state's
CS accounting units i.e. one for collections and disbursements, one for
liens, one for tax intercepts, etc. Try to find the manager over all of the
groups and communicate with them.

Taxes - You mentioned the tax tip, and I'll assume that means you know as a
never married father you have the right to take the child as an exemption if
you meet the IRS test of paying more than 50% of the defined expenses.
Also, I would recommend adjusting your withholding exemptions so you have a
small tax to pay at the end of each year. That way there is no tax refund
to intercept. As long as you pay 90% (IIRC) of the tax due, there is no
penalty for underpaying taxes due through withholding. You can also do what
you suggested, i.e. apply any refund to your next year's taxes due, and that
will protect any refund from being intercepted.

Hearings - You are doing the right thing - exercise your right to a hearing
on any issue they throw at you. and keep good records. One hint on
hearings: Make sure you understand the time limits for administrative
hearings and appeals to a circuit court judge. On some issues the time
allowed for both activities runs concurrently, so you can't wait for a
response from the state before filing for a court date.

Holding Payments - There are statutory requirements on the time frame for
turn around between receipt of payments and disbursements. However, as the
obligee you only have to watch them for how they process and credit your
payments. You are right - they play games with the CS accounting to justify
their existence. They bill CS accruals one month in advance and credit your
payments one month in arrears. Administratively that practice creates and
arrearage on every case file for them to take credit for collecting. My
advice would be to do a quick audit of your account every month so you stay
on top of any discrepancies.

Case Workers - These people are mostly former welfare recipients who follow
business process procedures written out for them. If you ever need
something out of the ordinary, go to a supervisor/manager to get help. Ask
everyone you contact who their supervisor is and how to contact then. Email
is an effective way to get higher level managers to respond. If they don't
respond go up one level. There is going to be a top civilian manager, a
deputy Attorney General over CS administration, the state Attorney General,
and the Governor in the hierarchy and if they don't respond keep going up
the chain of command.

"agrich" wrote in message
hlink.net...

Hello, I have been lurking here on and off since 97'

History:

Paternity suit victim, child 14 years old. State of Arkansas. Stipulated
to
paternity after DNA testing 6 months ago.
Mother awarded 5 years retro-active support. Retro support to be paid
weekly
in addition to current support. Fines, fees and testing cost awarded to
state. Fines, fees and testing were paid off in allotted 6 months. Current
and retro support paid 2 weeks in advance thru child support
clearinghouse.

Got a pre-tax intercept notice in OCT ($230.00). Wrote letter to local
OCSE
requesting admin hearing, They did not answer. called after 14 days, they
could not explain how the came up with the amount. I requested that they
send me something in writing, 10 days past and I then wrote them another
letter requesting that they explain how they came up with the arrearages
and
if they were going to certify the debt or not. Still no answer. Should I
write my congressman or governor? or both? While the amount is small, a
capture will just screw things up. and besides I feel they are making me
out
to be a deadbeat, I have perfect payment record. That's what really sucks.

I think they are not crediting my payments in a timely manner, creating a
FALSE arrearage, so they can "claim" they increased collections and get
federal incentive dollars. I pay with a check, send payment certified
mail
with return receipt, reconcile my record with the date that my check was
cashed by their bank. I keep all of this in an excel spreadsheet.

While speaking to the OCSE caseworker/drone she indicated that next year
they would try to intercept the retro-active arrearages. I asked her why,
when I was making the payments as scheduled. She indicated that it was
because by the court order it would take too long to pay it off. My first
thought was to decrease my withholding to prevent an intercept, however if
I
did that I would end up owing taxes and increase my income, warranting a
modification.

Apparently these fools can do anything they wish with impunity. I plan on
using the tax tip for unwed fathers this year. My question is, if I have a
refund due can I check the box that says apply my refund towards next
years
taxes thereby preventing an unlawful interception. and if I can may I do
this several years (4 more) in a row?

If anyone has any tips for dealing with the OCSE Nazi's I'd really
appreciate it.



