What Happens When Restitution Is Delinquent or in Default?

If you miss a federal restitution payment by more than 30 days, the balance becomes delinquent and a 10 percent penalty is added automatically. Let it go past 90 days and it moves into default: another 15 percent penalty applies, the entire remaining balance becomes due within 30 days, and the government can start seizing assets, garnishing wages, and intercepting federal payments. In serious cases, default can also lead to revocation of supervised release or a new prison sentence. This is what happens when restitution is delinquent or in default, and the consequences stack quickly.

The 30-Day and 90-Day Lines

Federal law draws a sharp line between late and seriously behind. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3572, a restitution payment is delinquent once it is more than 30 days past the due date in your payment plan.¹ There is no additional grace period beyond what your plan already provides.

If the payment stays overdue for more than 90 days, the status shifts from delinquent to default. That difference matters, because default accelerates the entire remaining balance. The full unpaid amount becomes due within 30 days of notification, no matter what your installment schedule said.¹ From that point, the government can use any enforcement remedy available under 18 U.S.C. § 3613A, from contempt proceedings to property seizure.²

Automatic Penalties and Interest

Falling behind doesn’t just leave you owing the original amount. Two one-time penalties apply at specific milestones. When a payment becomes delinquent, you owe a penalty equal to 10 percent of the delinquent amount. When the balance crosses into default, you owe an additional 15 percent of the principal amount in default.³ Both are imposed automatically. No separate hearing is required. On a $50,000 restitution balance, default alone adds $7,500 in penalties.

Interest runs on top of that. Any restitution balance over $2,500 accrues interest at the weekly average one-year constant maturity Treasury yield published by the Federal Reserve, calculated daily, unless the court waives it.³ A court can waive interest entirely, cap it at a fixed dollar amount, or limit how long it accrues if you can show you cannot pay.

How the Government Collects

The Department of Justice’s Financial Litigation Program handles collection using many of the same tools the IRS uses for back taxes.⁴ These are civil actions, so the government does not need to open a new criminal proceeding to go after your assets.

Liens on Property

A restitution order creates an automatic lien against all your property and property rights the moment the court enters judgment. The statute treats this lien exactly like a federal tax lien, with the same priority and reach.⁵ If you own a home, you generally cannot sell or refinance it without satisfying the lien first. The lien lasts for 20 years or until the debt is paid, whichever comes first.

Tax Refunds and Federal Payments

The Treasury Offset Program matches people who owe delinquent federal debts with federal payments they are scheduled to receive, such as tax refunds.⁶ If a refund is coming your way, the government can redirect part or all of it toward your restitution balance before it reaches your account.

The reach goes further than most debt collection. The statute explicitly overrides the protections of Section 207 of the Social Security Act, which means restitution judgments can be enforced against Social Security benefits and other federal payments that are normally shielded from creditors.⁵ Very few debts can reach Social Security income. Federal restitution is one of them.

Wage Garnishment and Bank Levies

The government can order your employer to withhold a portion of your paycheck and send it toward the balance. Consumer Credit Protection Act limits apply, capping garnishment at 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is less.⁵ Bank accounts are also exposed to direct levies, where the government freezes and seizes funds to cover the outstanding balance.

When Default Can Send You Back to Prison

Civil enforcement targets your assets. Judicial consequences target your freedom. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3613A, a court responding to a default can hold you in contempt, revoke probation or supervised release, issue restraining orders, order property sales, or adjust the payment schedule.²

If you are on probation or supervised release, the failure to pay restitution is a violation of a condition of supervision. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3565, that allows the court to revoke the sentence and resentence you after a revocation hearing. Separately, 18 U.S.C. § 3614 lets the court resentence a defendant who “knowingly fails to pay” delinquent restitution to any sentence that could have originally been imposed. But imprisonment under that provision requires a finding that you willfully refused to pay or failed to make a genuine effort to come up with the money, or that alternatives to incarceration will not serve the goals of punishment and deterrence.⁷

This is where most restitution disputes actually play out. A court cannot imprison you simply because you are too poor to pay. The statute is explicit: no defendant may be incarcerated “solely on the basis of inability to make payments because the defendant is indigent.”⁷ The Supreme Court reinforced that principle in Bearden v. Georgia, holding that revoking probation for failure to pay without first determining whether the failure was willful violates the Fourteenth Amendment. If you made genuine efforts to pay and simply could not, the court must consider alternatives before incarceration.⁸

In practice, the burden falls on you to show inability. Judges look at employment history, spending, assets, and whether you have made any payments at all. Someone with steady income who simply ignores the obligation will have a hard time claiming indigency. Someone who lost a job, had a medical crisis, or has documented hardship has a much stronger case for an alternative resolution.

Victims Can Collect on Their Own

The government is not the only party that can come after unpaid restitution. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3664(m)(1)(B), a victim named in the order can ask the clerk of court for an abstract of judgment certifying that a judgment exists in the victim’s favor for the restitution amount.⁹ Once recorded under state law, the abstract becomes a lien on the defendant’s property with the same force as any civil judgment.

That means the victim can pursue collection independently through state enforcement mechanisms, including garnishment, property liens, and bank levies, without waiting for the Department of Justice. If you were counting on slow federal collection, the victim’s independent authority is often faster and more aggressive.

How Long the Debt Lasts, and What Bankruptcy Can’t Do

Restitution does not expire on any timeline useful to someone hoping it will go away. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3613(b), the obligation remains enforceable for the later of 20 years from the date the judgment was entered or 20 years after you are released from imprisonment.⁵ For a 10-year prison sentence, the restitution obligation could persist for 30 years from the original judgment.

Bankruptcy will not eliminate it either. Under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(13), any debt arising from a federal restitution order issued under Title 18 is specifically excluded from discharge.¹⁰ That applies whether you file Chapter 7, Chapter 13, or any other form. The restitution balance survives the proceeding intact, and collection continues after your other debts are resolved. Bankruptcy may still help indirectly by discharging other obligations and freeing up income for restitution payments, but it cannot touch the restitution order itself.

If You Can’t Pay, Ask for a Modification

If your financial situation genuinely changes after sentencing, you are not stuck quietly defaulting. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3664(k), you are required to notify the court and the Attorney General of any material change in your economic circumstances that might affect your ability to pay.⁹ A job loss, serious medical condition, or other significant setback qualifies.

Once notified, the court can adjust the payment schedule “as the interests of justice require.” The court can also act on its own initiative or on a motion from the government or the victim. The statute does not spell out a specific evidentiary standard, which gives judges flexibility, but the victim must be notified of the change before any adjustment takes effect.⁹

Asking for a modification is far better than silently missing payments. A defendant who comes to the court with documentation of hardship and a proposed revised schedule looks very different from one who stops paying and hopes nobody notices. The first gets a modified schedule. The second gets a default finding and all the enforcement that follows.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3572 – Imposition of a Sentence of Fine and Related Matters
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3613A – Effect of Default
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3612 – Collection of Unpaid Fine or Restitution
4
U.S. Department of Justice. Financial Litigation Program
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3613 – Civil Remedies for Satisfaction of an Unpaid Fine
6
Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Treasury Offset Program
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3614 – Resentencing Upon Failure to Pay a Fine or Restitution
8
Cornell Law School. Bearden v. Georgia
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3664 – Procedure for Issuance and Enforcement of Order of Restitution
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge