Federal law allows states to collect income tax refund checks from parents who are behind in their child support.’If you and your spouse filed a joint federal tax return, and all or part of refund was intercepted to pay for your spouse’s past-due child support, you may be an injured spouse and may be eligible to file an Injured Spouse Claim with the I.R.S.’You can make an injured spouse claim if you are not legally obligated to pay the past-due child support, and if you made and reported income and payments, such as federal income tax withheld from your wages or estimated tax payments.’During the tax year, if you were a resident of Texas, a community property state, you are eligible to file for an Injured Spouse Claim even if you did not report any income and payments on your tax return.’You can make an Injured Spouse Claim by filing IRS Form 8379.’For each year that you meet the conditions of an injured spouse, you can file IRS Form 8379 with your joint tax return or amended joint tax return, or you can file it afterwards by itself.

Source for Post Houston Divorce and Family Law Attorney Blog.