Q about Tax Refund Interception North Carolina

[IOP]

The state agency my husband works for claimed last year that he has a debt and want him to pay it back – we’ve been disputing it ever since, because it is ridiculous and false. But because he did not repay the “debt” right away, the state agency intercepted our tax refund last year. We’ve hired a lawyer since then to help us out with the situation, however since we haven’t settled anything yet and haven’t paid any money to the agency, we feel pretty sure they’re going to intercept our tax refund again this year.

Last year we adopted a baby and became new parents. Because of the adoption and also claiming a dependent now we’re probably going to receive a larger tax refund this year than normal, and we could really use that money and do not want them to take it.

Is it possible (or would it make any difference) for my husband and I file separately this year and for me to claim all of the adoption expenses and the child so that they don’t take all of our refund? If we filed separately could they intercept both of our refunds? Or, does anybody have any suggestions on what we can/should do? I appreciate any thoughts or words of advice anyone would like to share.

Thank you!
IOP

[LdiJ]

The state agency my husband works for claimed last year that he has a debt and want him to pay it back – we’ve been disputing it ever since, because it is ridiculous and false. But because he did not repay the “debt” right away, the state agency intercepted our tax refund last year. We’ve hired a lawyer since then to help us out with the situation, however since we haven’t settled anything yet and haven’t paid any money to the agency, we feel pretty sure they’re going to intercept our tax refund again this year.

Last year we adopted a baby and became new parents. Because of the adoption and also claiming a dependent now we’re probably going to receive a larger tax refund this year than normal, and we could really use that money and do not want them to take it.

Is it possible (or would it make any difference) for my husband and I file separately this year and for me to claim all of the adoption expenses and the child so that they don’t take all of our refund? If we filed separately could they intercept both of our refunds? Or, does anybody have any suggestions on what we can/should do? I appreciate any thoughts or words of advice anyone would like to share.

Thank you!
IOP

You can run the numbers both ways to see if it makes any sense to do that. They would not be able to intercept your separate refund.

[IOP]

Thank you for the response.

On a similar note, do you know if it is possible for a state agency to intercept both State and Federal tax refunds, or only the state refund? And, is there any way to find out before filing taxes if the refund is going to be intercepted? If so, how? Thanks so much.