To determine whether an offset will occur on a debt owed (other than federal tax), contact BFS's TOP call center at 800-304-3107 (800-877-8339 for TTY/TDD help).
Pay the debt in full
For any changes to your balance for payments you make to us, we send updated account information to BFS weekly. Allow a minimum of 2 weeks for an offset to show on your account.
Typically, the state child support office that submitted the noncustodial parent's case for tax refund offset receives the funds within two to three weeks. It is important to stay informed with your local child support caseworker.
Tracking the status of a tax refund is easy with the Where's My Refund? tool. It's available anytime on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go App. Taxpayers can start checking their refund status within 24 hours after an e-filed return is received.
Here are a few possible factors that can cause delays, according to the IRS: Your amended return has mistakes, is incomplete or hasn't been signed. The IRS may have sent your return back to you, asking for more information. Your amended return includes Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation.
Contact your state or local child-support enforcement office to find out whether the Treasury Offset Program can decrease your ex-spouse's federal payments for the overdue child support your ex-spouse owes. For more information, you can also contact the federal Office of Child-Support Enforcement at 202-401-9373.
The Department of the Treasury will notify you by mail when a federal offset occurs. The letter includes the amount and date of the offset, and EDD contact information.
For 2024, there's an offset of $700 for taxpayers with a taxable income under $37,500, with a pro-rata payment up to $66,667.
The Treasury Offset Program (TOP) collects past-due (delinquent) debts (for example, child support payments) that people owe to state and federal agencies. TOP matches people and businesses who owe delinquent debts with money that federal agencies are paying (for example, a tax refund).
Request an expedited refund by calling the IRS at 800-829-1040 (TTY/TDD 800-829-4059). Request a manual refund expedited to you.
The remainder of your refund will be processed as usual. An offset shouldn't delay it, unless your entire refund was applied to your debt. More info about refund offsets, including contact info and the appeals process, is available in IRS Tax Topic 203.
Do I Qualify to Receive My Ex's IRS Tax Return? The IRS is authorized to withhold all or part of a non-custodial parent's tax refund to pay past-due child support debt as long as: There is a valid Social Security number on the case record for the non-custodial parent. The non-custodial parent has an IRS refund due.
See our Held or Stopped Refund page or our video for more information. If the IRS is reviewing your return, the review process could take anywhere from 45 to 180 days, depending on the number and types of issues the IRS is reviewing. Follow these steps if you know you made a mistake, before the IRS contacts you.
If you didn't get an offset notice
If you didn't get a notice about an offset but your tax refund is smaller than you expected, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 (or TTY/TDD 800-877-8339).
You omit a digit in the account or routing number of an account and the number doesn't pass the IRS's validation check. In this case, the IRS will send you a paper check for the entire refund instead of a direct deposit.
If you owe a federal tax debt from a prior tax year, a debt to another federal agency, or certain debts under state law, the IRS may keep (offset) some or all your tax refund to pay your debt. In fact, in many situations the IRS is legally required to forward your refund to pay the debt.
If you see these codes, it is likely that another code 971 will be issued informing you that the IRS has sent another update notice about the status of the review. If the dates beside code 571 or 572 are the same as code 971, your tax refund will likely be received within 3 to 6 weeks.
TAS Can Help You Obtain an Offset Bypass Refund
Since timing is critical, call the local TAS office to verify your Form 911 has been received and assigned to a local case advocate. Taxpayers must file their original return with the IRS. A return is not considered filed until the IRS receives it.
No, if you have an installment agreement set up, and you don't default on making the monthly payments you will not lose your State refund.
If your refund status used to be your tax return is still being processed, but now the status says it is being processed, the IRS may have detected an issue in your tax return that could cause a delay in the release of your tax refund.
You should generally allow 8 to 12 weeks for your Form 1040-X to be processed. However, in some cases, processing could take up to 16 weeks. You can visit our processing status dashboard for more information on our timeframes.
You can find digital copies of most IRS notices in your online account, under the 'Notices and Letters' section.