Can the woman that my husband has a child with take any of his money that he gets back from taxes?

Question

He pays child support and they take out 20% of his check. And he is not behind either. But we are just concerned that she may be able to take 20% of his tax return also. Because any income that he gets, she gets 20%, or at least that is what we thought.

It is a set amount. When they went to court, they looked at his income and took 20%. So he pays one set price every month. But if he gets a 2nd job, we feel she will be able to take 20% of that income as well.

Answer 1

SECOND ANSWER (per your additional info added later):
The set amount IS 20% or WAS 20%? Meaning, does it adjust with any increase in pay he gets or if the 20% was (example) $100 at the time, does it stay at $100? Was the 20% pre tax (gross) or after tax (net)?

If it is a before tax %, no money is owed.

If it is a % after tax and remains a % after tax, she is entitled to a % of the return because that is money that should not have gone to the IRS and should have been used in calculating the amount owed her.


FIRST ANSWER
YES. Since it appears to be a percentage rather than a set amount, he could "hide" money by overpaying his taxes and then get it back at the end of the year, a nice return on his investment. the IRS may not have a written mandate on file to withhold any amounts, but she is clearly within her rights to pursue the amount that should have gone to her but was sent to the IRS as tax payment.

Using any of the answers telling you "no". Let's say he makes 100 a week and sends it all to the IRS and lives off of your income. At the end of the year there is a huge refund but he never paid a penny to her, she is owed money and she can go after it.

Answer 2

Is the wage assignment for 20% of his gross or net wages? If it's gross, then she should not have any claim on his refund. If it's net, i.e., withholding taxes reduced the amount she received initially, then she may have a claim for 20% of the refund. It depends upon the terms of the child support order or agreement among other things.

Income tax refunds can be diverted to satisfy child support arrearages. However, if he is not behind in his payments, then this should not be an issue.

An income tax refund is not "income" but the return of tax withholding in excess of tax liability. It's like you overpaid your credit card and the bank sends you a check. A refund of state income tax may be considered taxable income for federal purposes, but only if you deducted the state tax on a prior year's federal return.

I just looked at your additional information. If there is an order for a fixed amount, then that is the amount he owes. If the 20% taken out of his check covers it, then he does not owe any more unless she gets a new court order. If the 20% doesn't cover his full obligation, then he has to make it up from other sources. If he fails to do that, there could be an arrearage that would result in diversion of his refund. Note that the full amount of the refund can be diverted if he owes that much to her.

Child support orders are not written in stone; they can be changed if circumstances change. They are usually based on the income of both parents, so if one parent's income changes, the amount of the order can be changed also.

Answer 3

When he went to court the court used 20% to "set" the dollar amount he must pay. I he makes a million from another source he does not increase the child support unless the mother of his child goes back to court and asks for a portion of his additional income. She will not get a portion of his tax return unless he falls behind and the governmental agency that collects child support in your state issues a lien on his return. I would not brag or do anything that would announce any windfall income unless you want the child support to increase.

Answer 4

Look at the terms of the support order. It's probably not written as "20%" but as an actual number that happens to equal 20%. If that's the case, then no, she cannot take any of the tax refund. If it really is listed as "20%" then it depends on if it is 20% pre-tax or 20% post-tax, and what the payments he's already made add up to.

Answer 5

If he were behind, she could ask the IRS to seize his entire return up to the amount his is in arrears. If he is not, she has no claim on his return at all. A second income does not automatically increase his child support. She could petition the court to modify the child support order based on an increase in his income.

Answer 6

The IRS will not automatically take the tax refund unless your husband is behind in paying child support (which you indicate is not the case).
The mother of his child - in theory - could take him back to court to obtain a share of his tax refunds but this is very uncommon.

For the sake of argument, IF your husband were behind in payments, YOU could have the 'injured spouse' form filled out and submitted with your joint tax return and that would serve to preserve your half of any refund and protect that from being taken by the IRS.

Answer 7

I would expect it is 20% of gross wages and that the income tax refund would not be able to be attached. I would not expect part of the refund to go to the child support, they have already received 20% of the gross number.

Answer 8

yes she can get money from his second job. he could take her back to court and get a set amount of money a month instead of a percent taken out of his check. I'm not sure she can get the tax return money if you file jointly you would have to call like H&R Block to find out for sure.

Answer 9

Its sucks I talked about a similar element previously i'm on the different end i became going to do a similar element and that i got here upon out they take them out of your taxes and that i became like cool i became going to pay it any way yet then I heard they carry it for six months it really is BS because they comprehend the youngster needs that. i imagine we are only surely screwed.

Answer 10

If he is not behind on his payments, then the IRS will not withhold any of his refund.
If he is behind and the matter has gone to court, then the court can authorize the IRS to keep his refund and send to the court for payment of back child support.