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§ 281.8
31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–06 Edition)
Subpart B—Authorities Other Than Offset
Reporting and accounting.
The Treasury Department will maintain a system of central accounting
and reporting for the purpose of providing information on foreign exchange
operations to the President, the Congress, and the public. The Treasury Department will also prescribe rules to
enhance consistency in reporting of
foreign exchange operations by all
agencies. Agencies shall furnish such
reports and information as may be required for the administration of the
provisions of this circular.
§ 281.9
285.11 Administrative wage garnishment.
285.12 Transfer of debts to Treasury for collection.
285.13 Barring delinquent debtors from obtaining Federal loans or loan insurance
or guarantees.
AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 5514; 26 U.S.C. 6402; 31
U.S.C. 321, 3701, 3711, 3716, 3719, 3720A, 3720B,
3720D; 42 U.S.C. 664; E.O. 13019, 61 FR 51763, 3
CFR, 1996 Comp., p. 216.
SOURCE: 62 FR 34179, June 25, 1997, unless
otherwise noted.
Subpart A—Disbursing Official
Offset
General provisions.
(a) Nothing contained in this part
shall be construed as having the effect
of superseding or amending the provisions of any regulations issued or approved by the Secretary pursuant to
the Act of December 23, 1944, as amended (67 Stat. 61).
(b) The Secretary may waive, withdraw, or amend at any time or from
time to time any or all of the provisions of the regulations of this part.
(c) Implementing regulations within
the framework of this circular will be
issued by the Fiscal Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. All communications pertaining to the administration
of the provisions of this part shall be
directed to the Fiscal Assistant Secretary.
PART 285—DEBT COLLECTION AUTHORITIES UNDER THE DEBT COLLECTION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF
1996
Subpart A—Disbursing Official Offset
Sec.
285.1 Collection of past-due support by administrative offset.
285.2 Offset of tax refund payments to collect past-due, legally enforceable nontax
debt.
285.3 Offset of tax refund payments to collect past-due support.
285.4 Offset of Federal benefit payments to
collect past-due, legally enforceable
nontax debt.
285.5 Centralized offset of Federal payments
to collect nontax debts owed to the
United States.
285.7 Salary offset.
285.8 Offset of tax refund payments to collect state income tax obligations.
§ 285.1 Collection of past-due support
by administrative offset.
(a) Definitions. For purposes of this
section:
Administrative offset means withholding funds payable by the United
States (including funds payable by the
United States on behalf of a State government) to, or held by the United
States for, a person to satisfy a debt.
Debt as used in this section is synonymous with the term past-due support.
Disbursing official includes an official
who has authority to disburse public
money pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3321 or another Federal law.
FMS means the Financial Management Service, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury. FMS is the designee of the Secretary of the Treasury
for all matters concerning this section,
unless otherwise specified.
HHS means the Department of Health
and Human Services, Office of Child
Support Enforcement.
Past-due support means the amount of
support determined under a court
order, or an order of an administrative
procedure established under State law,
for support and maintenance of a child,
or of a child and the parent with whom
the child is living, which has not been
paid. The term child as used in this definition is not limited to minor children.
Past-due support being enforced by the
State means there has been an assignment of the support rights to the
State, or the State making the request
for offset is providing services to individuals pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 654(5)
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Fiscal Service, Treasury
§ 285.1
(section 454(5) of the Social Security
Act), or the State is enforcing support
pursuant to a cooperative agreement
with or by an Indian tribal government.
State means the several States of the
United States. The term State also includes the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the United States
Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, and the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Secretary means the Secretary of the
Treasury.
(b) General rule. FMS may enter into
a reciprocal agreement with a State for
the collection of past-due support being
enforced by the State by administrative offset from certain Federal payments. Upon notification of past-due
support either directly from a State
which has entered into such an agreement or from HHS, disbursing officials
of FMS or any other disbursing official
of the United States shall offset Federal payments which are subject to offset under this section, to collect pastdue support. The amount offset, minus
the offset fee, shall be forwarded to the
State to be distributed in accordance
with applicable laws and procedures.
