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Pub 218 Refund Interception Guide for Counties and Municipalities

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Pub 218 Refund Interception Guide for Counties and Municipalities State of Wisconsin Department of Revenue Refund Interception Guide for Counties and Municipalities Printed on Recycled Paper Publication 218 (12/09) Table of Contents Page I. GENERAL INFORMATION .................................................................................................... 1 A. Qualified Debts .................................................................................................................... 1 B. Common Questions And Concerns ...................................................................................... 1 II. PROCESSING INSTRUCTIONS ............................................................................................. 2 A. Applications ......................................................................................................................... 2 B. Certifying Debts ................................................................................................................... 2 C. Adjusting Debt Balances ..................................................................................................... 3 D. Payments .............................................................................................................................. 3 E. Overpayments ...................................................................................................................... 3 F. Reversals .............................................................................................................................. 3 G. Record Keeping ................................................................................................................... 3 H. Debtor Inquiries ................................................................................................................... 4 I. County/Municipality Responsibilities ................................................................................. 4 J. Appeal Rights ...................................................................................................................... 4 K. Debtor Notification .............................................................................................................. 5 L. Electronic Requirements ...................................................................................................... 6 M. Data Processing Schedule .................................................................................................... 6 N. Data Retention ..................................................................................................................... 6 APPENDIX AGENCY AGREEMENT ......................................................................................................... 7 AGENCY INFORMATION ...................................................................................................... 9 Refund Interception Guide for Counties and Municipalities If you have questions about whether your debts I. GENERAL INFORMATION qualify for this program, please consult your legal counsel. Section 71.935, Wis. Stats., permits the Wisconsin De- partment of Revenue (DOR) to intercept, or set off, B. Common Questions And Concerns taxpayer refunds and other refundable credits against certain county or municipality debts. This guide pro- 1. Will the Wisconsin Department of Revenue vides general information about the refund interception (DOR) provide ID numbers for debtors? program and contains specific procedures necessary to establish and maintain accounts for debtors. DOR uses both the name and social security number, federal identification number or op- All debts certified must be identified by the debtor's erator’s license number provided by the name and social security number, federal identification county or municipality for the debtor to assure number or operator’s license number, and must have a a proper match when a tax refund becomes balance of at least $20.00. Refund interceptions for available for intercept. To avoid incorrectly county or municipality debts will occur only after all intercepting a refund belonging to a non- amounts due DOR and other state agencies have been debtor taxpayer, the match is required on both satisfied. the name and ID number. To insure the integ- rity of this identification process, DOR Debts are established and maintained through file requires that the county or municipality pro- maintenance transferred electronically between DOR vide the ID to establish a debt. and the county or municipality. Debtor information is edited and compared to the DOR income tax history file 2. What kinds of debts are covered? and the county or municipality is notified whether the debt has been accepted for certification. Section 71.935, Wis. Stats., defines eligible debts as fines, fees, restitutions, forfeitures, cer- Counties or municipalities are notified weekly of tain parking tickets, any debt that has been amounts set off to debts. A check is sent weekly to the reduced to a judgment, and debts for which the county or municipality for the full amount intercepted debtor has been provided reasonable notice and for that period. After each calendar quarter, DOR the opportunity to be heard, including debts re- sends a settlement report to each agency that summa- lated to property taxes. Counties and rizes the financial activity for their account for that municipalities are responsible for determining if quarter. a debt qualifies under this statute. Only quali- fied debts may be certified to DOR for tax A. Qualified Debts intercept and the county or municipality is re- sponsible for any appeal or legal action To be eligible for this program, debts must be at contesting the interception. least $20.00 and fall into one of the following cat- egories: 3. What appeal provisions apply and how are disputed claims handled? • An unpaid fine, fee, restitution, or forfeiture. • An unpaid parking ticket for which there was The certifying county or municipality must no- no court appearance by the date specified in the tify the debtor, in writing, within five days of its citation or, if no court date was specified, that is certification of the debt to DOR. This notifica- unpaid for at least 28 days. tion shall include the basis of the certification and the debtor's right to appeal, if any. Appeal • Any debt that has been reduced to a judgment. rights are to be established by the county or • Any debt for which the county or municipality municipality. has provided the debtor reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard, including debt relat- ed to property taxes. 1 Publication 218 4. What should be done in the case of bank- If an overpayment occurs, it is the responsibil- ruptcy? ity of the county or municipality to issue any refund, including the administrative fee, to the Once a debtor has filed for protection under taxpayer. the bankruptcy code, the county or municipal- ity's right to a refund interception may be 8. How is the taxpayer notified that their re- limited. Please contact your legal advisor if fund was intercepted? this situation arises and inactivate your debts if necessary. The county or municipality is re- DOR mails a setoff notice to the taxpayer in sponsible for refunding any monies during a lieu of their refund check, or in addition to any bankruptcy stay. amounts that are left after setoff. This notice in- cludes the name and contact information for 5. What is the priority of debts? each agency that received monies from the re- fund, and is mailed the same day that DOR Tax refund intercepts are applied to debts in the mails the agency their weekly remittance. following order: • Debts owed to DOR. II. PROCESSING INSTRUCTIONS • Debts certified by other state agencies un- A. Applications der sec. 71.93, Wis. Stats., in the order certified. These include child support Counties or municipalities intending to participate debts certified by the Department of Chil- in DOR's refund interception program must com- dren and Families. plete and submit an "Application for Tax Refund • Debts certified by counties and municipali- Intercepts for County/Municipality Debts". The ap- ties under sec. 71.935, Wis. Stats., in the plication requires a contact name for operational order certified. issues and questions, and a contact name for debtor inquiries. Unless the same person performs these • Debts owed to the federal government un- duties, a name and a phone number must be provid- der sec. 73.03(52), Wis. Stats., in the order ed for each type of contact. An application may be certified. found on pages 7-11 of this guide. DOR acknowl- edges receipt of the application and assigns the 6. When is the administrative fee charged? county or municipality a unique identification num- ber to use when transmitting data to the department. The taxpayer is charged a fee, currently $5.00, for each amount that is intercepted from their At least one county or municipality representative refund, at the time the interception(s) occur. For must also obtain a Web Access Management Sys- instance, if a refund is applied to three separate tem (WAMS) user ID and password to access the debts, the taxpayer is charged a total of $15.00 TRIP system. Registration information for these ($5.00 per debt) in administrative fees. IDs can be found at www.revenue.wi.gov/ise/trip/register.html. Once 7. What about changes in a balance or over- a WAMS user ID is obtained, the user must re- payment? quest authorization to access the agency account. The participating county or municipality uses B. Certifying Debts file maintenance to reduce debt balances to re- flect
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