I enjoy reading what the regulars have to say, and I plan to post more
in
the future. TIA for replies

You've raised a lot of issues, but I'll try to address them one at a time.

Tax Intercepts - As long as you have an arrearage due they will go after
federal and state tax refunds. My recommendation would be to go back to
whoever you worked with to set up the payment schedule and see if they can
help you. As you might know, there are several groups within each state's
CS accounting units i.e. one for collections and disbursements, one for
liens, one for tax intercepts, etc. Try to find the manager over all of the
groups and communicate with them.

Taxes - You mentioned the tax tip, and I'll assume that means you know as a
never married father you have the right to take the child as an exemption if
you meet the IRS test of paying more than 50% of the defined expenses.
Also, I would recommend adjusting your withholding exemptions so you have a
small tax to pay at the end of each year. That way there is no tax refund
to intercept. As long as you pay 90% (IIRC) of the tax due, there is no
penalty for underpaying taxes due through withholding. You can also do what
you suggested, i.e. apply any refund to your next year's taxes due, and that
will protect any refund from being intercepted.

Hearings - You are doing the right thing - exercise your right to a hearing
on any issue they throw at you. and keep good records. One hint on
hearings: Make sure you understand the time limits for administrative
hearings and appeals to a circuit court judge. On some issues the time
allowed for both activities runs concurrently, so you can't wait for a
response from the state before filing for a court date.

Holding Payments - There are statutory requirements on the time frame for
turn around between receipt of payments and disbursements. However, as the
obligee you only have to watch them for how they process and credit your
payments. You are right - they play games with the CS accounting to justify
their existence. They bill CS accruals one month in advance and credit your
payments one month in arrears. Administratively that practice creates and
arrearage on every case file for them to take credit for collecting. My
advice would be to do a quick audit of your account every month so you stay
on top of any discrepancies.

Case Workers - These people are mostly former welfare recipients who follow
business process procedures written out for them. If you ever need
something out of the ordinary, go to a supervisor/manager to get help. Ask
everyone you contact who their supervisor is and how to contact then. Email
is an effective way to get higher level managers to respond. If they don't
respond go up one level. There is going to be a top civilian manager, a
deputy Attorney General over CS administration, the state Attorney General,
and the Governor in the hierarchy and if they don't respond keep going up
the chain of command.

"agrich" wrote in message
hlink.net...

Hello, I have been lurking here on and off since 97'
==
You've been lurking since 97 and this is your first post? Gawd--How on earth
were you able
to keep your mouth shut that long? You must have a gift ;-)
(More below)
==

History:

Paternity suit victim, child 14 years old. State of Arkansas. Stipulated
to
paternity after DNA testing 6 months ago.
Mother awarded 5 years retro-active support. Retro support to be paid
weekly
in addition to current support. Fines, fees and testing cost awarded to
state. Fines, fees and testing were paid off in allotted 6 months. Current
and retro support paid 2 weeks in advance thru child support
clearinghouse.

Got a pre-tax intercept notice in OCT ($230.00). Wrote letter to local
OCSE
requesting admin hearing, They did not answer.
===
Did you send it certified, return receipt requested? All correspondence
should
be in writing/certified mail. Never communicate important issues by phone.
===
called after 14 days, they
could not explain how the came up with the amount. I requested that they
send me something in writing, 10 days past and I then wrote them another
letter requesting that they explain how they came up with the arrearages
and
if they were going to certify the debt or not. Still no answer. Should I
write my congressman or governor? or both?
==
In FL., official communications re CS cases are handled by the circuit
clerk.
The circuit clerk is also responsible for the official accounting on CS
cases. If that is the case
in Arkansas, your communications need to go there--not CS enforcement. You
need to find out who
the official recordkeeper is. You have a right to an accounting.
(More Below)
==
While the amount is small, a
capture will just screw things up. and besides I feel they are making me
out
to be a deadbeat, I have perfect payment record. That's what really sucks.