(c) Agreements. FMS may enter into
reciprocal agreements with States for
disbursing officials of FMS and any
other Federal disbursing official to offset certain Federal payments to collect
past-due support being enforced by the
State. The agreement shall contain
any requirements which FMS considers
appropriate to facilitate the offset and
prevent duplicative efforts and shall
require States to prescribe procedures
governing the collection of past-due
support by Federal administrative offset. For purposes of this section, reciprocal means of mutual benefit. An
agreement between FMS and a State to
collect past-due support by offsetting
Federal payments will be considered of
mutual benefit and it is not required
that States conduct administrative offsets to collect debts owed to the Federal Government. States which have
entered into an agreement with FMS
pursuant to this section may thereafter request, in the manner prescribed
herein, that an offset be performed.
Such requests shall be made by the appropriate State disbursing official
which, for purposes of this section,
means an appropriate official of the
State agency which administers or supervises the administration of the
State plan under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.
(d) Notification to FMS of past-due support. (1) States notifying FMS of pastdue support must do so in the manner
and format prescribed by FMS. States
notifying HHS of past-due support
must do so in the manner and format
prescribed by HHS. HHS shall notify
FMS of all past-due support referred to
HHS by States for collection by administrative offset provided that the requirements of paragraphs (d)(3) and (h)
of this section have been met.
(2) When a State has knowledge that
past-due support is being enforced by
more than one State, the State notifying FMS or HHS of the past-due support must inform any other State involved in enforcing the past-due support when it refers the debt for offset
and when it receives the offset amount.
(3) The notification of past-due support must be accompanied by a certification that the debt is past-due, legally
enforceable, and that the State has
complied with all the requirements as
set forth in paragraph (h) of this section and with any requirements imposed by State law or procedure. For
debts so certified, the Secretary may
waive sections 552a (o) and (p) of Title
5, United States Code, where applicable, in accordance with the Secretary’s
authority under 31 U.S.C. 3716(f).
(4) FMS may reject a notification of
past-due support which does not comply with the requirements of this section. The State will be notified of the
rejection along with the reason for the
rejection.
(e) Minimum amount of past-due support. FMS will reject a notification of
past-due support where the past-due
support owed is less than $25.00. This
amount may be adjusted from time to
time by FMS to ensure that the cost of
collection does not exceed the debt.
(f) Limitations. Debts properly submitted to FMS for administrative offset will remain subject to collection by
administrative offset until withdrawn
by the State provided the debt remains
past-due and legally enforceable.
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§ 285.1
31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–06 Edition)
(g) Notification of changes in status of
debt. The State notifying FMS or HHS
of past-due support shall, in the manner and in the time frames provided by
FMS or HHS, notify FMS or HHS of deletions or decreases in the amount of a
debt referred for collection by administrative offset. The State may notify
FMS or HHS of any increases in the
amount of a debt referred for collection
by administrative offset provided the
State has complied with the requirements of paragraph (h) of this section
with regard to those amounts.
(h) Advance notification of intent to
collect by administrative offset. (1) The
State, or FMS or HHS on behalf of the
State, if the State requests and FMS or
HHS agrees, shall send a written notification, at least 30 days in advance of
referral of the debt for offset, to the individual owing past-due support, informing the individual that the State
intends to refer the debt for collection
by administrative offset against Federal payments. The notice must also
inform the individual of:
(i) The nature and amount of the
debt; and
(ii) The right to an administrative review by the State referring the debt or,
upon the request of the individual, by
the State with the order upon which
the referral was based, of the determination of the State with respect to
the debt and of the procedures and
time frames established by the State
for such reviews.
(2) Prior to referring a debt to FMS
for collection by administrative offset,
States must provide individuals with a
reasonable opportunity to exercise the
rights enumerated in paragraph (h)(1)
of this section in accordance with procedures prescribed by the State.
