IRS Backs Down

The Social Security Administration has halted a program of seizing people's tax returns to repay old debts. Acting Commissioner Carolyn Colvin says she wants a review before continuing. The collections were enabled by a 2008 law giving Social Security and other agencies the right to use Treasury information and the IRS to settle overpayments. Reports in the Washington Post described people having tax refunds taken to cover overpayments made decades earlier to relatives. That prompted complaints from members of Congress. Social Security says it's collected $55 million so far out of a potential $715 million.