I think they are not crediting my payments in a timely manner, creating a
FALSE arrearage, so they can "claim" they increased collections and get
federal incentive dollars. I pay with a check, send payment certified
mail
with return receipt, reconcile my record with the date that my check was
cashed by their bank. I keep all of this in an excel spreadsheet.

While speaking to the OCSE caseworker/drone she indicated that next year
they would try to intercept the retro-active arrearages. I asked her why,
when I was making the payments as scheduled. She indicated that it was
because by the court order it would take too long to pay it off.
==
In our case, the refund (which is actually quite rare for us) was
intercepted as
long as there were unpaid arrears regardless of whether we were complying
with
a court ordered repayment plan. Except once--I filed for an extension. After
that, the IRS sent me
a letter that there was an error on the return and that we owed them about a
grand. It was a year that
I 'd had an accident and was disabled. I didn't feel like pulling all my
business records for the prior year,
so I sent in a very conservative return. When I got the letter from the IRS,
I told them I would be sending a new return
with all my business losses properly claimed. I did that and it turned out
that we were owed a $2000. refund. I lamented to
my husband that it would go to the ex anyway (we'd had an intercept notice).
Imagine our delight when
we got the check a few weeks later. Yep--they sent it to us :-). I'm not
sure what factors precipitated us getting the
refund but we surely got it. I guess delay then errors--who knows?
(More Below)
==
My first
thought was to decrease my withholding to prevent an intercept, however if
I
did that I would end up owing taxes and increase my income, warranting a
modification.
==
Not if you decreased it as much as needed to "break even." There is an IRS
worksheet to help you
calculate the correct withholding.
==

Apparently these fools can do anything they wish with impunity.
==
That they do.
==
I plan on
using the tax tip for unwed fathers this year. My question is, if I have a
refund due can I check the box that says apply my refund towards next
years
taxes thereby preventing an unlawful interception. and if I can may I do
this several years (4 more) in a row?

If anyone has any tips for dealing with the OCSE Nazi's I'd really
appreciate it.

I enjoy reading what the regulars have to say, and I plan to post more
in
the future.
==
Watch out for the trolls. They like it here.
==
TIA for replies
==
You're welcome :-)
==
==

"agrich" wrote in message
hlink.net...

Hello, I have been lurking here on and off since 97'
==
You've been lurking since 97 and this is your first post? Gawd--How on earth
were you able
to keep your mouth shut that long? You must have a gift ;-)
(More below)
==

History:

Paternity suit victim, child 14 years old. State of Arkansas. Stipulated
to
paternity after DNA testing 6 months ago.
Mother awarded 5 years retro-active support. Retro support to be paid
weekly
in addition to current support. Fines, fees and testing cost awarded to
state. Fines, fees and testing were paid off in allotted 6 months. Current
and retro support paid 2 weeks in advance thru child support
clearinghouse.

Got a pre-tax intercept notice in OCT ($230.00). Wrote letter to local
OCSE
requesting admin hearing, They did not answer.
===
Did you send it certified, return receipt requested? All correspondence
should
be in writing/certified mail. Never communicate important issues by phone.
===
called after 14 days, they
could not explain how the came up with the amount. I requested that they
send me something in writing, 10 days past and I then wrote them another
letter requesting that they explain how they came up with the arrearages
and
if they were going to certify the debt or not. Still no answer. Should I
write my congressman or governor? or both?
==
In FL., official communications re CS cases are handled by the circuit
clerk.
The circuit clerk is also responsible for the official accounting on CS
cases. If that is the case
in Arkansas, your communications need to go there--not CS enforcement. You
need to find out who
the official recordkeeper is. You have a right to an accounting.
(More Below)
==
While the amount is small, a
capture will just screw things up. and besides I feel they are making me
out
to be a deadbeat, I have perfect payment record. That's what really sucks.

I think they are not crediting my payments in a timely manner, creating a
FALSE arrearage, so they can "claim" they increased collections and get
federal incentive dollars. I pay with a check, send payment certified
mail
with return receipt, reconcile my record with the date that my check was
cashed by their bank. I keep all of this in an excel spreadsheet.