(i) Payments subject to offset. Federal
payments subject to offset under this
section include all Federal payments
except:
(1) Payments due to an individual
under
(i) Title IV of the Higher Education
Act of 1965;
(ii) The Social Security Act;
(iii) Part B of the Black Lung Benefits Act;
(iv) Any law administered by the
Railroad Retirement Board;
(2) Payments which the Secretary determines are exempt from offset in accordance with paragraph (k) of this
section;
(3) Payments from which collection
of past-due support by administrative
offset is expressly prohibited by law;
(4) Payments made under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (except that
tax refund payments are subject to offset under separate authority); and
(5) Payments made under the tariff
laws of the United States.
(j) Special provisions applicable to Federal salary payments. (1) Unless a lower
maximum offset limitation is provided
by applicable State law, the maximum
part of a Federal salary payment per
pay period subject to offset to collect
past-due support shall not exceed those
amounts set forth at section 1673(b)(2)
(A) and (B) of Title 15, United States
Code, as follows:
(i) Fifty (50%) percent of the debtor’s
aggregate disposable earnings for any
pay period, where the debtor asserts by
affidavit, or by other acceptable evidence, that he/she is supporting a
spouse and/or dependent child, other
than the former spouse and/or child for
whom support is being collected, except that an additional five (5%) percent will apply if it appears that such
earnings are to enforce past-due support for a period which is twelve (12)
weeks or more prior to the pay period
to which the offset applies. A debtor
shall be considered to be supporting a
spouse and/or dependent child only if
the debtor provides over half of the
spouse’s and/or dependent child’s support.
(ii) Sixty (60%) percent of the debtor’s aggregate disposable earnings for
any pay period where the debtor fails
to assert by affidavit or establish by
other acceptable evidence that he/she
is supporting a spouse and/or dependent
child, other than a former spouse and/
or child for whom support is being collected, except that an additional five
(5%) percent will apply if it appears
that such earnings are to enforce pastdue support for a period which is
twelve (12) weeks or more prior to the
pay period to which the offset applies.
(2) The maximum allowable offset
amount shall be reduced by the amount
of any deductions in pay resulting from
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Fiscal Service, Treasury
§ 285.1
a garnishment order for support. Nothing in this rule is intended to alter
rules applicable to processing garnishment orders for child support and/or alimony.
(3) Federal salary payments subject
to offset for the collection of past-due
support include current basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retainer pay,
overtime, or in the case of an employee
not entitled to basic pay, other authorized pay. Aggregate disposable earnings
for purposes of determining the maximum amounts which may be offset
under paragraph (j)(1) of this section is
Federal salary pay remaining after the
deduction of:
(i) Any amount required by law to be
withheld;
(ii) Amounts properly withheld for
Federal, State or local income tax purposes;
(iii) Amounts deducted as health insurance premiums;
(iv) Amounts deducted as normal retirement contributions, not including
amounts deducted for supplementary
coverage; and
(v) Amounts deducted as normal life
insurance premiums not including
amounts deducted for supplementary
coverage.
(4) At least 30 days in advance of offset, the disbursing official shall send
written notice to the debtor of the
maximum offset limitations described
in paragraph (j)(1) of this section. The
notice shall include a request that the
debtor submit supporting affidavits or
other documentation necessary to determine the applicable offset percentage limitation. The notice shall also
inform the debtor of the percentage
that will be deducted if he/she fails to
submit the requested documentation.
(5) At the time the past-due support
debt is submitted for offset, the State
shall advise FMS or HHS if the maximum amount of a Federal salary payment that may be offset is less than
the amount described under this paragraph.
(k) Payments exempt from administrative offset to collect past-due support
being enforced by a State. The Secretary
will exempt from administrative offset
under this part payments made under
means-tested programs when requested
by the head of the Federal agency
which administers the program. For
purposes of this section, means-tested
programs are programs for which eligibility is based on a determination that
income and/or assets of the beneficiary
are inadequate to provide the beneficiary with an adequate standard of
living without program assistance. The
Secretary may exempt from administrative offset under this section any
other class or type of payment upon
the written request of the head of the
agency which authorizes the payments.
In determining whether or not to grant
such exemptions, the Secretary shall
give due consideration to whether administrative offset would tend to interfere substantially with or defeat the
purposes of the payment agency’s program.
