270A.03 Definitions.
Subdivision 1. Applicability. For purposes of sections 270A.01 to 270A.12, the terms defined in this section have the meanings given them.
Subd. 2. Claimant agency. "Claimant agency" means any state agency, as defined by section 14.02, subdivision 2, the regents of the University of Minnesota, any district court of the state, any county, any statutory or home rule charter city presenting a claim for a municipal hospital or a public library, a hospital district, any public agency responsible for child support enforcement, any public agency responsible for the collection of court-ordered restitution, and any public agency established by general or special law that is responsible for the administration of a low-income housing program.
Subd. 3. Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of revenue.
Subd. 4. Debtor. "Debtor" means a natural person obligated on a debt to a claimant agency or having a delinquent account with a public agency responsible for child support enforcement.
Subd. 5. Debt. "Debt" means a legal obligation of a natural person to pay a fixed and certain amount of money, which equals or exceeds $25 and which is due and payable to a claimant agency. The term includes criminal fines imposed under section 609.10 or 609.125 and restitution. A debt may arise under a contractual or statutory obligation, a court order, or other legal obligation, but need not have been reduced to judgment.
A debt includes any legal obligation of a current recipient of assistance which is based on overpayment of an assistance grant where that payment is based on a client waiver or an administrative or judicial finding of an intentional program violation; or where the debt is owed to a program wherein the debtor is not a client at the time notification is provided to initiate recovery under this chapter and the debtor is not a current recipient of food stamps, transitional child care, or transitional medical assistance.
A debt does not include any legal obligation to pay a claimant agency for medical care, including hospitalization if the income of the debtor at the time when the medical care was rendered does not exceed the following amount:
(1) for an unmarried debtor, an income of $6,400 or less;
(2) for a debtor with one dependent, an income of $8,200 or less;
(3) for a debtor with two dependents, an income of $9,700 or less;
(4) for a debtor with three dependents, an income of $11,000 or less;
(5) for a debtor with four dependents, an income of $11,600 or less; and
(6) for a debtor with five or more dependents, an income of $12,100 or less.
The income amounts in this subdivision shall be adjusted for inflation for debts incurred in calendar years 1991 and thereafter. The dollar amount of each income level that applied to debts incurred in the prior year shall be increased in the same manner as provided in section 290.06, subdivision 2d, for the expansion of the tax rate brackets.
Subd. 6. Department. "Department" means the department of revenue.
Subd. 7. Refund. "Refund" means an individual income tax refund or political contribution refund, pursuant to chapter 290, or a property tax credit or refund, pursuant to chapter 290A.
For purposes of this chapter, lottery prizes, as set forth in section 349A.08, subdivision 8, and amounts granted to persons by the legislature on the recommendation of the joint senate-house of representatives subcommittee on claims shall be treated as refunds.
In the case of a joint property tax refund payable to spouses under chapter 290A, the refund shall be considered as belonging to each spouse in the proportion of the total refund that equals each spouse's proportion of the total income determined under section 290A.03, subdivision 3. In the case of a joint income tax refund under chapter 289A, the refund shall be considered as belonging to each spouse in the proportion of the total refund that equals each spouse's proportion of the total taxable income determined under section 290.01, subdivision 29. The commissioner shall remit the entire refund to the claimant agency, which shall, upon the request of the spouse who does not owe the debt, determine the amount of the refund belonging to that spouse and refund the amount to that spouse.
Subd. 8. Restitution. "Restitution" means money due to the victim of a crime or a juvenile offense under an order of restitution issued by a court under section 609.10, or 609.125 as part of a sentence or as a condition of probation, or under an order entered by a court under section 260.185, subdivision 1, paragraph (e), following a finding of delinquency.
HIST: 1980 c 607 art 12 s 3; 1Sp1981 c 2 s 20,21; 1982 c 424 s 130; 1984 c 502 art 14 s 3; 1985 c 235 s 2; 1Sp1986 c 1 art 8 s 7; 1987 c 261 s 1-3; 1988 c 638 s 1,2; 1988 c 668 s 5; 1990 c 480 art 10 s 2-4; 1991 c 291 art 6 s 6; 1992 c 571 art 17 s 1; 1993 c 375 art 17 s 8; 1994 c 614 s 2; 1995 c 264 art 4 s 1; 1996 c 471 art 3 s 52; art 13 s 10,11; 1997 c 17 s 4; 1997 c 85 art 5 s 24; 1997 c 231 art 2 s 70
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes