31 CFR Part 208

Pt. 208

31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–12 Edition)

payment of expenses incurred in developing improved methods of collection
and deposit and the expenses incurred
in carrying out collections and deposits
using such methods, including the
costs of personal services and the costs
of the lease or purchase of equipment
and operating facilities.
(d) In addition to all reports required
by law and regulation, for each fiscal
year during which there is a balance in
Fund, the Service will prepare and publish, by the 60th day following the close
of the fiscal year, a full report on payments, receipts, disbursements, balances of the Fund, and full disclosure
on projects financed by the Fund.

regulations of the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Railroad Retirement
Board, or other agency making Federal
payments, to act on behalf of an individual entitled to a Federal payment.
(c) Direct Express® card means the
prepaid debit card issued to recipients
of Federal benefits by a Financial
Agent pursuant to requirements established by Treasury.
(d) Disbursement means, in the context of electronic benefits transfer, the
performance of the following duties by
a Financial Agent acting as agent of
the United States:
(1) The establishment of an account
for the recipient that meets the requirements of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the National
Credit Union Administration Board for
deposit or share insurance;
(2) The maintenance of such an account;
(3) The receipt of Federal payments
through the Automated Clearing House
system or other electronic means and
crediting of Federal payments to the
account; and
(4) The provision of access to funds in
the account on the terms specified by
Treasury.
(e) Electronic benefits transfer (EBT)
means the provision of Federal benefit,
wage, salary, and retirement payments
electronically, through disbursement
by a financial institution acting as a
Financial Agent. For purposes of this
part, EBT includes, but is not limited
to, disbursement through an ETAsm, a
Federal/State EBT program, or a Direct Express® card account.
(f) Electronic funds transfer means any
transfer of funds, other than a transaction originated by cash, check, or
similar paper instrument, that is initiated through an electronic terminal,
telephone, computer, or magnetic tape,
for the purpose of ordering, instructing, or authorizing a financial institution to debit or credit an account. The
term includes, but is not limited to,
Automated Clearing House transfers,
Fedwire transfers, and transfers made
at automated teller machines and
point-of-sale terminals. For purposes of
this part only, the term electronic
funds transfer includes a credit card
transaction.

PART 208—MANAGEMENT OF
FEDERAL AGENCY DISBURSEMENTS
Sec.
208.1 Scope and application.
208.2 Definitions.
208.3 Payment by electronic funds transfer.
208.4 Waivers.
208.5 Availability of the ETASM.
208.6 Availability of the Direct Express®
Card.
208.7 Agency responsibilities.
208.8 Recipient responsibilities.
208.9 Compliance.
208.10 Reservation of rights.
208.11 Accounts for disaster victims.
AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 301; 12 U.S.C. 90, 265,
266, 1767, 1789a; 31 U.S.C. 321, 3122, 3301, 3302,
3303, 3321, 3325, 3327, 3328, 3332, 3335, 3336, 6503;
Pub. L. 104–208, 110 Stat. 3009.
SOURCE: 63 FR 51502, Sept. 25, 1998, unless
otherwise noted.

§ 208.1 Scope and application.
This part applies to all Federal payments made by an agency and, except
as specified in § 208.4, requires such
payments to be made by electronic
funds transfer. This part does not apply
to payments under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.).
§ 208.2 Definitions.
(a) Agency means any department,
agency, or instrumentality of the
United States Government, or a corporation owned or controlled by the
Government of the United States.
(b) Authorized payment agent means
any individual or entity that is appointed or otherwise selected as a representative payee or fiduciary, under

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Fiscal Service, Treasury

§ 208.3

(g) ETASM means the Treasury-designated electronic transfer account
made available by a Federally-insured
financial institution acting as a Financial Agent in accordance with § 208.5 of
this part.
(h) Federal payment means any payment made by an agency.
(1) The term includes, but is not limited to:
(i) Federal wage, salary, and retirement payments;
(ii) Vendor and expense reimbursement payments;
(iii) Benefit payments; and
(iv) Miscellaneous payments including, but not limited to: interagency
payments; grants; loans; fees; principal, interest, and other payments related to U.S. marketable and nonmarketable securities; overpayment reimbursements; and payments under
Federal insurance or guarantee programs for loans.
(2) For purposes of this part only, the
term ‘‘Federal payment’’ does not
apply to payments under the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.).
(i) Federal/State EBT program means
any program that provides access to
Federal benefit, wage, salary, and retirement payments and to State-administered benefits through a single
delivery system and in which Treasury
designates a Financial Agent to disburse the Federal payments.
(j) Federally-insured financial institution means any financial institution,
the deposits of which are insured by
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation under 12 U.S.C. Chapter 16 or, in
the case of a credit union, the member
accounts of which are insured by the
National Credit Union Share Insurance
Fund under 12 U.S.C. Chapter 14, Subchapter II.
(k) Financial Agent means a financial
institution that has been designated by
Treasury as a Financial Agent for the
provision of EBT services under any
provision of Federal law, including 12
U.S.C. 90, 265, 266, 1767, and 1789a, and 31
U.S.C. 3122 and 3303, as amended by the
Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 1997, Section 664, Public Law 104–
208.
(l) Financial institution means:
(1) Any insured bank as defined in
section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insur-