(l) Fees. A fee which FMS has determined to be sufficient to reimburse
FMS for the full cost of the offset procedure, shall be deducted from each offset amount. FMS will notify the
States, annually and in advance, of the
amount of the fee to be charged for
each offset.
(m) Offsetting payments—(1) Conducting the offset. Disbursing officials of
the Department of the Treasury, the
Department of Defense, the United
States Postal Service, or any other
Government corporation, any disbursing official of the United States
designated by the Secretary, or any
disbursing official of an executive department or agency that disburses Federal payments shall offset payments
subject to offset under this section to
satisfy, in whole or part, a debt owed
by the payee. Disbursing officials shall
compare payment certification records
with records of debts submitted to
FMS for collection by administrative
offset. A match will occur when the
taxpayer identifying number and name
control of a payment record are the
same as the taxpayer identifying number and name control of a debt record.
The taxpayer identifying number for
an individual is the individual’s social
security number. When a match occurs
and all other requirements for offset
have been met, the disbursing official
shall offset the payment to satisfy, in
whole or part, the debt. Any amounts
not offset shall be paid to the payee.
The amount that can be offset from a
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§ 285.2
31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–06 Edition)
single payment is the lesser of the
amount of the debt (including interest,
penalties, and administrative costs);
the amount of the payment; or the
amount of the payment available for
offset if a statute or regulation prohibits offset of the entire amount.
Debts remain subject to collection by
offset until paid in full.
(2) Disposition of amounts collected.
FMS will transmit amounts collected
for debts, less fees charged under paragraph (l) of this section, to HHS or to
the appropriate State. If FMS learns
that an erroneous offset payment has
been made to HHS or any State, FMS
will notify HHS or the appropriate
State that an erroneous offset payment
has been made. FMS may deduct the
amount of the erroneous offset payment from amounts payable to HHS or
the State, as the case may be. Alternatively, upon FMS’ request, the State
shall return promptly to the affected
payee or FMS an amount equal to the
amount of the erroneous payment (unless the State previously has paid such
amounts, or any portion of such
amounts, to the affected payee). HHS
and States shall notify FMS any time
HHS or a State returns an erroneous
offset payment to an affected payee.
FMS and HHS, or the appropriate
State, will adjust their debtor records
accordingly.
(n) Administrative offset priorities.
When a payee/debtor owes more than
one debt which has been referred to
FMS for collection by administrative
offset, any offset by a disbursing official will be applied first to past-due
support assigned to a State and will be
applied to any other past-due support
after any other reductions allowed by
law.
(o) Notification of offset. (1) Disbursing
officials of FMS or any other disbursing official which conducts an offset will notify the payee in writing of
the occurrence of the offset to satisfy
past-due support. The notice shall inform the payee of the type and amount
of the payment that was offset; the
identity of the State which requested
the offset; and a contact point within
the State that will handle concerns regarding the offset. Disbursing officials
shall not be liable for failure to provide
this notice.
(2) Disbursing officials of FMS or any
other disbursing official which conducts an offset under this section will
share with HHS, upon request by the
Secretary of HHS, information contained in payment certification records
of persons who are delinquent in child
support obligations that would assist
in the collection of such debts. When
no offset is conducted, disbursing officials of FMS or any other disbursing
official, will provide such information
to HHS to the extent such information
is available from offset activities conducted by FMS and other disbursing officials.
(p) Liability of disbursing officials and
payment agencies. Neither the disbursing official nor the agency authorizing the payment shall be liable for
the amount of the administrative offset on the basis that the underlying obligation, represented by the payment
before the administrative offset was
taken, was not satisfied. Disbursing officials will notify the agency authorizing the payment that the offset has
occurred so that the agency authorizing the payment may direct any inquiries concerning the offset to the appropriate State.
[62 FR 36210, July 7, 1997, as amended at 63
FR 46145, Aug. 28, 1998]
§ 285.2 Offset of tax refund payments
to collect past-due, legally enforceable nontax debt.
