Question about taxes and refund....

[gottaquestion]

Hey there.

My husband was just told by his former employer that the state child support revenue sent a letter to his old work place wanting to know what he made there this year. He has 2 jobs, but no longer at this one. Anyways, it is from a ex he dated for a few months and a 3 1/2 year old child we have never met, or want to. He is not on the birth certificate or the child does not have his last name. She filed for food stamps and medicaid (which they were not supposed to tell us), and we are guessing she was pressured to list a father. We are not sure if he is the father 100%.

Also, he was just told that they can only take CS out of your primary job and not your 2nd (part-time) job. This is for the state of Florida, does anyone know if this is true??

We are in a tax bracket where we hardly pay any taxes in. If we fix our taxes on our W4 where we pay almost nothing in and DO NOT recieve a refund than she can not get anything??? This would be siezed for back child support before we could get it I am pretty sure. We are trying to fix it where she gets the least amount of money possible. Because right now they are taking a lot out and we use it at refund time to make big purchases or pay off past debts, sort of like a savings plan, probably not the smartest thing to do.

Also, our accounts are in my name only, but do we need to put his truck (which isn't worth much) into my name?  Could they sieze this for back CS??

[BrokeInTN]

Go to your state's website and read the laws governing child support enforcement. This will help you determine your plan of action. You are already smart about getting everything out of his name. They can and will go after it. The state gets a quarterly report of his assets and from there go about seizing them. If he has a 401K, he might want to think about putting it in your name. They can get that too. So they are already taking support? How can they do that without establishing paternity? If the child is his, they can get retroactive support back to the child's birth resulting in a huge arrearage. Once you have an arrearage over 500 dollars, your tax refund can and will be seized before you ever see it. They will give it directly to the state to allocate to the CP. If the child is his, there will be nothing you can do to stop it. It happens from the state level and you will receive a letter from the IRS telling you that your refund is offset because of a child support obligation.
Good luck to you. I'm sorry for the bad news.

[Merck]

Watch this video.


http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=freedom+to+fascism&www_google_domain=www.google.com&hl=en&emb=0&aq=0&oq=freedom+to+fa#

[gottaquestion]

BrokeinTN

Hey. I don't think that you are gettin what I am trying to say.  I KNOW they can take your whole refund. The question is, if we fix our taxes to where they are not taking out much say $80 a month. That way we do NOT GET A REFUND. That way she gets NOTHING, instead of some fat check.

No, we are NOT paying CS yet. The paternity test has not even been done. The state was trying to find out how much my husband made this year from his two jobs. I guess they didn't know that there was even a dispute about the paternity until he called to find out what was even going on.

She just filed this past month to try and get support, does that have anything to do with whether or not we pay back child support? We heard that maybe we wont have to from a guy he works with that pays CS.

[Merck]

As a general rule, your employer will go along with you claiming married and nine dependents without reporting you to the IRS. You will not have any tax return coming if you claim that many dependents. You may end up owing at the end of the year if you claim nine. If that's a concern, you can adjust your number of dependents accordingly. This is perfectly legal.

Years ago you could go exempt, but that is more difficult now, and some would argue, not entirely legal, but the fact is that the federal income tax is illegal, not your refusal to pay it. There is no law requiring you to pay federal income tax.

Do yourself a favor and watch the video posted above.

I hope this helps. 

[BrokeInTN]

Sorry! You are so right! You can claim whatever you want in dependants on your witholding form with your employer (W-4) and Merck is correct, use caution or you could wind up having to pay and that is no fun at all. However, it will protect you by allowing you full use of your money all year long and having no big check going to the ex.

If you are found to be the father of the child....the first thing the state will do is make you come to court and bring your most current pay stub. They will determine how much your child support is by using their crafty little formula and they CAN seek "retroactive" support, which means they can go back and get support for the last 3 years. Maybe they won't, but they can. Has the ex enrolled in any kind of state assistance? such as welfare? health care? If she has, the state will come after you with a vengeance. They seem to attack when the child has been on state assistance for needy families. Their goal is to recoup what they've paid out and one sure way to do it is to slap an arrearage on you, which means they can seize your funds.

I hope this helps! Sorry for the misunderstanding!
Good luck!!!!

p.s. I am with Merck, Federal income tax is totally illegal!

[gottaquestion]

BrokeinTN-


Hey. Actually the whole way we even found out was because his ex employer (my husbands), who he is friendly with, gave him a phone call telling him that the state revenue sent him a letter asking what he payed my husband this year. I guess the state is collecting info on what he made at his two jobs this year, even though paternity has never been established.

So, my husband called this 1-800# he found on the internet and they told him that it was his ex coming after him, that she JUST applied for foodstamps and medicaid. I guess they made her put down a father. I heard they pressure you pretty hard to put someone down. They WERE NOT suppposed to tell him that she applied for aid, but they did.

How long does the whole process usually take after the paternity test for them to start garnishing wages???

What happens after the paternity test???

We have NO CLUE, we have never been through this or know anyone who has......

[doyle]

Hi, first of all, if you are legally married, child support will only get 1/2 of your refund, but you have to apply for innocent spouse after it is intercepted.  Secondly, child support policy and fed. law states that the amount for federal offset has to be certified.  In California, the law states that the amount for arrearage HAS to be an order from a court (not local agency) or by administrative review process.  Due to child support being involved the administrative review is out for you so the amt. for arrears to be intercepted HAS to be a court ordered amount of arrears.  DON'T LET local agency tell you different.  Are you in California?

[BrokeInTN]

If she has already applied for state assistance (food stamps and medicaid) they will not waste time. They cannot seize your money without proof of paternity or a signed parental responsibility form. However, once they order the test, they can get results with lightning speed! Once they send out the order of wage assignment, your husband's employer will usually have two weeks to put it into play. I think I used to initiate the witholding on the first full week after I received them at the office where I worked. Doyle is also correct. They can only get your husband's share of your income tax and stimulus check. You will have to file an "innocent or injured spouse claim" to send along with your taxes to protect your share of the refund/stimulus. The IRS will do a review and you may have to write them a letter stating your circumstances, but they will give you your half and then send the other half to the state for disbursement. Doyle is also correct in the fact that there has to be a court order for the offset of your income tax return to go to arrears. That is merely a formality and only a matter of time. If you have an arrearage, your tax refund is the first thing to go. In Tennessee all child support goes to the state and is disbursed from there. We used to have outside, private agencies who collected support and charged fees on top of the support, but you can elect to pay directly to the state, which is your best option and have the state records on your side should any dispute ever arise between you and the ex. We have internet access to our account and can check the balances anytime we want and make sure the funds that are being withheld are being posted to our account in a timely manner and I keep a separate ledger at home just to keep them all honest.
AS far as a time table, the state works at their own pace. It could be a few weeks or a few months. But! Since the ex has applied for state funded benefits, this will light a fire under them to recoup what they are paying out for her and the child.