Tax Rebate Of Parents Delinquent In Child Support Rerouted By Treasury Department

June 25, 2008 8:42 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The rebate checks of 1.8 million taxpayers have been recalled by the Treasury Department before it could reach them after the department's database showed the recipients owed the government money for child support, student loans and back taxes.

The bulk of the $2 billion recalled rebate checks were from taxpayers who owed child support. The confiscated checks would instead be rerouted to children and families in need. So far the Tennessee Department of Human Services has received $8.5 million of $20 million it expects for child support, said Mike Adams, head of child support department.

The ability of government to track unpaid child support came from a debt-collection program installed in 2001 in which state and federal agencies send to the Treasury Department a weekly list of parents not up-to-date in their child support payments. Rebate payments are counterchecked with the list.

The delinquent taxpayers would receive a letter that explains why their checks were reduced or did not come at all.

Since the economic stimulus was signed into law by President George Bush in February, the Internal Revenue Service has mailed 77 million checks worth $64 billion. By the end of the year, the IRS would have sent out 124 million tax rebates.