(a) Definitions. For purposes of this
section:
Creditor agency means a Federal agency owed a claim that seeks to collect
that claim through tax refund offset.
Debt or claim refers to an amount of
money, funds, or property which has
been determined by an agency official
to be due the United States from any
person, organization, or entity, except
another Federal agency. For the purposes of this section, the terms
‘‘claim’’ and ‘‘debt’’ are synonymous
and interchangeable and includes debt
administered by a third party acting as
an agent for the Federal Government.
Debtor means a person who owes a
debt or claim. The term ‘‘person’’ includes any individual, organization or
entity, except another Federal agency.
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Fiscal Service, Treasury
§ 285.2
FMS means the Financial Management Service, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.
IRS means the Internal Revenue
Service, a bureau of the Department of
the Treasury.
Tax refund offset means withholding
or reducing a tax refund payment by an
amount necessary to satisfy a debt
owed by the payee(s) of a tax refund
payment.
Tax refund payment means any overpayment of Federal taxes to be refunded to the person making the overpayment after the IRS makes the appropriate credits as provided in 26
U.S.C. 6402(a) and 26 CFR 6402–3(a)(6)(i)
for any liabilities for any tax on the
part of the person who made the overpayment.
(b) General rule. (1) A Federal agency
(as defined in 26 U.S.C. 6402(g)) that is
owed by a person a past-due, legally enforceable nontax debt shall notify FMS
of the amount of such debt for collection by tax refund offset. However, any
agency subject to section 9 of the Act
of May 18, 1933 (16 U.S.C. 831h) owed
such a debt may, but is not required to,
notify FMS of the amount of such debt
for collection by tax refund offset.
(2) FMS will compare tax refund payment records, as certified by the IRS,
with records of debts submitted to
FMS. A match will occur when the taxpayer identifying number (as that term
is used in 26 U.S.C. 6109) and name (or
derivation of the name, known as a
‘‘name control’’) of a payment certification record are the same as the taxpayer identifying number and name
control of a debtor record. When a
match occurs and all other requirements for tax refund offset have been
met, FMS will reduce the amount of
any tax refund payment payable to a
debtor by the amount of any past-due,
legally enforceable debt owed by the
debtor. Any amounts not offset will be
paid to the payee(s) listed in the payment certification record.
(3) This section does not apply to any
debt or claim arising under the Internal Revenue Code.
(4)(i) This section applies to Federal
Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) overpayments provided the requirements of 31 U.S.C.
3720A(f)(1) and (2) are met with respect
to such overpayments.
(ii) For purposes of this section,
OASDI overpayment means any overpayment of benefits made to an individual under title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.).
(5) A creditor agency is not precluded
from using debt collection procedures,
such as wage garnishment, to collect
debts that have been submitted to FMS
for purposes of offset under this part.
Such debt collection procedures may
be used separately or in conjunction
with offset collection procedures.
(c) Regulations. Prior to submitting
debts to FMS for collection by tax refund offset, Federal agencies shall promulgate temporary or final regulations
under 31 U.S.C. 3716 and 31 U.S.C. 3720A,
governing the agencies’ authority to
collect debts by administrative offset,
in general, and offset of tax refund payments, in particular.
(d) Agency certification and referral of
debt—(1) Past-due, legally enforceable
debt eligible for tax refund offset. For
purposes of this section, when a Federal agency refers a past-due, legally
enforceable debt to FMS for tax refund
offset, the agency will certify to FMS
that:
(i) The debt is past-due and legally
enforceable in the amount submitted
to FMS and that the agency will ensure that collections are properly credited to the debt;
(ii) Except in the case of a judgment
debt or as otherwise allowed by law,
the debt is referred for offset within
ten years after the agency’s right of action accrues;
(iii) The creditor agency has made
reasonable efforts to obtain payment of
the debt in that the agency has:
(A) Submitted the debt to FMS for
collection by administrative offset and
complied with the provisions of 31
U.S.C. 3716(a) and related regulations,
to the extent that collection of the
debt by administrative offset is not
prohibited by statute;
(B) Notified, or has made a reasonable attempt to notify, the debtor that
the debt is past-due, and unless repaid
within 60 days after the date of the notice, will be referred to FMS for tax refund offset;
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§ 285.2
31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–06 Edition)
(C) Given the debtor at least 60 days
to present evidence that all or part of
the debt is not past-due or legally enforceable, considered any evidence presented by the debtor, and determined
that the debt is past-due and legally
enforceable; and
(D) Provided the debtor with an opportunity to make a written agreement
to repay the amount of the debt;
(iv) The debt is at least $25; and
(v) In the case of an OASDI overpayment—
(A) The individual is not currently
entitled to monthly insurance benefits
under title II of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.);
(B) The notice describes conditions
under which the Commissioner of Social Security is required to waive recovery of the overpayment, as provided
under 42 U.S.C. 404(b); and
(C) If the debtor files a request for a
waiver under 42 U.S.C. 404(b) within the
60-day notice period, the agency has
considered the debtor’s request.
