U.S. Code > Title 42 > Chapter 7 > Subchapter IV > Part D > § 663 - Use of Federal Parent Locator Service in connection with enforcement or determination of child custody in cases of parental kidnaping of child
Current as of: January 2009 (a) Procedures applicable; distribution
(1) Upon receiving notice from a State agency administering a
plan approved under this part that a named individual owes past-due
support which has been assigned to such State pursuant to section
608(a)(3) or section 671(a)(17) of this title, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall determine whether any amounts, as refunds of Federal
taxes paid, are payable to such individual (regardless of whether
such individual filed a tax return as a married or unmarried
individual). If the Secretary of the Treasury finds that any such
amount is payable, he shall withhold from such refunds an amount
equal to the past-due support, shall concurrently send notice to
such individual that the withholding has been made (including in or
with such notice a notification to any other person who may have
filed a joint return with such individual of the steps which such
other person may take in order to secure his or her proper share of
the refund), and shall pay such amount to the State agency
(together with notice of the individual's home address) for
distribution in accordance with section 657 of this title. This
subsection may be executed by the disbursing official of the
Department of the Treasury.
(2)(A) Upon receiving notice from a State agency administering a
plan approved under this part that a named individual owes past-due
support which such State has agreed to collect under section
654(4)(A)(ii) of this title, and that the State agency has sent
notice to such individual in accordance with paragraph (3)(A), the
Secretary of the Treasury shall determine whether any amounts, as
refunds of Federal taxes paid, are payable to such individual
(regardless of whether such individual filed a tax return as a
married or unmarried individual). If the Secretary of the Treasury
finds that any such amount is payable, he shall withhold from such
refunds an amount equal to such past-due support, and shall
concurrently send notice to such individual that the withholding
has been made, including in or with such notice a notification to
any other person who may have filed a joint return with such
individual of the steps which such other person may take in order
to secure his or her proper share of the refund. The Secretary of
the Treasury shall pay the amount withheld to the State agency, and
the State shall pay to the Secretary of the Treasury any fee
imposed by the Secretary of the Treasury to cover the costs of the
withholding and any required notification. The State agency shall,
subject to paragraph (3)(B), distribute such amount to or on behalf
of the child to whom the support was owed in accordance with
section 657 of this title. This subsection may be executed by the
Secretary of the Department of the Treasury or his designee.
(B) This paragraph shall apply only with respect to refunds
payable under section 6402 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
after December 31, 1985.
(3)(A) Prior to notifying the Secretary of the Treasury under
paragraph (1) or (2) that an individual owes past-due support, the
State shall send notice to such individual that a withholding will
be made from any refund otherwise payable to such individual. The
notice shall also (i) instruct the individual owing the past-due
support of the steps which may be taken to contest the State's
determination that past-due support is owed or the amount of the
past-due support, and (ii) provide information, as may be
prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services by
regulation in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, with
respect to procedures to be followed, in the case of a joint
return, to protect the share of the refund which may be payable to
another person.
(B) If the Secretary of the Treasury determines that an amount
should be withheld under paragraph (1) or (2), and that the refund
from which it should be withheld is based upon a joint return, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall notify the State that the
withholding is being made from a refund based upon a joint return,
and shall furnish to the State the names and addresses of each
taxpayer filing such joint return. In the case of a withholding
under paragraph (2), the State may delay distribution of the amount
withheld until the State has been notified by the Secretary of the
Treasury that the other person filing the joint return has received
his or her proper share of the refund, but such delay may not
exceed six months.
(C) If the other person filing the joint return with the named
individual owing the past-due support takes appropriate action to
secure his or her proper share of a refund from which a withholding
was made under paragraph (1) or (2), the Secretary of the Treasury
shall pay such share to such other person. The Secretary of the
Treasury shall deduct the amount of such payment from amounts
subsequently payable to the State agency to which the amount
originally withheld from such refund was paid.
(D) In any case in which an amount was withheld under paragraph
(1) or (2) and paid to a State, and the State subsequently
determines that the amount certified as past-due support was in
excess of the amount actually owed at the time the amount withheld
is to be distributed to or on behalf of the child, the State shall
pay the excess amount withheld to the named individual thought to
have owed the past-due support (or, in the case of amounts withheld
on the basis of a joint return, jointly to the parties filing such
return).
(b) Regulations; contents, etc.
(1) The Secretary of the Treasury shall issue regulations,
approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, prescribing
the time or times at which States must submit notices of past-due
support, the manner in which such notices must be submitted, and
the necessary information that must be contained in or accompany
the notices. The regulations shall be consistent with the
provisions of subsection (a)(3) of this section, shall specify the
minimum amount of past-due support to which the offset procedure
established by subsection (a) of this section may be applied, and
the fee that a State must pay to reimburse the Secretary of the
Treasury for the full cost of applying the offset procedure, and
shall provide that the Secretary of the Treasury will advise the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, not less frequently than
annually, of the States which have furnished notices of past-due
support under subsection (a) of this section, the number of cases
in each State with respect to which such notices have been
furnished, the amount of support sought to be collected under this
subsection by each State, and the amount of such collections
actually made in the case of each State. Any fee paid to the
Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to this subsection may be used
to reimburse appropriations which bore all or part of the cost of
applying such procedure.
(2) In the case of withholdings made under subsection (a)(2) of
this section, the regulations promulgated pursuant to this
subsection shall include the following requirements:
(A) The withholding shall apply only in the case where the
State determines that the amount of the past-due support which
will be owed at the time the withholding is to be made, based
upon the pattern of payment of support and other enforcement
actions being pursued to collect the past-due support, is equal
to or greater than $500. The State may limit the $500 threshold
amount to amounts of past-due support accrued since the time that
the State first began to enforce the child support order involved
under the State plan, and may limit the application of the
withholding to past-due support accrued since such time.
(B) The fee which the Secretary of the Treasury may impose to
cover the costs of the withholding and notification may not
exceed $25 per case submitted.
(c) "Past-due support" defined
In this part the term "past-due support" means the amount of a
delinquency, determined under a court order, or an order of an
administrative process established under State law, for support and
maintenance of a child (whether or not a minor), or of a child
(whether or not a minor) and the parent with whom the child is
living.Legislative History ________________________________________________________________________
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