shockedcanadian
Diamond Member
- Aug 6, 2012
- 29,663
- 26,874
Sounds like a reasonable and compassionate decision.
U.S. to stop seizing tax refunds to pay off old family debt
After three years of complaints and pressure from taxpayers, the federal government will stop seizing the tax refunds of Americans whose long-dead parents had incurred debts to Social Security many years earlier.
In an emergency message to its staff late Friday, the Treasury Department announced that it will immediately stop confiscating money from hundreds of thousands of people whose forebears had been overpaid by Social Security decades earlier.
The change, which applied only to debts from 2002 or earlier, follows Washington Post articles that chronicled the impact of the seizures on taxpayers who never knew that their parents had had debts to the government.
“I’m glad the government is stepping up to the plate to give back the money to tens of thousands of people, even though they were taking the position in litigation that they didn’t have to give it back,” said Robert Vogel, the Washington lawyer who represented a number of the affected taxpayers in a years-long lawsuit aimed at reversing the collection policy. About 65,000 people will be eligible for a total of about $56 million in refunds.
The confiscations began after a one-line change in the farm bill in 2008 allowed the government to take tax refunds from citizens whose parents had incurred debts to Uncle Sam at least 10 years earlier.
Mary Grice has lived in the same apartment in Takoma Park, Md., since 1984 but had never received any notice about a debt. Then, in 2014, the U.S. government intercepted Grice’s federal and state tax refunds and sent her a letter saying it was keeping the money to pay off her late father’s $2,996 debt.
Grice was 4 years old when her father died. Grice has four siblings, but the government went after her money because its policy is to start with the oldest sibling and work down through the family until the debt is paid.
Grice was one of six people whose refunds were seized who filed suit against the government in 2014. The government fought hard to get the case dismissed, granting most of the plaintiffs waivers from the collection program and refunding their money. Government lawyers then argued that the case should be thrown out because the plaintiffs had no further grounds for complaint.
U.S. to stop seizing tax refunds to pay off old family debt
After three years of complaints and pressure from taxpayers, the federal government will stop seizing the tax refunds of Americans whose long-dead parents had incurred debts to Social Security many years earlier.
In an emergency message to its staff late Friday, the Treasury Department announced that it will immediately stop confiscating money from hundreds of thousands of people whose forebears had been overpaid by Social Security decades earlier.
The change, which applied only to debts from 2002 or earlier, follows Washington Post articles that chronicled the impact of the seizures on taxpayers who never knew that their parents had had debts to the government.
“I’m glad the government is stepping up to the plate to give back the money to tens of thousands of people, even though they were taking the position in litigation that they didn’t have to give it back,” said Robert Vogel, the Washington lawyer who represented a number of the affected taxpayers in a years-long lawsuit aimed at reversing the collection policy. About 65,000 people will be eligible for a total of about $56 million in refunds.
The confiscations began after a one-line change in the farm bill in 2008 allowed the government to take tax refunds from citizens whose parents had incurred debts to Uncle Sam at least 10 years earlier.
Mary Grice has lived in the same apartment in Takoma Park, Md., since 1984 but had never received any notice about a debt. Then, in 2014, the U.S. government intercepted Grice’s federal and state tax refunds and sent her a letter saying it was keeping the money to pay off her late father’s $2,996 debt.
Grice was 4 years old when her father died. Grice has four siblings, but the government went after her money because its policy is to start with the oldest sibling and work down through the family until the debt is paid.
Grice was one of six people whose refunds were seized who filed suit against the government in 2014. The government fought hard to get the case dismissed, granting most of the plaintiffs waivers from the collection program and refunding their money. Government lawyers then argued that the case should be thrown out because the plaintiffs had no further grounds for complaint.