(2) Pre-offset notice and consideration
of evidence for past-due, legally enforceable debt. (i) For purposes of paragraph
(d)(1)(iii)(B) of this section, a creditor
agency has made a reasonable attempt
to notify the debtor if the agency uses
the current address information contained in the agency’s records related
to the debt. Agencies may, but are not
required to, obtain address information
from the IRS pursuant to 26 U.S.C.
6103(m)(2), (4), or (5).
(ii) For purposes of paragraph
(d)(1)(iii)(C) of this section, if the evidence presented by the debtor is considered by an agent of the creditor
agency, or other entities or persons
acting on the agency’s behalf, the debtor must be accorded at least 30 days
from the date the agent or other entity
or person determines that all or part of
the debt is past-due and legally enforceable to request review by an officer or employee of the agency of any
unresolved dispute. The agency must
then notify the debtor of its decision.
(3) Referral of past-due, legally enforceable debt. A Federal agency will submit
past-due, legally enforceable debt information for tax refund offset to FMS
in the time and manner prescribed by
FMS. For each debt, the creditor agen-
cy will include the following information:
(i) The name and taxpayer identifying number (as defined in 26 U.S.C.
6109) of the debtor who is responsible
for the debt;
(ii) The amount of such past-due and
legally enforceable debt;
(iii) The date on which the debt became past-due;
(iv) The designation of the Federal
agency or subagency referring the debt;
and
(v) In the case of an OASDI overpayment, a certification by the Commissioner of Social Security designating
whether the amount payable to the
agency is to be deposited in either the
Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund or the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, but not
both.
(4) Correcting and updating referral. If,
after referring a past-due, legally enforceable debt to FMS as provided in
paragraph (d)(3) of this section, a creditor agency determines that an error
has been made with respect to the information transmitted to FMS, or if an
agency receives a payment or credits a
payment to the account of a debtor referred to FMS for offset, or if the debt
amount is otherwise incorrect, the
agency shall promptly notify FMS and
make the appropriate correction of the
agency’s records. Creditor agencies will
provide certification as required under
paragraph (d)(1) of this section for any
increases to amounts owed.
(5) FMS may reject a certification
which does not comply with the requirements of paragraph (d)(1) of this
section. Upon notification of the rejection and the reason for the rejection, a
creditor agency may resubmit the debt
with a corrected certification.
(e) Priorities for offset. (1) A tax refund
payment shall be reduced first by the
amount of any past-due support assigned to a State under section
402(a)(26) or section 471(a)(17) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 602(a)(26) or
42 U.S.C. 671(a)(17)) which is to be offset
under 26 U.S.C. 6402(c), 42 U.S.C. 664 and
the regulations thereunder; second, by
the amount of any past-due, legally enforceable debt owed to a Federal agency which is to be offset under 26 U.S.C.
6402(d), 31 U.S.C. 3720A and this section;
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Fiscal Service, Treasury
§ 285.2
and third, by the amount of any qualifying past-due support not assigned to
a State which is to be offset under 26
U.S.C. 6402(c), 42 U.S.C. 664 and the regulations thereunder.
