Will My IRS Refund Be Garnished?

Every year, I hear people fretting about their refund. On the one hand they are excited to be receiving a relatively large refund, and excitedly anticipate what they will do with the money they receive. On the other hand, though, many of them can't help but wonder if there is some old debt out there that might crop up and take a chunk out of that money. Everyone hears a story about someone who had their entire IRS refund grabbed by some outside party, but there is a lot of misinformation out there about who can and will try to get a piece of your refund pie.

Also, by browsing online answer sites such as Yahoo Answers, you can find all sorts of conflicting answers to this question. What would seem to be a cut-and-dried kind of topic is turned into a confusing, befuddling brain teaser by the millions of kinds of advice on this topic. After wading through a lot of it, I was able to make some sense of it all which I am happy to share with you!

Firstly, only the U.S. federal government can directly intercept and seize all or part of your IRS refund. That debt collection company who keeps harassing you? Nope. The person who won a judgment against you in small claims court? Not a chance. Any one of these entities can try to get at that money once its deposited in your bank account, but they can not "intercept" the funds.

It's a different story when it comes to government debt, which includes student loans. If you are severely delinquent on student loans, the IRS can and will take as much of your refund to help the government satisfy the loan - even if it means taking all of the refund you were so excitedly waiting for. Another common government debt which often causes refund garnishment is back taxes, i.e. taxes owed from previous years. This only makes sense, since why should the IRS give you a refund when you never satisfied an old tax debt? It's not exactly a head-scratcher.

With all of the confusion out there on this subject, I was happy to stumble upon a very convenient 800 number which can quickly and easily put any worries you may have about possible garnishment to rest. By calling (800) 304-3107 and following the prompts, you can find out within minutes whether your refund is going to have a chunk missing - or be missing altogether.