Will WA state take my tax refund to pay for ESD overpayment debt?

YES they absolutely can and WILL take your refund! Happened to me last year. They took my entire federal tax refund of $2,200 and I never even got a warning letter about it! The worst part is I was appealing the overpayment decision and they took it anyway. The ESD system is completly rigged against regular people.

The previous comment isn't fully accurate. Here's how it actually works with ESD overpayments and tax refunds: 1. ESD doesn't directly take your tax refund - they refer the debt to the Department of Revenue (DOR) for collection if it remains unpaid after a certain period (usually 30-90 days after final determination) 2. DOR can intercept your state tax refunds through the Treasury Offset Program, but only after sending you multiple notices 3. For federal tax refunds, they need to refer it to the IRS, which requires additional steps and typically only happens with older debts The best approach is to immediately request a payment plan through your eServices account or by calling ESD. Payment plans can stretch the repayment over 36-48 months depending on the amount. This will prevent them from sending it to collections as long as you stick to the plan. You should also consider filing an appeal if you believe the overpayment was incorrectly determined. You have 30 days from the date on your overpayment notice to file an appeal.

i had something similar happen but they only took my state refund not federal. the letter i got said something about me having 30 days to appeal or setup payment plan before they reported to collections. check the fine print on ur notice

I went through this exact situation in 2022 with an overpayment of around $4,200. Here's what I learned that might help you: 1. ESD offers payment plans that are actually pretty reasonable. I was able to spread my payments over 36 months with no interest charges. The minimum payment they wanted was about $120/month in my case. 2. If you set up a payment plan and stay current on it, they won't send your debt to collections or attempt to garnish tax refunds. 3. You can request a waiver for financial hardship if repaying would cause severe financial difficulties. I didn't qualify, but I know people who did and had portions of their overpayment forgiven. 4. MOST IMPORTANT: Getting through to ESD by phone is nearly impossible these days. After wasting hours on hold for weeks, I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an ESD agent within 20 minutes. They have a demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. It was worth it because the agent helped me set up everything quickly. Don't wait too long to address this - being proactive with ESD always works better than waiting for collections to start.

they might not take ur refund if u appeal the overpayment decision! u have 30 days from when u got the letter to file appeal. go to the OAH website and file it online its pretty easy

Just wondering...how did they determine you were overpaid? Did you get paid for weeks you were actually working or was it something else? I'm worried the same thing might happen to me because I had some part-time hours while on UI last year and I'm not sure if I reported everything exactly right.

This happened to me too!!! They took both my state AND federal refunds last year for an overpayment from 2022!!! I never even knew they could do that until it happened! I was counting on that money for rent and had to borrow from family. The whole system is rigged to punish people who are already struggling. Once ESD decides you owe them, good luck getting any fair treatment. They don't care if it was their mistake or if you can't afford to pay.

Have you tried calling the ESD collections department directly? Their number should be on your overpayment notice. They're actually more helpful than the regular ESD phone line in my experience. I had an overpayment last year and they were willing to work with me on a payment plan that fit my budget.

also check if ur overpayment is fraud or non-fraud cuz they treat them different. non-fraud ones (honest mistakes) are easier to get on payment plans

Just a quick update - I saw your question about whether they asked for proof of income for the payment plan. In my case, they didn't require documentation upfront, but they did ask about my current income and expenses during the phone call to determine what monthly payment would be reasonable. If you're struggling to get through on the phone, I really do recommend trying Claimyr. It saved me literally days of frustration trying to reach someone at ESD.

One more thing to consider: if you believe the overpayment was due to an ESD error rather than anything you did wrong, you can request a waiver. According to WAC 192-220-030, ESD may waive an overpayment if it would be against "equity and good conscience" to require repayment. This is separate from an appeal (which challenges whether the overpayment exists at all) and is worth looking into if you truly couldn't have prevented the overpayment situation.