Treasury targets Americans for their parents' old debts | The Compost Bin | Forums

How can they do this, they screw up and go after the kids? This is insanity, this is what happens when you have to pass a bill to see whats in it kind of crap

Mary Grice has been eagerly awaiting her tax return. But instead of a check she received a notice in the mail: All of her 2013 tax return - $4,462 - had been seized to make up for a government mistake back in 1977, the over payment of her mother's social security benefits.

"I was literally given the run around. They couldn't tell me who the over payment had been made to, how long ago, what the amount was. I mean there were literally no answers to my questions," said Grice. 

A change in the 2008 Farm Bill now makes it possible for the government to go after old debts by seizing tax refunds - from the children of those debtors.  And since Mary's mother passed away, the government is now going after Mary who was a child at the time the mistake was made.

"You take my money and don't notify me, that's not fair to me," said Grice. 

For now the Social Security administration is standing by its decision telling the Washington Post, "We have an obligation to current and future (Social Security) beneficiaries to attempt to recoup money that people received when it was not due."

Still there may be hope for people like Mary Grice who are now getting some support in Congress. Two Senators taking up her cause saying while these seized refunds "might be allowed under the law, it is entirely unjust."

http://www.kvue.com/.....51141.html