What does this letter from the State of Kansas mean?

It means the state of Kansas intends to seize your income tax refund, or any other money you receive from the federal government. I didn’t realize that federal payments were susceptible to seizure by the states. Though I know folks on the right have been raging for years to confiscate the money due “deadbeat” dads and those delinquent on their alimony payments. There seems to be no end to the relentless drive to fk over the poor.

Well, to me it sounded like they were going to give it to the feds, kind of like the feds were going to buy out the loan.

I would assume they’d deduct from any refund we might get, just as I’m assuming that they’ll deduct from any return the debt we owe to the feds and that wouldn’t bother me.

Plus it says “pay within 60 days,” so that’s way before tax time. Sounds to me like they want it paid by the end of the year. If that’s the case, why in the hell didn’t they set me up on payments that would do that? Why the threat?

I just don’t get why they sent it.

Also, I don’t feel like I’m getting F’d over. I screwed up last year, and that’s why we owe. My fault.

Brownback and his ilk have screwed the state into such a hole that desperate measures are now required. Consistent with his tireless efforts to enshrine Kansas as the paradigm monument to hillbilly logic, it is once more decided that the state should be pulled from the hole exclusively by those who can least afford it. The conservative campaign to maintain the state as the nation’s perpetual joke continues with no sign of abatement, as all with talent and intellect flee the place in droves.

I’m going to steal that if you don’t mind.

be my guest. Good luck, and let us know if you manage to escape.

It would be so nice if I had a job. There are hundreds out there, but most of them are heavy equipment and OTR truck drivers.

What I don’t understand is, THEY set up the payment plan. THEY told me the minimum I needed to pay every month, and I’ve honored that.

This kind of pisses me off. What’s with the penalties and fees? For what?

It might merely be a mistake. The state has no money, and the bureaucratic consequences are manifest. You could probably tell them you’ve paid the debt, or better still, that the state owes you money, and they wouldn’t know one way or another. I really am curious as to what you might discover once you have talked to someone. By the way, that “talking to someone” business might not turn out as easy as you might expect.

Those heavy equipment jobs——if you can drive an SUV, you can handle them. Get a license before the DMV is shut down for lack of funds.

Actually, I’ve found the state pretty easy to work with, compared to the night mare that is the IRS.

That’s subject to change, and rather quickly as cutbacks inevitably demoralize and stress out the resulting understaffed overworked civil servants.

I’ll let ya know.

Yeah, it sounds like the state is planning on garnishing your federal income tax refund. States can do that. I’ve never heard of the federal “buying” an individual’s debt to the state though.

We ended up owing the feds this year. We fixed our tax status, so we should get a refund…which I assume the IRS will then garnish.

“If you do not pay the balance due withing 60 days from the date of this notice, we will submit the unpaid balance to the United States Department of Treasury, Treasury Offset Program, and any federal payments you receive may be applied toward the balance due (including all federal fees) until paid in full.

It just pisses me off! THEY’RE the ones who told how much I needed to pay every month.

It sounds like an error to me. You’ll call, they’ll fix it.

It sounds like one hand doesn’t know what the other side is doing. So one side has set up a payment plan, the other isn’t aware of it or hasn’t noticed it. Call them and talk to them and I’m sure it can all be resolved.

@Dutchess_III Be sure to document everything. Do you think you can come up with the original paperwork from the original agreement? If you can’t, it’s basically your word against theirs.

Well, it’s in their system. I call in my payment every month. They pull it up and say, “Ok, $103.47, right?”
I always say “Round it off to $104.

Yeah. $62 in “penalty and fees.” Da hell? What penalties? They charge a separate amount of $18 for interest.

I’ll let you know tomorrow.

@Dutchess_III Right. You call in your payment. _They pull it up and say_whatever they say, but it’s not documented, except for the history of your payment. Now if the people you call can send a document showing the agreement, you’ve got something to show a judge if it comes to that.

However, this letter that came out of the blue should have had some “warning letters” leading up to it, and you didn’t get any. The people who sent it out should be able to prove they’ve sent them too. At least in a perfect world.

Anyway, it will be interesting to hear what’s up. In my experience it’s more often that the govmint screws you than helps you. I hope it goes well for you.

Well, I get confirmation of the payments via email.

Update. It doesn’t mean much. Called them, got right through. She said it just means that if I don’t pay it off by December 14th, they’re giving me notice that they’ll attach any return I might get from the feds. If I don’t get any return, nothing will happen.
I verified that nothing will be reported on my credit. She said, no, as long as I continue to make the payments.
Also, the $62 in “penalties and fees” is the total amount due for the length of the “loan.” It’s not added on every month.

And now for the IRS. “Your hold time will be between 30 and 60 minutes.”

I’m looking at my statement. Per them I owe $80 a month. But shit…I have over $110 accruing in “penalties and fees,” and interest so my balance is going UP.

That’s a rip.

What I don’t understand is this – if you already negotiated payments, why are you only finding out now that there are penalties? Didn’t they already tell you that this would happen if your payment schedule exceeded a certain time limit?

Is commandeering your tax refund just business as usual, and you were aware of it all along? Why was that a surprise? I guess I would have expected it if I were in your position, and I think you might have mentioned that somewhere above. It just seems odd to me that if you are spending a lot of time talking about this repayment with them on the phone, you wouldn’t have asked them if they were going to do this when refund time came around.

Well, when they set it up up they said that $104 was the minimum to get it paid in time so that they didn’t have to use something I own as collateral. I don’t know. It just sucks.

I have always assumed that it you owe money to the government, either state or federal, that they’d take your tax return.

I. Have. Been. On. Hold. For. An. Hour. With. The. IRS.

@Dutchess_III _“I have always assumed that it you owe money to the government, either state or federal, that they’d take your tax return.”

Yeah, it just makes sense, rather than the same money having to pass back and forth.

“I. Have. Been. On. Hold. For. An. Hour. With. The. IRS.”

:(

Time to ask some new questions?

Rant would be more like it!

You’ll have to use your imagination instead. ;)

I asked. :)

@Dutchess_III If you can’t get someone with a beating heart to talk to over the phone, can you go to an IRS office somewhere? Even if you had to travel, at least you should be able to find a real live person to talk to there.

They don’t have one around here. They used to, but not any more.

If they won’t answer the phone, it might be time to lawyer up. I hope it’s all a misunderstanding.

The nice lady I spoke with suggested I not call on Mondays. They’re just slammed on Mondays. Also, there is some October deadline that people have been hitting so they’ve been busier than normal.

So do you have to pay the man the lump sum, or can you continue as you have been? Did someone mess up, or not?

No, it’s just a thing. Just a computer generated letter. All it means is they’ll attach my federal return, if I have one, if I still owe them money then. If I don’t get a return, nothing will happen.
I imagine they sent it out to everyone who still owes the state.