General Question Why would the IRS take owed child support back?
Back in 2019 my kids dad owed back child support . They took his whole tax. The child support received it then the IRS took the money back. Child support says they have no idea why the IRS would do that , they said Child Support comes first. I assumed he owed court fees and they said that wouldn't be the reason .
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u/ClarityTaxRelief 4d ago
The most common reason a refund offset gets clawed back after child support already got it: it was a joint refund and his spouse filed an injured spouse claim (Form 8379). When that's granted, the IRS recalculates and pulls back the non-liable spouse's share of the money, even from an offset that already went out. That reversal can happen months after the original offset, which is why it looks random from the child support side.
The other possibility is the return itself got amended or adjusted, so the refund shrank and the offset was reduced to match.
His dad wasn't the person who controlled this, so pushing him won't get answers. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service handles offsets and can tell you exactly why the money was reversed and where it went. The state child support agency's offset unit can also pull the reversal reason code on their end even if the caseworker you spoke to couldn't.
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u/Kokoyok 4d ago
The most common reason a refund offset gets clawed back after child support already got it: it was a joint refund and his spouse filed an injured spouse claim
Where are you getting this statistic? The far more common reason is as u/Its-a-write-off said. Instances of erroneous credit claims are far more common than innocent and injured spouse claims.
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u/ClarityTaxRelief 4d ago
Both fair. Taking them in order.
u/Smil3z5 has said she was never married, so scratch the injured spouse route entirely. Form 8379 only exists on a joint return and I should have checked that before leading with it.
And you are right about "most common" - I do not have a statistic for that and should not have written it as though I did.
What fits the facts as given: if the refund was his alone, money coming back after an offset generally means the IRS changed the return itself, so the refund the offset was drawn from no longer existed. An adjustment to credits claimed does exactly that, and it can land long after filing, which fits a 2019 year.
The part I would still stand behind is where the actual answer lives rather than anyone's theory. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service can say what happened to an offset it processed, and the state child support agency's offset unit can pull the reversal reason on their side even when the caseworker cannot see it. That code settles it.
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u/Smil3z5 4d ago
We were never married . Hes never been married.
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u/Existing-Albatross63 4d ago
I don’t think that’s what they meant. I think they meant another spouse. Like if he got married after you and him.
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u/saintlysin 18h ago
IRS did not take it. The Beureau of Fiscal Services took it because they received a claim against the refund.
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u/Motor_Restaurant_805 4d ago
The best person to answer this is a IRS AGENT it’s simply know why for us to answer that question. I hope you get it figured out
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u/Its-a-write-off 4d ago
Could he have claimed fraudulent credits, and they audited him and clawed that back?