ance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813) or any bank
which is eligible to make application
to become an insured bank under section 5 of such Act (12 U.S.C. 1815);
(2) Any mutual savings bank as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813) or
any bank which is eligible to make application to become an insured bank
under section 5 of such Act (12 U.S.C.
1815);
(3) Any savings bank as defined in
section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813) or any bank
which is eligible to make application
to become an insured bank under section 5 of such Act (12 U.S.C. 1815);
(4) Any insured credit union as defined in section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1752) or any
credit union which is eligible to make
application to become an insured credit union under section 201 of such Act
(12 U.S.C. 1781);
(5) Any savings association as defined
in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813) which is an
insured depository institution (as defined in such Act) (12 U.S.C. 1811 et
seq.) or is eligible to apply to become
an insured depository institution under
the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12
U.S.C. 1811 et seq.); and
(6) Any agency or branch of a foreign
bank as defined in section 1(b) of the
International Banking Act, as amended
(12 U.S.C. 3101).
(m) Individual means a natural person.
(n) Recipient means an individual,
corporation, or other public or private
entity that is authorized to receive a
Federal payment from an agency.
(o) Secretary means Secretary of the
Treasury.
(p) Treasury means the United States
Department of the Treasury.
[63 FR 51502, Sept. 25, 1998, as amended at 75
FR 80334, Dec. 22, 2010]

§ 208.3 Payment by electronic funds
transfer.
Subject to § 208.4, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective January 2, 1999, all Federal payments made by an agency shall be
made by electronic funds transfer.

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§ 208.4

31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–12 Edition)
ministrator as a disaster area. This
waiver is limited to payments made
within 120 days after the disaster is declared;
(4) Where either:
(i) A military operation is designated
by the Secretary of Defense in which
uniformed services undertake military
actions against an enemy, or
(ii) A call or order to, or retention
on, active duty of members of the uniformed services is made during a war
or national emergency declared by the
President or Congress;
(5) Where a threat may be posed to
national security, the life or physical
safety of any individual may be endangered, or a law enforcement action may
be compromised;
(6) Where the agency does not expect
to make payments to the same recipient within a one-year period on a regular, recurring basis and remittance
data explaining the purpose of the payment is not readily available from the
recipient’s financial institution receiving the payment by electronic funds
transfer; and
(7) Where an agency’s need for goods
and services is of such unusual and
compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured unless
payment is made by a method other
than electronic funds transfer; or,
where there is only one source for
goods or services and the Government
would be seriously injured unless payment is made by a method other than
electronic funds transfer.
(b) An individual who requests a
waiver under paragraphs (a)(1)(vi) and
(vii) of this section shall provide, in
writing, to Treasury a certification
supporting that request, in such form
that Treasury may prescribe. The individual shall attest to the certification
before a notary public, or otherwise file
the certification in such form that
Treasury may prescribe.

