The Minnesota Department of Revenue may take (“intercept”) payments made to individuals and businesses that provide goods and services to the State of Minnesota. Individuals and businesses are considered the vendor and the state the agency. View the statute (Minnesota Statutes, section 270C.65)
Intercepted payments are applied to delinquent debts of the vendor. Debts within 10 years of the original assessment date qualify for vendor offset. All referrals are done electronically via the Statewide Integrated Financial Tools (SWIFT) system.
The department may intercept payments from:
- Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS)
- Minnesota Management & Budget (MMB)
- University of Minnesota (UOM)
Tax debts do not qualify for referral if one of the following:
Exemptions
Some funds are exempt from vendor offset. View the statute (
M.S. 550.37).
Vendor Offset Payments
Vendor offset payments will be submitted electronically via the SWIFT system, based on the amount of the liability that was referred for Vendor Offset. If an overpayment occurs, the amount of the overpayment will be refunded by the department to the vendor.
Payments shall not be made by the agency to the vendor until the agency is notified that the vendor is no longer delinquent.
Vendor Offset Releases
Vendor offset releases will be submitted to the agency electronically via the SWIFT system.
Vendor Offset is released when:
- The vendor has entered into an agreement that allows payment of the delinquent liabilities.
- The liabilities have been paid in full or there is a credit balance due to overpayment.
- The total balance of the liabilities is on hold.
- The vendor files bankruptcy.
- The vendor was a business and the business is closed.