(2) If a debtor owes more than one
past-due, legally enforceable debt to a
Federal agency or agencies, the tax refund payment shall be credited against
the debts in the order in which the
debts accrued. A debt shall be considered to have accrued at the time at
which the agency determines that the
debt became past due.
(3) Reduction of the tax refund payment pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6402(a), (c),
and (d) shall occur prior to crediting
the overpayment to any future liability for an internal revenue tax. Any
amount remaining after tax refund offset under 26 U.S.C. 6402 (a), (c), and (d)
shall be refunded to the taxpayer, or
applied to estimated tax, if elected by
the taxpayer pursuant to IRS regulations.
(f) Post-offset notice to the debtor, the
creditor agency, and the IRS. (1)(i) FMS
will notify the payee(s) to whom the
tax refund payment is due, in writing
of:
(A) The amount and date of the offset
to satisfy a past-due, legally enforceable nontax debt;
(B) The creditor agency to which this
amount has been paid or credited; and
(C) A contact point within the creditor agency that will handle concerns
or questions regarding the offset.
(ii) The notice in paragraph (f)(1)(i) of
this section will also advise any nondebtor spouse who may have filed a
joint tax return with the debtor of the
steps which a non-debtor spouse may
take in order to secure his or her proper share of the tax refund. See paragraph (g) of this section.
(2) FMS will advise each creditor
agency of the names, mailing addresses, and identifying numbers of the
debtors from whom amounts of pastdue, legally enforceable debt were collected and of the amounts collected
from each debtor for that agency. FMS
will not advise the creditor agency of
the source of payment from which such
amounts were collected. If a payment
from which an amount of past-due, legally enforceable debt is to be withheld
is payable to two individual payees,
FMS will notify the creditor agency
and furnish the name and address of
each payee to whom the payment was
payable.
(3) At least weekly, FMS will notify
the IRS of the names and taxpayer
identifying numbers of the debtors
from whom amounts of past-due, legally enforceable debt were collected
and the amounts collected from each
debtor.
(g) Offset made with regard to a tax refund payment based upon joint return. If
the person filing a joint return with a
debtor owing the past-due, legally enforceable debt takes appropriate action
to secure his or her proper share of a
tax refund from which an offset was
made, the IRS will pay the person his
or her share of the refund and request
that FMS deduct that amount from
amounts payable to the creditor agency. FMS and the creditor agency will
adjust their debtor records accordingly.
(h) Disposition of amounts collected.
FMS will transmit amounts collected
for past-due, legally enforceable debts,
less fees charged under paragraph (i) of
this section, to the creditor agency’s
account. If an erroneous payment is
made to any agency, FMS will notify
the creditor agency that an erroneous
payment has been made. The agency
shall pay promptly to FMS an amount
equal to the amount of the erroneous
payment (without regard to whether
any other amounts payable to such
agency have been paid).
(i) Fees. The creditor agency will reimburse FMS and the IRS for the full
cost of administering the tax refund
offset program. FMS will deduct the
fees from amounts collected prior to
disposition and transmit a portion of
the fees deducted to reimburse the IRS
for its share of the cost of administering the tax refund offset program.
To the extent allowed by law, creditor
agencies may add the offset fees to the
debt.
(j) Review of tax refund offsets. Any reduction of a taxpayer’s refund made
pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6402(d) shall not
be subject to review by any court of
the United States or by the Secretary
of the Treasury, FMS or IRS in an administrative proceeding. No action
brought against the United States to
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recover the amount of this reduction
shall be considered to be a suit for refund of tax. Any legal, equitable, or administrative action by any person
seeking to recover the amount of the
reduction of the overpayment must be
taken against the Federal creditor
agency to which the amount of the reduction was paid. Any action which is
otherwise available with respect to recoveries of overpayments of benefits
under 42 U.S.C. 404 must be taken
against the Commissioner of Social Security.
