Dallas Divorce Law Blog by Michelle O'Neil

During tax time, clients inevitably ask about collection of child support from an obligor’s tax refund. There are two methods available to enforce child support payments from delinquent child support obligors through federal tax collection. The first procedure allows collection of past-due child support by offsetting the support arrearages amount against a federal tax refund due to the delinquent payor. See I.R.C. §6402(c). The second method is an assessment and collection procedure where the U. S. Treasury Department is authorized to collect the certified amount of unpaid child support by levying against essentially any property of the delinquent child support obligor that would be subject to levy when collecting federal taxes. See I.R.C. §6334(c). The regulations for these two procedures may be found in the Treasury Regulations. See Treas. Reg. §301.6402-5(a)(1).