TITLE 48 REVENUE AND TAXATION

Section 7. Income Taxes, 48-7-1 through 48-7-170.

ARTICLE 7 SETOFF DEBT COLLECTION

48-7-161. Definitions.

As used in this article, the term:

(.1) "Administrative Office of the Courts" means entity created pursuant to Code Section 15-5-22.

1. "Claimant agency" means and includes, in the order of priority set forth below:
   1. The Department of Human Services and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities with respect to collection of debts under Article 1 of Chapter 11 of Title 19, Code Section 49-4-15, and Chapter 9 of Title 37;
   2. The Georgia Student Finance Authority with respect to the collection of debts arising under Part 3 of Article 7 of Chapter 3 of Title 20;
   3. The Georgia Higher Education Assistance Corporation with respect to the collection of debts arising under Part 2 of Article 7 of Chapter 3 of Title 20;
   4. The Georgia Board for Physician Workforce with respect to the collection of debts arising under Part 6 of Article 7 of Chapter 3 of Title 20;
   5. The Department of Labor with respect to the collection of debts arising under Code Sections 34-8-254 and 34-8-255 and Article 5 of Chapter 8 of Title 34, with the exception of Code Sections 34-8-158 through 34-8-161; provided, however, that the Department of Labor establishes that the debtor has been afforded required due process rights by such Department of Labor with respect to the debt and all reasonable collection efforts have been exhausted;
   6. The Department of Community Supervision with respect to probation fees arising under Code Section 42-8-34 and restitution or reparation ordered by a court as a part of the sentence imposed on a person convicted of a crime who is in the legal custody of the Department of Corrections or the Department of Community Supervision;
   7. The Department of Juvenile Justice with respect to restitution imposed on a juvenile for a delinquent act which would constitute a crime if committed by an adult;
   8. The Georgia Lottery Corporation with respect to proceeds arising under Code Section 50-27-21; and
   9. The State Road and Tollway Authority with respect to collection of amounts determined by the Office of State Administrative Hearings as due and payable for violations of subsection (c) of Code Section 32-10-64.
2. "Court" means all trial courts in this state, including but not limited to the superior, state, juvenile, magistrate, probate, and municipal courts, whether called mayor's courts, recorder's courts, police courts, civil courts, or traffic courts, and miscellaneous and special courts.
3. "Debt" means:
   1. Any liquidated sum due and owing any claimant agency, which sum has accrued through contract, subrogation, tort, or operation of law regardless of whether there is an outstanding judgment for the sum, any sum which is due and owing any person and is enforceable by the Department of Human Services pursuant to subsection (b) of Code Section 19-11-8, or any sum of restitution or reparation due pursuant to a sentence imposed on a person convicted of a crime and sentenced to restitution or reparation and probation; or
   2. Any liquidated sum that constitutes any and all court costs, surcharges, and fines for which there is an outstanding court judgment.
4. "Debtor" means any individual owing money to or having a delinquent account with any claimant agency or court, which obligation has not been adjudicated as satisfied by court order, set aside by court order, or discharged in bankruptcy.
5. "Refund" means the Georgia income tax refund which the department determines to be due any individual taxpayer.

(Code 1933, § 91A-4102, enacted by Ga. L. 1980, p. 1555, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 785, § 10; Ga. L. 1986, p. 825, § 1; Ga. L. 1988, p. 937, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 139, § 2; Ga. L. 2000, p. 136, § 48; Ga. L. 2004, p. 148, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 88, § 7/HB 172; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 2-21/HB 228; Ga. L. 2011, p. 459, § 5/HB 509; Ga. L. 2014, p. 56, § 1/HB 1000; Ga. L. 2015, p. 422, § 5-99/HB 310; Ga. L. 2015, p. 909, § 1/HB 275; Ga. L. 2018, p. 152, § 2/HB 150.)

The 2015 amendments. The first 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, in subparagraph (1)(F), substituted "Department of Community Supervision" for "Department of Corrections" and substituted "Department of Corrections or Department of Community Supervision; and" for "department;" at the end; deleted former subparagraph (1)(G), which read: "The State Board of Pardons and Paroles with respect to restitution imposed on a person convicted of a crime and subject to the jurisdiction of the board; and"; and redesignated former subparagraph (1)(H) as present subparagraph (1)(G). See Editor's notes for applicability. The second 2015 amendment, effective May 6, 2015, deleted "and" at the end of subparagraph (1)(G); substituted "; and" for a period at the end of subparagraph (1)(H); and added subparagraph (1)(I).

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, deleted "and" at the end of subparagraph (1)(G), substituted "; and" for a period at the end of subparagraph (1)(H), and added subparagraph (1)(I).