Where did my son's deadbeat father's tax return go?

Question

My son's deadbeat father made an angry comment to me about $750 of his tax rerturn being given to me by the IRS. He's a bum so I ignored him, only to hear later that the IRS takes tax returns of those who owe a lot of child support. We haven't seen the money, so where does it go if not applied to our case?

Answer 1

If the IRS withheld his tax refund it takes 6 to 8 months for that money to get to you.  The reason is that it goes into a sort of holding fund for a period of time to allow for appeals by any one that may have a claim to that money.  It then goes to the state and or count in which you have a child support claim.  They normally take a bit of time to distribute it also.  However, once that gets flowing you should get regular payments unless you were on some sort of public support, in which case the county keeps it.

Answer 2

The IRS doesn't take "tax returns."  Taxpayers FILE tax returns.  A tax return is the forms and schedules you file with the IRS.  If you overpay your tax liability, you get a REFUND.

Now, with that out of the way, your ex's tax REFUND may have been captured by FMS to be applied to the debt that he owes for the child support.  You'll eventually receive that money, however it can take up to 6 months to flow through the system.  If FMS does not know what his filing status is (and the IRS cannot tell them) they will sit on the captured refund for 6 months to allow a current spouse file an Injured Spouse claim.  Once they release the money it will go to your local Child Support Enforcement Agency and they will turn it over to you.  You'll have to ask them how long it takes them to process the funds and turn them over to you.

Answer 3

That's Tax Refund! You need to contact the child support office, IRS doesn't have anything to do with it anymore.

(IF the deadbeat owed IRS money the refund would have been offset to his IRS debt).

And count your blessing that the "deadbeat" is still filing his return.