Whereas the National Council of Child Support Directors believes that the prompt distribution of child support collections is essential for families to provide for the basic necessities of children; and
Because states seek to comply with the provisions of the Social Security Act which requires states to distribute child support collections to families timely, and within two business days of receipt;
The NCCSD resolves and urges the federal office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services to implement procedures to transmit IRS and Administrative Offset collections to States within two business days of receipt of collections from the Department of Treasury.
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement assists States and coordinates the IRS and Administrative Offset processes with the Department of Treasury. On a weekly basis, the Department of Treasury transmits collections and case information to the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement for cases that have been intercepted under the IRS and Administrative Offset processes. The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement compiles and holds these weekly offset collections and collection detail information to transmit to the States once a month.
The monthly collection/transmittal process delays distribution of child support collections to families and creates administrative problems for States. If the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement transmitted the collections to the States within two business days of receipt, States would be able to distribute appropriate payments to families more expeditiously so they could provide for their basic needs and eliminate some hardships.
It would also alleviate some of the payment processing peaks for state IV-D agencies if transmittals of IRS and administrative offset payments were distributed to states weekly. Additionally many non-custodial parents make inquiries about the offset prior to the States receiving notice of the interception. More prompt distribution of intercepts to states will enable states to provide more consistent levels of customer service to non-custodial and custodial parents when these peaks in payment and information processing are alleviated during this busy time period. Transmittal of the collections and collections information within two business days will alleviate many problems associated with researching and resolving offset inquiries.