Tax refund offsets are authorized reductions to tax refunds that the tax filer may be entitled to, but which are not paid to them since they have past due debts. This process of intercepting income tax refunds is a debt collection tool that allows the lending institution/government to collect income tax refunds from individuals who owe the lending institution or federal government to help repay their outstanding debt.  

If you have campus-based loans that are in default status, the California Franchise Tax Board will have the right to intercept/offset your tax refund, which means that some or all of your tax refund would go toward paying your defaulted student loans.   

Moreover, if you have federal student loan that are in default status, the Department of Education may request that your tax refund be garnished by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which means that some or all of your tax refund would go toward paying your defaulted student loans.  

In order to avoid this to happen to you, make sure that you stay on top of your student loan payments. Should you have any questions or are experiencing financial hardship, please contact us, Heartland ECSI (https://heartland.ecsi.net/) or your Federal Loan Servicers (https://studentaid.gov/).