§ 208.4 Waivers.
(a) Payment by electronic funds
transfer is not required in the following cases:
(1) Where an individual:
(i) Is receiving a Federal payment by
check prior to May 1, 2011. In such
cases, the individual may continue to
receive those payments by check
through February 28, 2013;
(ii) Files a claim for a Federal payment prior to May 1, 2011, and requests
payment by check at the time he or
she files the claim. In such cases, the
individual may receive those payments
by check through February 28, 2013;
(iii) Was born prior to May 1, 1921,
and is receiving payment by check on
March 1, 2013;
(iv) Receives a type of payment that
is not eligible for deposit to a Direct
Express® card account. In such cases,
those payments are not required to be
made by electronic funds transfer, unless and until such payments become
eligible for deposit to a Direct Express® card account;
(v) Is ineligible for a Direct Express®
card because of suspension or cancellation of the individual’s card by the Financial Agent;
(vi) Has filed a waiver request with
Treasury certifying that payment by
electronic funds transfer would impose
a hardship because of the individual’s
inability to manage an account at a financial institution or a Direct Express® card account due to a mental
impairment, and Treasury has not rejected the request; or
(vii) Has filed a waiver request with
Treasury certifying that payment by
electronic funds transfer would impose
a hardship because of the individual’s
inability to manage an account at a financial institution or a Direct Express® card account due to the individual living in a remote geographic location lacking the infrastructure to
support electronic financial transactions, and Treasury has not rejected
the request.
(2) Where the political, financial, or
communications infrastructure in a
foreign country does not support payment by electronic funds transfer;
(3) Where the payment is to a recipient within an area designated by the
President or an authorized agency ad-

[63 FR 51502, Sept. 25, 1998, as amended at 75
FR 80334, Dec. 22, 2010]

§ 208.5

Availability of the ETA SM.

An individual who receives a Federal
benefit, wage, salary, or retirement
payment shall be eligible to open an
ETA SM at any Federally-insured financial institution that offers ETAs SM.

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Fiscal Service, Treasury

Pt. 210

Any Federally-insured financial institution shall be eligible, but not required, to offer ETAs SM as Treasury’s
Financial Agent. A Federally-insured
financial institution that elects to
offer ETAs SM shall, upon entering into
an ETA SM Financial Agency Agreement with the Treasury, be designated
as Treasury’s Financial Agent for the
offering of the account pursuant to
Public Law 104–208. Treasury shall
make publicly available required attributes for ETAs SM and any ETA SM
offered by a Federally-insured financial
institution shall comply with such requirements. The offering of an ETA SM
shall constitute the provision of EBT
services within the meaning of Public
Law 104–208.

(b) If an agency fails to make payment by electronic funds transfer, as
prescribed under this part, Treasury
may assess a charge to the agency pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3335.
§ 208.10

§ 208.11

An individual who receives a Federal
benefit, wage, salary, or retirement
payment shall be eligible to open a Direct Express® card account. The offering of a Direct Express® card account
shall constitute the provision of EBT
services within the meaning of Public
Law 104–208.
[75 FR 80335, Dec. 22, 2010]

Agency responsibilities.

An agency shall put into place procedures that allow recipients to provide
the information necessary for the delivery of payments to the recipient by
electronic funds transfer to an account
at the recipient’s financial institution
or a Direct Express® card account.
[75 FR 80335, Dec. 22, 2010]

§ 208.8

reserves the right, in
discretion, to waive
of this regulation in
of cases.

Accounts for disaster victims.

Treasury may establish and administer accounts at any financial institution designated as a financial agent for
disaster victims in order to allow for
the delivery by electronic funds transfer of one or more Federal payments.
Such accounts may be established upon
terms and conditions that the Secretary considers appropriate or necessary in light of the circumstances.
Treasury may deliver payments to
these accounts notwithstanding any
other payment instructions from the
recipient and without regard to the requirements of §§ 208.4 and 208.7 of this
part and § 210.5 of this chapter. For purposes of this section, ‘‘disaster victim’’
means an individual or entity located
within an emergency area, or an individual or entity that has relocated or
been displaced from an emergency area
as a result of a major disaster or emergency. ‘‘Emergency area’’ means a geographical area in which there exists an
emergency or disaster declared by the
President pursuant to the National
Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)
or the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). The maintenance of
accounts and the provision of accountrelated services under this section
shall constitute reasonable duties of a
financial agent of the United States.

§ 208.6 Availability of the Direct Express® Card.

§ 208.7

Reservation of rights.

The Secretary
the Secretary’s
any provision(s)
any case or class

Recipient responsibilities.

Each recipient who is required to receive payment by electronic funds
transfer shall provide the information
necessary to effect payment by electronic funds transfer.

[71 FR 44585, Aug. 7, 2006, as amended at 75
FR 80335, Dec. 22, 2010]

[75 FR 80335, Dec. 22, 2010]

§ 208.9

PART 210—FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
PARTICIPATION IN THE AUTOMATED CLEARING HOUSE

Compliance.

(a) Treasury will monitor agencies’
compliance with this part. Treasury
may require agencies to provide information about their progress in converting payments to electronic funds
transfer.

Sec.
210.1
210.2
210.3

Scope; relation to other regulations.
Definitions.
Governing law.

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