My tax refund last year was offset by the US Department of Education. I didn’t know much about it just that it had to do with my student loans I had defaulted on. I kinda threw up my hands at it and said oh well at least it will get paid off in a couple of years, because what else could I do when they kept giving me the run around about a deferment. Then I received a couple of notices in the mail last year (the first mail of any kind I have received from them since I graduated college) that were from the collection agency stating how much I had paid up to date on my loan account. The only thing is the statements only showed my wage garnishments and a very high balance with no tax offset applied to that balance. So before doing my taxes this year I decided to see what happened. First I called the IRS and they said to call the US Department of Education. The US Department of Education said they never received the offset and to call the Department of Treasury. I called the Department of Treasury and they said that the money was sent to the US Department of Education. So I called back the US Department of Education and was transferred to the collection agency and they said the money was posted to the account. I asked them to send me another paper showing that it was received and that it was deducted from my balance. They told me they could not do that and have no idea what paper I was talking about even though I verified that everything on the paper I have has to do with them. They did however tell me that the US Department of Education could send me an account summary, but I pointed out to them how could they send me a summary including the offset when they said they never received it. So I got nowhere and a large sum of money is just gone. Now I’m concerned that if I do my taxes again this year my refund will disappear into thin air again. What can I do?