While speaking to the OCSE caseworker/drone she indicated that next year
they would try to intercept the retro-active arrearages. I asked her why,
when I was making the payments as scheduled. She indicated that it was
because by the court order it would take too long to pay it off.
==
In our case, the refund (which is actually quite rare for us) was
intercepted as
long as there were unpaid arrears regardless of whether we were complying
with
a court ordered repayment plan. Except once--I filed for an extension. After
that, the IRS sent me
a letter that there was an error on the return and that we owed them about a
grand. It was a year that
I 'd had an accident and was disabled. I didn't feel like pulling all my
business records for the prior year,
so I sent in a very conservative return. When I got the letter from the IRS,
I told them I would be sending a new return
with all my business losses properly claimed. I did that and it turned out
that we were owed a $2000. refund. I lamented to
my husband that it would go to the ex anyway (we'd had an intercept notice).
Imagine our delight when
we got the check a few weeks later. Yep--they sent it to us :-). I'm not
sure what factors precipitated us getting the
refund but we surely got it. I guess delay then errors--who knows?
(More Below)
==
My first
thought was to decrease my withholding to prevent an intercept, however if
I
did that I would end up owing taxes and increase my income, warranting a
modification.
==
Not if you decreased it as much as needed to "break even." There is an IRS
worksheet to help you
calculate the correct withholding.
==

Apparently these fools can do anything they wish with impunity.
==
That they do.
==
I plan on
using the tax tip for unwed fathers this year. My question is, if I have a
refund due can I check the box that says apply my refund towards next
years
taxes thereby preventing an unlawful interception. and if I can may I do
this several years (4 more) in a row?

If anyone has any tips for dealing with the OCSE Nazi's I'd really
appreciate it.

I enjoy reading what the regulars have to say, and I plan to post more
in
the future.
==
Watch out for the trolls. They like it here.
==
TIA for replies
==
You're welcome :-)
==
==

Bob Whiteside wrote:
Taxes - You mentioned the tax tip, and I'll assume that means you
know as a never married father you have the right to take the child
as an exemption if you meet the IRS test of paying more than 50% of
the defined expenses. Also, I would recommend adjusting your
withholding exemptions so you have a small tax to pay at the end of
each year. That way there is no tax refund to intercept. As long as
you pay 90% (IIRC) of the tax due, there is no penalty for
underpaying taxes due through withholding. You can also do what you
suggested, i.e. apply any refund to your next year's taxes due, and
that will protect any refund from being intercepted.

If a person owed the money, and didn't need the tax refund, wouldn't it
be better to let them take it, thus reducing the balance and interest
and paying it off sooner?

Bob Whiteside wrote:
Taxes - You mentioned the tax tip, and I'll assume that means you
know as a never married father you have the right to take the child
as an exemption if you meet the IRS test of paying more than 50% of
the defined expenses. Also, I would recommend adjusting your
withholding exemptions so you have a small tax to pay at the end of
each year. That way there is no tax refund to intercept. As long as
you pay 90% (IIRC) of the tax due, there is no penalty for
underpaying taxes due through withholding. You can also do what you
suggested, i.e. apply any refund to your next year's taxes due, and
that will protect any refund from being intercepted.

If a person owed the money, and didn't need the tax refund, wouldn't it
be better to let them take it, thus reducing the balance and interest
and paying it off sooner?

"The Dave©" wrote in message
...
Bob Whiteside wrote:
Taxes - You mentioned the tax tip, and I'll assume that means you
know as a never married father you have the right to take the child
as an exemption if you meet the IRS test of paying more than 50% of
the defined expenses. Also, I would recommend adjusting your
withholding exemptions so you have a small tax to pay at the end of
each year. That way there is no tax refund to intercept. As long as
you pay 90% (IIRC) of the tax due, there is no penalty for
underpaying taxes due through withholding. You can also do what you
suggested, i.e. apply any refund to your next year's taxes due, and
that will protect any refund from being intercepted.

