The Massachusetts Department of Revenue has been in the press quite a bit lately — and not for anything good. Not only did a data breach occur, affecting 39,000 business owners, but an issue in the system has also caused the department to fail in delivering child support payments this year to a number of parents who are supposed to be receiving such funds. Here is what is known about these issues thus far.
According to a recent news report, the Department of Revenue was hacked and the information of certain business taxpayers exposed. While this is a significant issue, it is not related to the child support problem. It is believed that 1,500 parents have not been receiving child support payments since January of this year.
A spokesperson for the department has stated that an error in the computer system caused child support payments to remain in the hands of the DOR instead of being delivered to the parents expecting payment. So, for two months, these parents have been having to go without. The issue is supposed to be fixed now, and payments should start being shipped out soon — if they haven’t already.
In Massachusetts, those who are ordered to pay child support generally have the funds withdrawn from their pay checks by their employers and sent to the DOR for process. This is supposed to ensure that receiving parents actually get the funds. While it may not seem like the perfect system, it has — for the most part — served the state well. Those who are going through the divorce process and have concerns about child support, how it is paid and what to do when there is a problem can speak to a family law attorney who will be able to explain how it all works.
Source: NBC Boston, “Report: Massachusetts Department of Revenue Fails to Deliver Child Support Payments“, March 2, 2018
