I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5178 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow an offset against 

income tax refunds to pay for restitution and other State judicial debts 

that are past-due. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 23, 2014 

Mr. PAULSEN (for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Mr. DEFAZIO) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow an 

offset against income tax refunds to pay for restitution 

and other State judicial debts that are past-due. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crime Victim Restitu5 tion and Court Fee Intercept Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OFFSET OF RESTITUTION AND OTHER STATE JUDI7 CIAL DEBTS AGAINST INCOME TAX REFUND. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6402 of the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating subVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:11 Jul 26, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5178.IH H5178

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1 sections (f) through (l) as subsections (g) through (m), 

2 respectively, and by inserting after subsection (f) the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘(g) COLLECTION OF PAST-DUE, LEGALLY EN5 FORCEABLE RESTITUTION AND OTHER STATE JUDICIAL

6 DEBTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In any State which wishes 

8 to collect past-due, legally enforceable State judicial 

9 debts, the chief justice of the State’s highest court 

10 shall designate a single State entity to communicate 

11 judicial debt information to the Secretary. In mak12 ing such designation, the chief justice of the State’s 

13 highest court shall select, whenever practicable, a 

14 relevant State official or agency responsible under 

15 State law for collecting the State’s income tax or 

16 other statewide excise at the time of the designation. 

17 Upon receiving notice from a State designated entity 

18 that a named person owes a past-due, legally en19 forceable State judicial debt to or in such State, the 

20 Secretary shall, under such conditions as may be 

21 prescribed by the Secretary— 

22 ‘‘(A) reduce the amount of any overpay23 ment payable to such person by the amount of 

24 such State judicial debt; 


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1 ‘‘(B) pay the amount by which such over2 payment is reduced under subparagraph (A) to 

3 such State designated entity and notify such 

4 State designated entity of such person’s name, 

5 taxpayer identification number, address, and 

6 the amount collected; and 

7 ‘‘(C) notify the person making such over8 payment that the overpayment has been re9 duced by an amount necessary to satisfy a past10 due, legally enforceable State judicial debt. 

11 If an offset is made pursuant to a joint return, the 

12 notice under subparagraph (B) shall include the 

13 names, taxpayer identification numbers, and ad14 dresses of each person filing such return. 

15 ‘‘(2) PRIORITIES FOR OFFSET.—Any overpay16 ment by a person shall be reduced pursuant to this 

17 subsection— 

18 ‘‘(A) after such overpayment is reduced 

19 pursuant to— 

20 ‘‘(i) subsection (a) with respect to any 

21 liability for any internal revenue tax on the 

22 part of the person who made the overpay23 ment; 

24 ‘‘(ii) subsection (c) with respect to 

25 past-due support; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) subsection (d) with respect to 

2 any past-due, legally enforceable debt owed 

3 to a Federal agency; and 

4 ‘‘(iv) subsection (e) with respect to 

5 any past-due, legally enforceable State in6 come tax obligations; and 

7 ‘‘(B) before such overpayment is credited 

8 to the future liability for any Federal internal 

9 revenue tax of such person pursuant to sub10 section (b). 

11 If the Secretary receives notice from 1 or more State 

12 designated entities of more than 1 debt subject to 

13 paragraph (1) that is owed by such person to such 

14 State agency or State judicial branch, any overpay15 ment by such person shall be applied against such 

16 debts in the order in which such debts accrued. 

17 ‘‘(3) NOTICE; CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE.— 

18 Rules similar to the rules of subsection (e)(4) shall 

19 apply with respect to debts under this subsection. 

20 ‘‘(4) PAST-DUE, LEGALLY ENFORCEABLE STATE

21 JUDICIAL DEBT.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 

23 subsection, the term ‘past-due, legally enforce24 able State judicial debt’ means a debt— 


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1 ‘‘(i) which resulted from a judgment 

2 or sentence rendered by any court or tri3 bunal of competent jurisdiction which— 

4 ‘‘(I) handles criminal or traffic 

5 cases in the State; and 

6 ‘‘(II) has determined an amount 

7 of State judicial debt to be due; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) which resulted from a State judi9 cial debt which has been assessed and is 

10 past-due but not collected. 

11 ‘‘(B) STATE JUDICIAL DEBT.—For pur12 poses of this paragraph, the term ‘State judicial 

13 debt’ includes court costs, fees, fines, assess14 ments, restitution to victims of crime, and other 

15 monies resulting from a judgment or sentence 

16 rendered by any court or tribunal of competent 

17 jurisdiction handling criminal or traffic cases in 

18 the State. 

19 ‘‘(5) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue 

20 regulations prescribing the time and manner in 

21 which State designated entities must submit notices 

22 of past-due, legally enforceable State judicial debts 

23 and the necessary information that must be con24 tained in or accompany such notices. The regula25 tions shall specify the types of State judicial monies 


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1 and the minimum amount of debt to which the re2 duction procedure established by paragraph (1) may 

3 be applied. The regulations shall require State des4 ignated entities to pay a fee to reimburse the Sec5 retary for the cost of applying such procedure. Any 

6 fee paid to the Secretary pursuant to the preceding 

7 sentence shall be used to reimburse appropriations 

8 which bore all or part of the cost of applying such 

9 procedure. 

10 ‘‘(6) ERRONEOUS PAYMENT TO STATE.—Any 

11 State designated entity receiving notice from the 

12 Secretary that an erroneous payment has been made 

13 to such State designated entity under paragraph (1) 

14 shall pay promptly to the Secretary, in accordance 

15 with such regulations as the Secretary may pre16 scribe, an amount equal to the amount of such erro17 neous payment (without regard to whether any other 

18 amounts payable to such State designated entity 

19 under such paragraph have been paid to such State 

20 designated entity).’’. 

21 (b) DISCLOSURE OF RETURN INFORMATION.—Sec22 tion 6103(l)(10) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘or 

23 (f)’’ each place it appears in the text and heading and 

24 inserting ‘‘(f), or (g)’’. 

25 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (1) Section 6402(a) of such Code is amended 

2 by striking ‘‘and (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘(f), and (g)’’. 

3 (2) Section 6402(d)(2) of such Code is amend4 ed by striking ‘‘subsections (e) and (f)’’ and insert5 ing ‘‘subsections (e), (f), and (g)’’. 

6 (3) Section 6402(e)(3)(B) of such Code is 

7 amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(B) before such overpayment is— 

9 ‘‘(i) reduced pursuant to subsection 

10 (g) with respect to past-due, legally en11 forceable State judicial debts, and 

12 ‘‘(ii) credited to the future liability for 

13 any Federal internal revenue tax of such 

14 person pursuant to subsection (b).’’. 

15 (4) Section 6402(h) of such Code, as so redes16 ignated, is amended by striking ‘‘or (f)’’ and insert17 ing ‘‘(f), or (g)’’. 

18 (5) Section 6402(j) of such Code, as so redesig19 nated, is amended by striking ‘‘or (f)’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘, (f), or (g)’’. 

21 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 this section shall apply to refunds payable for taxable 

23 years beginning after December 31, 2013. 

Æ 


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