terminology: to "offset"?

Reading the other thread on Individual Mandate Penalty made me wonder, are the following phrases meaningful, and can they apply independently of each other for any given taxpayer?

1) offsetting a tax with a credit

2) offsetting a balance due with a payment or refund

Note that different types of taxes can be offset by different types of credits (e.g. refundable/non-refundable, or credits that offset regular tax but not AMT).

The other related term I see is "intercept":

3) intercept a refund for some other liability (not the tax the refund directly pertains to)

Maybe it's time for some new terminology, to describe the new type of IRS balance-due that can't be collected in the normal manner. How about calling the PPACA Individual Mandate penalty the "dodge-ball tax", because it only hits you if you can't get out of the way fast enough?

Reading the other thread on Individual Mandate Penalty made me wonder, are the following phrases meaningful, and can they apply independently of each other for any given taxpayer?

1) offsetting a tax with a credit

2) offsetting a balance due with a payment or refund

Note that different types of taxes can be offset by different types of credits (e.g. refundable/non-refundable, or credits that offset regular tax but not AMT).

The other related term I see is "intercept":

3) intercept a refund for some other liability (not the tax the refund directly pertains to)

Something on the same level as the industry favorite phrase "2%-AGI haircut", although I never quite understood how that was like a haircut. Haircuts to me have a positive value, not negative (not the least of which is being thankful I still have enough hair to cut). ========================= Are you suggesting that when AGI is negative, the IRS gives you a wig comprised of other people's hair?

Remember that percentages of AGI are negative numbers when AGI is actually an AGL (i.e. negative). IRS Appeals won't take that issue to court (as opposed to using zero percent).