I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1956 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow an offset against 
income tax refunds to pay for State judicial debts that are past-due. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 2, 2009 
Mr. PAULSEN (for himself, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, and Mr. POE of Texas) 
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 State judi-
cial 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 STATE JUDICIAL DEBTS AGAINST IN-
COME TAX REFUND. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6402 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to authority to make credits 
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or refunds) is amended by redesignating subsections (g) 
through (l) as subsections (h) through (m), respectively, 
and by inserting after subsection (e) the following: 
‘‘(g) COLLECTION
OF PAST-DUE, LEGALLY EN-
FORCEABLE STATE JUDICIAL DEBTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon receiving notice from 
any State judicial branch or State agency designated 
by the chief justice of the State’s highest court that 
a named person owes a past-due, legally enforceable 
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; 
‘‘(B) pay the amount by which such over-
payment is reduced under subparagraph (A) to 
such State judicial branch or State agency and 
notify such State judicial branch or State agen-
cy of such person’s name, taxpayer identifica-
tion number, address, and the amount collected; 
and 
‘‘(C) notify the person making such over-
payment that the overpayment has been re-
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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; 
‘‘(iii) subsection (d) with respect to 
any past-due, legally enforceable debt owed 
to a Federal agency; 
‘‘(iv) subsection (e) with respect to 
any past-due, legally enforceable State in-
come tax obligations; and 
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‘‘(v) subsection (f) with respect to any 
covered unemployment compensation debt; 
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 
agencies, or from 1 or more State agencies and the 
State judicial branch, of more than 1 debt subject 
to paragraph (1) that is owed by such person to 
such State agency or State judicial branch, any over-
payment 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— 
‘‘(i) which resulted from a judgment 
or sentence rendered by any court or tri-
bunal of competent jurisdiction which— 
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‘‘(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 judicial branches and State agencies 
must submit notices of past-due, legally enforceable 
State judicial debts and the necessary information 
that must be contained in or accompany such no-
tices. The regulations shall specify the types of State 
judicial monies and the minimum amount of debt to 
which the reduction procedure established by para-
graph (1) may be applied. The regulations may re-
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quire State judicial branches and State agencies to 
pay a fee to reimburse the Secretary for the cost of 
applying such procedure. Any fee paid to the Sec-
retary 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 judicial branch or State agency receiving no-
tice from the Secretary that an erroneous payment 
has been made to such State judicial branch or 
State agency under paragraph (1) shall pay prompt-
ly to the Secretary, in accordance with such regula-
tions as the Secretary may prescribe, an amount 
equal to the amount of such erroneous payment 
(without regard to whether any other amounts pay-
able to such State judicial branch or State agency 
under such paragraph have been paid to such State 
judicial branch or State agency).’’. 
(b) DISCLOSURE OF RETURN INFORMATION.—Sec-
tion 6103(l)(10) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
(relating to disclosure of certain information to agencies 
requesting a reduction under subsection (c), (d), (e), or 
(f) of section 6402) is amended by striking ‘‘or (f)’’ each 
place it appears in the text and heading and inserting ‘‘(f), 
or (g)’’. 
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(5) Section 6402(h) of such Code, as so redes-
ignated, is amended by striking ‘‘or (f)’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘(f), or (g)’’. 
(6) 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 Act shall apply to refunds payable for taxable years 
beginning after December 31, 2008. 
Æ 
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