Fill Form 843 Garnishment 2011-2024

Hi, I'm John Myrna. This week's video blog is about who can intercept your tax refund and how to keep your tax refund safe from garnishment. It's a big question this time of year. Tax time can be exciting if you're anticipating receiving a tax refund. However, for some, the anticipation can turn to anxiety as they are significantly behind on paying their debt. There are two ways a creditor can intercept your tax refund. The first is by getting it from the IRS directly before you receive it. The second is to garnish the bank account you deposited it in or hold it. The general rule is that federal law only allows state and federal agencies to intercept your tax refund. Private creditors or individuals you owe money to cannot get your refund from the government. So, who can intercept my refund specifically? Well, the Treasury offset program allows federal government agencies to collect outstanding debts by intercepting the tax refund to pay the debt. State agencies can also offset the refund to pay past due court-ordered child support payments. The list of people that can generally offset the tax refund includes the IRS for back taxes, debt owed to federal agencies, outstanding court-ordered child support, overpayment of federal benefits including Social Security, overpayment of unemployment benefits, student loan debt, and debt owed to state government agencies. Now, what about taking the refund from your bank account? That is a little different. Private creditors and collection agencies are not able to go to the IRS and have them turn over the tax refund. However, once your refund is deposited into your bank account, either electronically or manually, the money can be garnished. The creditor will take the full amount. Also, in order for the creditor to be able to do this, they...