If a person owed the money, and didn't need the tax refund, wouldn't it
be better to let them take it, thus reducing the balance and interest
and paying it off sooner?

Of course, but the OP's concern was he had a legal agreement to repay the
arrearage and I understood him to say the CS caseworker was of the opinion
the repayment agreement wouldn't payoff the arrearage fast enough. If the
OP has extra money, he can always send in more than the agreed to amount in
any given month to pay of the arrearage faster.

As a side note, tax intercepts also apply in a broader sense to things like
state kicker checks, federal tax rebates, and any other return of money to
the taxpayer. So in my state, where the state legislature raised state
taxes to take the future federal tax reductions, the NCP's had their rebate
seized for back CS this year and the state has seized all future tax
reductions that could have been used for paying CS to fund the state budget.

"The Dave©" wrote in message
...
Bob Whiteside wrote:
Taxes - You mentioned the tax tip, and I'll assume that means you
know as a never married father you have the right to take the child
as an exemption if you meet the IRS test of paying more than 50% of
the defined expenses. Also, I would recommend adjusting your
withholding exemptions so you have a small tax to pay at the end of
each year. That way there is no tax refund to intercept. As long as
you pay 90% (IIRC) of the tax due, there is no penalty for
underpaying taxes due through withholding. You can also do what you
suggested, i.e. apply any refund to your next year's taxes due, and
that will protect any refund from being intercepted.

If a person owed the money, and didn't need the tax refund, wouldn't it
be better to let them take it, thus reducing the balance and interest
and paying it off sooner?

Of course, but the OP's concern was he had a legal agreement to repay the
arrearage and I understood him to say the CS caseworker was of the opinion
the repayment agreement wouldn't payoff the arrearage fast enough. If the
OP has extra money, he can always send in more than the agreed to amount in
any given month to pay of the arrearage faster.

As a side note, tax intercepts also apply in a broader sense to things like
state kicker checks, federal tax rebates, and any other return of money to
the taxpayer. So in my state, where the state legislature raised state
taxes to take the future federal tax reductions, the NCP's had their rebate
seized for back CS this year and the state has seized all future tax
reductions that could have been used for paying CS to fund the state budget.

"agrich" wrote in message
hlink.net...

Hello, I have been lurking here on and off since 97'

History:

Paternity suit victim, child 14 years old. State of Arkansas. Stipulated
to
paternity after DNA testing 6 months ago.
Mother awarded 5 years retro-active support. Retro support to be paid
weekly
in addition to current support. Fines, fees and testing cost awarded to
state. Fines, fees and testing were paid off in allotted 6 months. Current
and retro support paid 2 weeks in advance thru child support
clearinghouse.

Got a pre-tax intercept notice in OCT ($230.00). Wrote letter to local
OCSE
requesting admin hearing, They did not answer. called after 14 days, they
could not explain how the came up with the amount. I requested that they
send me something in writing, 10 days past and I then wrote them another
letter requesting that they explain how they came up with the arrearages
and
if they were going to certify the debt or not. Still no answer. Should I
write my congressman or governor? or both? While the amount is small, a
capture will just screw things up. and besides I feel they are making me
out
to be a deadbeat, I have perfect payment record. That's what really sucks.


Somehow they put a flag on your account showing you owe back support. At
this time it doesn't matter *how* it happened, but the fact that they clear
this mess up with the federal government. Give them a call tomorrow and
request verification they have removed that flag, then contact the IRS
department and explain to them there must be some sort of problem - because
you *don't* owe back support. Ask the IRS what you need to provide them to
show you don't owe back support. Record who you spoke with, exact date &
times, etc. If this doesn't get cleared up (with verification) within a few
weeks, then yes email your congressman.


Good luck,

Tracy
~~~~~~~
http://www.hornschuch.net/tracy/
"You can't solve problems with the same
type of thinking that created them."
Albert Einstein

*** spamguard in place! to email me: tracy at hornschuch dot net ***