§ 171-T — Reciprocal offset agreements with the United States or other states

§ 171-t. Reciprocal offset agreements with the United States or other\nstates. (1) For the purposes of this section, the definitions provided\nfor in section one hundred seventy-one-n of this article apply together\nwith the following:\n (a) "Claimant" means any state or the United States that enters into a\nreciprocal agreement under this section or requests application of a\nvendor payment or an overpayment to a debt.\n (b) "Debt" means (i), for purposes of state debt, a "tax debt" as\ndefined in section one hundred seventy-one-n of this article and any\nother past due legally enforceable obligation owed to a state, which\narises from (A) an enforceable judgment of a court of competent\njurisdiction that is no longer subject to judicial review, or (B) an\nenforceable determination of an administrative body that is no longer\nsubject to administrative or judicial review, or (C) a determination\nthat has become final or finally and irrevocably fixed and no longer\nsubject to administrative or judicial review; or (ii), for purposes of\nfederal debt, debt means any amount of money, funds or property that has\nbeen determined by an appropriate official of the federal government to\nbe owed to the United States by a person, organization, or entity,\nexcept another federal agency, to the extent such amount is eligible for\noffset under federal law. The term includes debt administered by a third\nparty acting as an agent for the federal government.\n (c) "Debtor" means a person who owes a debt.\n (d) "Person" has the same meaning as that term has in subdivision (a)\nof section eleven hundred one of this chapter.\n (e) "Vendor payment" means any payment, other than an overpayment,\nmade by a state or the United States to any person, and includes but is\nnot limited to any expense reimbursement to an employee of the state or\nthe United States; but does not include a person's salary, wages or\npension.\n (2) The commissioner may, in his or her discretion, enter into a\ncollection and offset agreement with another state or with the United\nStates secretary of the treasury through the internal revenue service or\nthe financial management service of the department of the treasury of\nthe United States under which the commissioner, on behalf of the state\nof New York, may, in his or her discretion, agree to pay to a claimant\nowed a debt by a taxpayer or other person the whole or part of an\noverpayment or a vendor payment owed by the state to that taxpayer or\nother person, provided the claimant grants substantially similar\nprivileges to this state. However, the United States will not be\nrequired under this section to offset tax overpayments owed by it except\nto the extent that it agrees to do so. An agreement with the claimant\nmust specify that a taxpayer or any person owed a vendor payment will\nreceive thirty days advance written notice of the offset and will be\nprovided with an opportunity to present written or oral evidence about\nthe application of the overpayment or vendor payment to the debt. A\nproceeding for judicial review of the decision in the manner provided by\narticle seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules may be\ncommenced by a taxpayer or a person owed a vendor payment within four\nmonths after a copy of a decision adverse to the taxpayer or that person\nis mailed to the taxpayer or that person. Article forty of this chapter\ndoes not apply to any hearing or proceeding on whether an overpayment or\nvendor payment may be applied to a debt under this section. The remedy\nprovided by this section for review of hearings and proceedings is the\nexclusive remedy available to judicially determine whether an\noverpayment or vendor payment may be applied to a debt under this\nsection. The amount of a debt remaining due as certified by a claimant\nwill be prima facie evidence of the correct amount of a debt.\n (3) The commissioner will calculate the amount of an overpayment and\ninterest thereon that is to be credited against the amount of a past due\nlegally enforceable debt owed by a taxpayer which is certified to the\ndepartment for collection under this section using the rules in\nsubdivision five of section one hundred seventy-one-f of this article.\nIf a taxpayer or a person owes more than one debt which is certified to\nthe commissioner for collection under this section, any overpayment or\nvendor payment will be credited against the debts in the order in which\nthe debts accrued. A debt will be considered to have accrued at the time\nat which the debt became past due.\n (4) Notwithstanding any other law, the commissioner is authorized to\nrelease to a claimant taxpayer information for purposes of implementing\nand administering an agreement entered into between the claimant and\nthis state under this section.\n