Can unemployment take your taxes - NYS Department of Labor offset my refund?
I just found out that NYS Department of Labor took my entire tax refund this year! I got a letter saying they offset $2,800 from my state refund because of an overpayment from 2023. I thought I had paid that back already through my weekly deductions. Can they really just take your whole tax refund like this? I was counting on that money to catch up on bills. Has anyone else had NYS Department of Labor intercept their taxes? I'm really confused about how this works.
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Zainab Ismail
Yes, NYS Department of Labor can absolutely intercept your tax refunds for unemployment overpayments. This is called a tax offset and it's legal. They can take both state and federal refunds until the debt is paid off. You should have received notices about this before it happened. Check your benefit payment history on my.ny.gov to see if there's still an outstanding balance.
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Miguel Silva
•I did get some notices but I thought the weekly deductions were handling it. How do I check if there's still money owed?
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Connor O'Neill
same thing happened to me last year except they took my federal refund too. i was so mad because i needed that money for my kids. apparently once you owe them money they can keep taking your refunds until its all paid back
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Yara Nassar
The tax offset program is automatic once NYS Department of Labor certifies the debt to the state. You can dispute it if you believe the overpayment was calculated incorrectly, but you need to act fast. File an appeal within 30 days of the offset notice. Also, if you're experiencing financial hardship, you might be able to request a payment plan instead of future offsets.
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Keisha Robinson
•How do you file an appeal for a tax offset? Is it the same process as appealing the original overpayment determination?
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Yara Nassar
•No, it's different. You need to contact the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance for tax offset appeals, not NYS Department of Labor directly. But if you're disputing the underlying overpayment amount, that goes through NYS Department of Labor appeals.
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GalaxyGuardian
This is exactly why the unemployment system is broken. They'll take your money faster than they'll pay out legitimate claims. I've been waiting 6 weeks for my adjudication to clear but they can grab tax refunds instantly. If you can't get through to NYS Department of Labor directly, try using claimyr.com - they helped me reach an actual agent when I had issues with my overpayment calculation. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works.
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Paolo Ricci
•Never heard of that service before. Does it actually work for getting through to NYS Department of Labor?
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GalaxyGuardian
•Yeah it worked for me. Saved me hours of calling and getting hung up on. Worth it when you need to actually talk to someone about complicated stuff like overpayments.
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Amina Toure
Wait, I'm confused about something. If they're taking tax refunds, does that mean they can also garnish wages? I have an overpayment notice too but I'm back to work now.
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Zainab Ismail
Yes, NYS Department of Labor can garnish wages too, but tax offsets usually happen first because they're easier to process. Once you're working, they might send garnishment orders to your employer. The good news is there are limits on how much they can take from your paycheck - usually no more than 10% of your gross wages.
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