The Louisiana Department of Revenue has announced that it will participate in the new Federal-State Offset Program. Participation in the program will allow the state to intercept payments owed by the federal government to vendors and contractors to use for the payment of non-tax debts owed to the state. Under this initiative, a participating state agency will submit to the program delinquent debts it has made extensive efforts to collect from the debtor. The program will then match those debts to a federal database of taxpayers, vendors, and contractors owed refunds or payments from the federal government. If a match is found, the program will claim those refunds or payments and forward them to the state agency for payment of the outstanding debt. The department is currently developing an implementation plan for the program. (Press Release, Louisiana Department of Revenue, October 12, 2012)