Money owed for unpaid fines or fees won’t come out of Illinois tax refunds again this year

[January 22, 2022]  By Kyle Kimball

(The Center Square) – For the second year in a row, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office will allow low-income Illinois earners the option to defer payment of certain fines and fees.

Hardship brought on by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic is the reason.

For the tax year 2021, that means a family of four, consisting of a single parent with three children, earning $57,414 or less, or a single person earning $21,430 a year or less, won’t have outstanding fees or fines withheld from their income tax refund.

“Payments on things like parking tickets, your water bill, certain court fees qualify for the deferral and will not be withheld from taxpayers’ state refund checks,” Mendoza said.

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza

Image from Comptroller Susana Mendoza's YouTube channel

This is not, however, a debt forgiveness, something the Comptroller’s office has no power to do.

What’s more, things like child-support payments will still be collected for distribution in a timely fashion.

If a person does not earn income and file a tax return, the policy does not affect them.

These deferrals helped about 50,000 Illinoisans last year. At this point, the Comptroller’s office does not expect the deferrals to continue beyond this year.