The Department of Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS), which issues IRS tax refunds, has been authorized by Congress to conduct the Treasury Offset Program. Through this program, your Federal tax refund or overpayment you asked us to apply to next year's estimated tax, may be reduced by FMS and offset to pay any past-due child support or Federal agency non-tax debts you may owe.

An offset will not occur until the IRS has verified your refund amount and certified it for payment by FMS. As a result, the IRS can no longer determine before certifying your refund whether or not it will be offset to pay a non-tax debt. If you owe a past due child support or Federal agency non tax debt, you should contact the agency you owe to determine if your debt was submitted for tax refund offset. If your debt was submitted to FMS for tax refund offset, as much of your refund as is needed to pay off the debt will be taken by FMS and sent to the agency you owe. Any portion of your refund remaining after offset will be issued in a check, direct deposited, or credited to next year's estimated tax as you requested.

FMS will send you a notice if an offset occurs. The notice identifies your original refund amount, your offset amount, the agency receiving the offset, and the address and telephone number of the agency. The IRS will not be informed of the agency receiving the offset but FMS will notify us of the amount taken from your refund. You should contact the agency shown on the notice if you believe you do not owe the debt or you are disputing the amount taken from your refund. You should contact your local IRS office if your original refund amount shown on the FMS offset notice differs from the refund amount shown on your tax return.

If you filed a joint return and you're not responsible for the debt, but you are entitled to a portion of the refund because you reported income, payments, or credits on the return, you may request your portion of the refund by filing Form 8379, Injured Spouse Claim and Allocation.

Attach Form 8379 to your original Form 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ or file it by itself after you are notified of an offset. If you file Form 8379 with your return, the IRS will process it after we are notified by FMS of an offset. Please allow six to eight weeks from the date you receive the offset notice for the IRS to reverse the offset and issue your refund or credit.

If you are filing Form 8379 by itself, it must show both spouses' social security numbers in the same order as they appeared on your income tax return. The "injured" spouse must sign the form. Please follow the instructions on Form 8379 carefully and be sure to attach the required forms to avoid delays. Send the claim to the Service Center where you filed your original return. We will compute the injured spouse's share of the joint refund for you. If you lived in a community property state during the tax year, we will divide the joint refund based upon state law.

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