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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crime Victim Restitu-
tion and Court Fee Intercept Act’’. 
SEC. 2. OFFSET OF RESTITUTION AND OTHER STATE JUDI-
CIAL DEBTS AGAINST INCOME TAX REFUND. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6402 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating sub-
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sections (f) through (l) as subsections (g) through (m), 
respectively, and by inserting after subsection (f) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(g) COLLECTION
OF PAST-DUE, LEGALLY EN-
FORCEABLE RESTITUTION AND OTHER STATE JUDICIAL 
DEBTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In any State which wishes 
to collect past-due, legally enforceable State judicial 
debts, the chief justice of the State’s highest court 
shall designate a single State entity to communicate 
judicial debt information to the Secretary. In mak-
ing such designation, the chief justice of the State’s 
highest court shall select, whenever practicable, a 
relevant State official or agency responsible under 
State law for collecting the State’s income tax or 
other statewide excise at the time of the designation. 
Upon receiving notice from a State designated entity 
that a named person owes a past-due, legally en-
forceable State judicial debt to or in such State, the 
Secretary shall, under such conditions as may be 
prescribed by the Secretary— 
‘‘(A) reduce the amount of any overpay-
ment payable to such person by the amount of 
such State judicial debt; 
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‘‘(B) pay the amount by which such over-
payment is reduced under subparagraph (A) to 
such State designated entity and notify such 
State designated entity of such person’s name, 
taxpayer identification number, address, and 
the amount collected; and 
‘‘(C) notify the person making such over-
payment that the overpayment has been re-
duced by an amount necessary to satisfy a past- 
due, legally enforceable State judicial debt. 
If an offset is made pursuant to a joint return, the 
notice under subparagraph (B) shall include the 
names, taxpayer identification numbers, and ad-
dresses of each person filing such return. 
‘‘(2) PRIORITIES FOR OFFSET.—Any overpay-
ment by a person shall be reduced pursuant to this 
subsection— 
‘‘(A) after such overpayment is reduced 
pursuant to— 
‘‘(i) subsection (a) with respect to any 
liability for any internal revenue tax on the 
part of the person who made the overpay-
ment; 
‘‘(ii) subsection (c) with respect to 
past-due support; 
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‘‘(iii) subsection (d) with respect to 
any past-due, legally enforceable debt owed 
to a Federal agency; and 
‘‘(iv) subsection (e) with respect to 
any past-due, legally enforceable State in-
come tax obligations; and 
‘‘(B) before such overpayment is credited 
to the future liability for any Federal internal 
revenue tax of such person pursuant to sub-
section (b). 
If the Secretary receives notice from 1 or more State 
designated entities of more than 1 debt subject to 
paragraph (1) that is owed by such person to such 
State agency or State judicial branch, any overpay-
ment by such person shall be applied against such 
debts in the order in which such debts accrued. 
‘‘(3) NOTICE; CONSIDERATION OF EVIDENCE.— 
Rules similar to the rules of subsection (e)(4) shall 
apply with respect to debts under this subsection. 
‘‘(4) PAST-DUE, LEGALLY ENFORCEABLE STATE 
JUDICIAL DEBT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 
subsection, the term ‘past-due, legally enforce-
able State judicial debt’ means a debt— 
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‘‘(i) which resulted from a judgment 
or sentence rendered by any court or tri-
bunal of competent jurisdiction which— 
‘‘(I) handles criminal or traffic 
cases in the State; and 
‘‘(II) has determined an amount 
of State judicial debt to be due; and 
‘‘(ii) which resulted from a State judi-
cial debt which has been assessed and is 
past-due but not collected. 
‘‘(B) STATE
JUDICIAL
DEBT.—For pur-
poses of this paragraph, the term ‘State judicial 
debt’ includes court costs, fees, fines, assess-
ments, restitution to victims of crime, and other 
monies resulting from a judgment or sentence 
rendered by any court or tribunal of competent 
jurisdiction handling criminal or traffic cases in 
the State. 
‘‘(5) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue 
regulations prescribing the time and manner in 
which State designated entities must submit notices 
of past-due, legally enforceable State judicial debts 
and the necessary information that must be con-
tained in or accompany such notices. The regula-
tions shall specify the types of State judicial monies 
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and the minimum amount of debt to which the re-
duction procedure established by paragraph (1) may 
be applied. The regulations shall require State des-
ignated entities to pay a fee to reimburse the Sec-
retary for the cost of applying such procedure. Any 
fee paid to the Secretary pursuant to the preceding 
sentence shall be used to reimburse appropriations 
which bore all or part of the cost of applying such 
procedure. 
‘‘(6) ERRONEOUS
PAYMENT
TO
STATE.—Any 
State designated entity receiving notice from the 
Secretary that an erroneous payment has been made 
to such State designated entity under paragraph (1) 
shall pay promptly to the Secretary, in accordance 
with such regulations as the Secretary may pre-
scribe, an amount equal to the amount of such erro-
neous payment (without regard to whether any other 
amounts payable to such State designated entity 
under such paragraph have been paid to such State 
designated entity).’’. 
(b) DISCLOSURE OF RETURN INFORMATION.—Sec-
tion 6103(l)(10) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘or 
(f)’’ each place it appears in the text and heading and 
inserting ‘‘(f), or (g)’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
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(1) Section 6402(a) of such Code is amended 
by striking ‘‘and (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘(f), and (g)’’. 
(2) Section 6402(d)(2) of such Code is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘subsections (e) and (f)’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘subsections (e), (f), and (g)’’. 
(3) Section 6402(e)(3)(B) of such Code is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(B) before such overpayment is— 
‘‘(i) reduced pursuant to subsection 
(g) with respect to past-due, legally en-
forceable State judicial debts, and 
‘‘(ii) credited to the future liability for 
any Federal internal revenue tax of such 
person pursuant to subsection (b).’’. 
(4) Section 6402(h) of such Code, as so redes-
ignated, is amended by striking ‘‘or (f)’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘(f), or (g)’’. 
(5) Section 6402(j) of such Code, as so redesig-
nated, is amended by striking ‘‘or (f)’’ and inserting 
‘‘, (f), or (g)’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to refunds payable for taxable 
years beginning after December 31, 2013. 
Æ 
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