N.Y. Tax Law § 171-t: Reciprocal offset agreements with the United States or other states

§ 171-t. Reciprocal offset agreements with the United States or other

states. (1) For the purposes of this section, the definitions provided

for in section one hundred seventy-one-n of this article apply together

with the following:

(a) "Claimant" means any state or the United States that enters into a

reciprocal agreement under this section or requests application of a

vendor payment or an overpayment to a debt.

(b) "Debt" means (i), for purposes of state debt, a "tax debt" as

defined in section one hundred seventy-one-n of this article and any

other past due legally enforceable obligation owed to a state, which

arises from (A) an enforceable judgment of a court of competent

jurisdiction that is no longer subject to judicial review, or (B) an

enforceable determination of an administrative body that is no longer

subject to administrative or judicial review, or (C) a determination

that has become final or finally and irrevocably fixed and no longer

subject to administrative or judicial review; or (ii), for purposes of

federal debt, debt means any amount of money, funds or property that has

been determined by an appropriate official of the federal government to

be owed to the United States by a person, organization, or entity,

except another federal agency, to the extent such amount is eligible for

offset under federal law. The term includes debt administered by a third

party acting as an agent for the federal government.

(c) "Debtor" means a person who owes a debt.

(d) "Person" has the same meaning as that term has in subdivision (a)

of section eleven hundred one of this chapter.

(e) "Vendor payment" means any payment, other than an overpayment,

made by a state or the United States to any person, and includes but is

not limited to any expense reimbursement to an employee of the state or

the United States; but does not include a person's salary, wages or

pension.

(2) The commissioner may, in his or her discretion, enter into a

collection and offset agreement with another state or with the United

States secretary of the treasury through the internal revenue service or

the financial management service of the department of the treasury of

the United States under which the commissioner, on behalf of the state

of New York, may, in his or her discretion, agree to pay to a claimant

owed a debt by a taxpayer or other person the whole or part of an

overpayment or a vendor payment owed by the state to that taxpayer or

other person, provided the claimant grants substantially similar

privileges to this state. However, the United States will not be

required under this section to offset tax overpayments owed by it except

to the extent that it agrees to do so. An agreement with the claimant

must specify that a taxpayer or any person owed a vendor payment will

receive thirty days advance written notice of the offset and will be

provided with an opportunity to present written or oral evidence about

the application of the overpayment or vendor payment to the debt. A

proceeding for judicial review of the decision in the manner provided by

article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules may be

commenced by a taxpayer or a person owed a vendor payment within four

months after a copy of a decision adverse to the taxpayer or that person

is mailed to the taxpayer or that person. Article forty of this chapter

does not apply to any hearing or proceeding on whether an overpayment or

vendor payment may be applied to a debt under this section. The remedy

provided by this section for review of hearings and proceedings is the

exclusive remedy available to judicially determine whether an

overpayment or vendor payment may be applied to a debt under this

section. The amount of a debt remaining due as certified by a claimant

will be prima facie evidence of the correct amount of a debt.

(3) The commissioner will calculate the amount of an overpayment and

interest thereon that is to be credited against the amount of a past due

legally enforceable debt owed by a taxpayer which is certified to the

department for collection under this section using the rules in

subdivision five of section one hundred seventy-one-f of this article.

If a taxpayer or a person owes more than one debt which is certified to

the commissioner for collection under this section, any overpayment or

vendor payment will be credited against the debts in the order in which

the debts accrued. A debt will be considered to have accrued at the time

at which the debt became past due.

(4) Notwithstanding any other law, the commissioner is authorized to

release to a claimant taxpayer information for purposes of implementing

and administering an agreement entered into between the claimant and

this state under this section.