From DC Office of Tax and Revenue- instead of my refund, a "Notice of Offset." WTH does that mean?

[Anonymous]

Waiting and waiting for my refund. Instead, this:

The letter says "We plan to use part of all of your income tax overpayment from the period identified above to satisfy District of Columbia taxes or other government debts described below."

There is nothing described below, just says "Individual Income Tax" and then the amount I was anticipating on getting back (not much, but I was planning on it).

Then, "If you do not agree to this offset..." (address/number I can call to dispute)

What does this mean in the first place? I don't owe the District ANY money, that I know.

TIA

[Anonymous]

Any other judgements or outstanding debt that you may have, not income tax related?

That's what that means. You owe someone some money and your taxes were used to pay that debt. Sucks.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I found this from last year and I guess I'm not the only person this has happened to.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/161437.page#1483331

I will call them tomorrow. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

DC sucks so bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC sucks so bad.

But it's so walkable!

[Anonymous]

It means you owe DC some other money so they aren't going to give you cash. Parking tickets? Property tax? Registration?

[Anonymous]

Something very similar to this happened to me with DC Office of Tax & Revenue last year (and I am not the poster in the other thread linked to). They said I owed extra taxes from 2008 and that they were keeping part of our 2010 refund to offset that. We did not owe any taxes from 2008. I had some involved back-and-forth emails with them to explain why we did not owe anything from 2008, and they finally sent us the rest of our 2010 refund. I must say I wonder if somebody is being entreprenurial by sending these notices to people and keeping the difference.

[Anonymous]

I remember that happening for small amounts. I think they were assessing me a fee for being underwithheld.

[Anonymous]

In my case, it meant they had disallowed the child tax credit I had claimed the previous year, because I had forgotten to include my Federal 1040. Mind you, they had paid me the full refund I had claimed in that year. It is still a mess, and I need to go down to meet with them in person, but somehow haven't managed to make myself do it yet ...

[Anonymous]

Ugh - I'm still waiting and waiting for my DC refund and starting to wonder if I should expect one of these notices? We're 100 percent debt free, aside from car and mortgage, so i can't imagine what it would be about?

[Anonymous]

We got ours within a week (but we filed in February). I would check up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something very similar to this happened to me with DC Office of Tax & Revenue last year (and I am not the poster in the other thread linked to). They said I owed extra taxes from 2008 and that they were keeping part of our 2010 refund to offset that. We did not owe any taxes from 2008. I had some involved back-and-forth emails with them to explain why we did not owe anything from 2008, and they finally sent us the rest of our 2010 refund. I must say I wonder if somebody is being entreprenurial by sending these notices to people and keeping the difference.

You're not suggesting that someone at the DC Office of Tax and Revenue is corrupt? Perish the thought! And even if someone did concoct a scheme to steal from the government (or taxpayers), surely she would have been found out immediately - the oversight there is so rigorous! There's no way the theft could have gone on for years.

Wait . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC sucks so bad.

But it's so walkable!

Classic

[jsteele]

Yesterday the DC Council approved a budget which includes language allowing the the CFO to withhold money from your tax refund for any fines, fees, or tuition that you owe the City. So, it looks like the practice described here will no longer be optional for you.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Yesterday the DC Council approved a budget which includes language allowing the the CFO to withhold money from your tax refund for any fines, fees, or tuition that you owe the City. So, it looks like the practice described here will no longer be optional for you.

One City, Baby! They don't have to specify what the offset is (so it will be hard to challenge it), just that there is an offset. Just pay up and shut up, so that the likes of Vince Gray, Marion Barry and former-and-likely-future council member Harry Thomas Jr. can spend your money!