SECTION 58.1-525. Notification of intention to set off and right to hearing  


A. The claimant agency, upon receipt of notification from the Department that a debtor is entitled to a refund, within ten days shall mail a written notification to the debtor at his or her last known address and shall send evidence of same in the manner required by rules promulgated by the Tax Commissioner to the Department of its assertion of rights to the refund or any part thereof. The notification shall inform the debtor of the claimant agency's intention to direct the Department to apply the refund or any portion thereof against the debt certified as due and owing.

B. The contents of the written notification to the debtor and the Department's notification of the setoff claim shall clearly set forth the basis for the claim to the refund, the intention to apply the refund against the debt to the claimant agency, the debtor's opportunity to give written notice of intent to contest the validity of the claim before the claimant agency within thirty days of the date of the mailing of the notice, the mailing address to which the application for a hearing must be sent, and the fact that failure to apply for a hearing in writing within the thirty-day period will be deemed a waiver of the opportunity to contest the claim causing final setoff by default.

C. The written application by the debtor for a hearing shall be effective upon mailing the application postage prepaid and properly addressed to the claimant agency.

Code 1950, § 58-19.12; 1981, c. 408; 1982, c. 621; 1984, c. 675; 1986, c. 322; 1996, cc. 363 , 363 .