A. The purpose of the Tax Refund Intercept Program Act is to comply with state and federal law:

(1) by enhancing the enforcement of child support and medical support obligations;

(2) to aid collection of outstanding debts owed for:

(a) overpayment of public assistance and overissuance of food stamps;

(b) overpayment of unemployment compensation benefits and nonpayment of contributions or payments in lieu of contributions or other amounts due under the Unemployment Compensation Law [Chapter 51 NMSA 1978];

(c) nonpayment of reimbursements owed to the uninsured employers' fund under the Workers' Compensation Act [Chapter 52, Article 1 NMSA 1978]; and

(d) nonpayment of the workers' compensation fee due under the Workers' Compensation Administration Act [Chapter 52, Article 5 NMSA 1978];

(3) to promote repayment of educational loans;

(4) to aid collection of fines, fees and costs owed to the district, magistrate and municipal courts;

(5) to aid collection of fines, fees and costs owed to the Bernalillo county metropolitan court; and

(6) to aid in the payment to the state investment officer of film production tax credit amounts owed to the state investment officer due to loans made against the credit pursuant to Subsection D of Section 7-27-5.26 NMSA 1978.

B. Efforts to accomplish the purpose of the Tax Refund Intercept Program Act may be enhanced by establishing a system to collect debts, in particular, outstanding child support obligations, educational loans, amounts due under the Unemployment Compensation Law, the Workers' Compensation Act and the Workers' Compensation Administration Act, fines, fees and costs owed to the district, magistrate and municipal courts, film production tax credit amounts owed to the state investment officer and fines, fees and costs owed to the Bernalillo county metropolitan court, by setting off the amount of such debts against the state income tax refunds or film production tax credit amounts due the debtors.

History: Laws 1985, ch. 106, § 2; 1987, ch. 125, § 1; 1988, ch. 49, § 1; 1991, ch. 184, § 1; 1993, ch. 261, § 2; 1994, ch. 76, § 1; 1997, ch. 210, § 1; 2005, ch. 101, § 1; 2006, ch. 52, § 1; 2006, ch. 53, § 1.

The 2006 amendment, effective May 17, 2006, added Subparagraphs (c) and (d) of Paragraph (2) of Subsection A, which provided that the act is to aid collection of outstanding debts owed for nonpayment of reimbursements owed to the uninsured employers' fund under the Workers' Compensation Act and workers' compensation fees due under the Workers' Compensation Administration Act; and in Subsection B, added amounts due under the Workers' Compensation Act and the Workers' Compensation Administration Act.

Duplicate laws. — Laws 2006, ch. 52, § 1 and Laws 2006, ch. 53, § 1 enacted identical amendments to this section. The section was set out as amended by Laws 2006, ch. 53, § 1. See 12-1-8 NMSA 1978.

Applicability. — Laws 2006, ch. 53, § 5, effective May 17, 2006, provided that Laws 2006, ch. 53, § 1 apply to tax refunds issued on or after January 1, 2007.

The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, added Subsection A(6), which provided that a purpose of the Tax Refund Intercept Program Act is to comply with state and federal law to aid in the payment to the state investment officer of film production tax credit amounts owed to the state investment officer due to a loan made against the credit; and in Subsection B, added that the purpose may be enhanced by establishing a system to collect film production tax credit amounts owed to the state investment officer and amounts owed to Bernalillo County metropolitan court by setting off the amount of such debts against the film production tax credit amounts.

The 1997 amendment, effective June 20, 1997, substituted "district, magistrate and municipal courts" for "magistrate courts" in Paragraph A(4) and near the middle of Subsection B.

The 1994 amendment, effective March 4, 1994, inserted "and medical support" in Paragraph A(1).

The 1993 amendment, effective July 1, 1993, rewrote the section, adding subsection and paragraph designations and adding Paragraphs (4) and (5) to Subsection A.

The 1991 amendment, effective January 1, 1992, inserted the provisions relating to collection of amounts due under the Unemployment Compensation Law.