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Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to DSHS Economic Services Administration's Frequently Asked Questions!
When DCS initiates collection action an employer or business has twenty days to answer the Notice of Payroll Deduction or Order to Withhold and Deliver. The employer or business has seven days to send the withheld support to DCS. The law requires DCS to send the Custodial Parent support within two working days after receipt.
When an employer refuses to cooperate with a withholding action, DCS may have to begin noncompliance action against the employer. We start the formal action by sending a Notice of Noncompliance to the employer. This additional legal process can take an additional month or more. For more information refer to the Employer and Income Withholding Information page on the DCS web site.
Also please see Notice and Finding of Financial Responsibility in FAQ question topics.
When a non-custodial parent has more than one case with DCS, the law tells DCS how to split up a support payment between cases. It is based on a percent-of-total basis.
Current support is paid first. If a payment does not equal the total amount owed for all the non-custodial parent's cases, DCS divides the payment proportionately. Once current support for the month is paid, DCS applies amounts over current support to back support owed.
IRS tax refund intercept payments are an exception to this rule. These payments may only be applied to back support owed, and they are always applied to state debt owed before debt owed to the custodial parent.
Between October 1, 2008, and June 30, 2010, DCS applied IRS tax refund collections to both current support and arrears. These collections applied first to the debt owed to the custodial parent and then to state debt.
Beginning July 1, 2010, DCS applies tax-refund offset collections to debt as it did before October 1, 2008. This change back to the pre-October 2008 distribution rules is based on budget decisions made by the Washington State Legislature during the 2010 session.
Back support payments are also proportioned based on a percent of total. If you received public assistance in another state that has asked DCS to collect back support, that case will receive a percent of the back support payment. When DCS is providing payment processing services only (PSO) on one of the cases, the non-custodial parent must send payments and indicate that a payment is for the PSO case only. Otherwise, DCS will apply payments proportionately to the non-PSO cases.
Also please see Notice and Finding of Financial Responsibility in FAQ question topics.