(k) Access to and use of confidential tax
information. Access to and use of confidential tax information in connection
with the tax refund offset program are
restricted by 26 U.S.C. 6103. Generally,
agencies will not receive confidential
tax information from FMS. To the extent such information is received,
agencies are subject to the safeguard,
recordkeeping, and reporting requirements of 26 U.S.C. 6103(p)(4) and the
regulations thereunder. The agency
shall inform its officers and employees
who access or use confidential tax information of the restrictions and penalties under the Internal Revenue Code
for misuse of confidential tax information.
(l) Effective date. This section applies
to tax refund payments payable under
26 U.S.C. 6402 after January 1, 1998.
§ 285.3 Offset of tax refund payments
to collect past-due support.
(a) Definitions. For purposes of this
section:
Debt as used in this section is synonymous with the term past-due support unless otherwise indicated.
Debtor as used in this section means
a person who owes past-due support.
FMS means the Financial Management Service, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.
HHS means the Department of Health
and Human Services, Office of Child
Support Enforcement.
IRS means the Internal Revenue
Service, a bureau of the Department of
the Treasury.
Past-due support means the amount of
support, determined under a court
order, or an order of an administrative
process established under State law,
for support and maintenance of a child,
or of a child and the parent with whom
the child is living, which has not been
paid, as defined in 42 U.S.C. 664(c).
Qualified child means a child:
(i) Who is a minor, or
(ii) Who, while a minor, was determined to be disabled under subchapters
II or XVI, Chapter 7, Title 42, United
States Code, and for whom an order of
support is in force.
State means the several States of the
United States. The term ‘‘State’’ also
includes the District of Columbia,
American Samoa, Guam, the United
States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Tax refund offset means withholding
or reducing a tax refund payment by an
amount necessary to satisfy a debt
owed by the payee(s) of a tax refund
payment.
Tax refund payment means any overpayment of Federal taxes to be refunded to the person making the overpayment after the IRS makes the appropriate credits as provided in 26
U.S.C. 6402(a) and 26 CFR 6402–3(a)(6)(i)
for any liabilities for any Federal tax
on the part of the person who made the
overpayment.
(b) General rule. (1) Past-due support
will be collected by tax refund offset
upon notification to FMS in accordance with 26 U.S.C. 6402(c), 42 U.S.C. 664
and this section. Collection by offset
under 26 U.S.C. 6402(c) is a collection
procedure separate from the collection
procedures provided by 26 U.S.C. 6305
and 26 CFR 301.6305–1, relating to the
assessment and collection of certain
child and spousal support liabilities.
Tax refund offset may be used separately or in conjunction with the collection procedures provided in 26 U.S.C.
6305, as well as other collection procedures.
(2) FMS will compare tax refund payment records, as certified by the IRS,
with records of debts submitted to
FMS. A match will occur when the taxpayer identifying number (as that term
is used in 26 U.S.C. 6109) and name of a
payment certification record are the
same as the taxpayer identifying number and name of a delinquent debtor
record. When a match occurs and all
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§ 285.3
other requirements for tax refund offset have been met, FMS will reduce the
amount of any tax refund payment
payable to a debtor by the amount of
any past-due support debt owed by the
debtor. Any amounts not offset will be
paid to the payee(s) listed in the payment certification record.
(c) Notification of past-due support—(1)
Past-due support eligible for tax refund
offset. Past-due support qualifies for
tax refund offset if:
(i)(A) There has been an assignment
of the support obligation to a State
and the amount of past-due support is
not less than $25.00, or such higher
amount as HHS rules may allow,
whichever is greater; or
(B) A State agency is providing support collection services under 42 U.S.C.
654(4), the amount of past-due support
is not less than $500.00, and the pastdue support is owed to or on behalf of
a qualified child (or a qualified child
and the parent with whom the child is
living if the same support order includes support for the child and the
parent); and
(ii) A notification of liability for
past-due support has been received by
FMS as prescribed by paragraphs (c)(2)
or (c)(3) of this section.
(2) Notification of liability for past-due
support and transmission of information
to FMS by HHS. States notifying HHS
of past-due support shall do so in the
manner and format prescribed by HHS.
The notification of liability shall be
accompanied by a certification that
the State has complied with the requirements contained in paragraph
(c)(4) of this section and with any requirements applicable to the offset of
Federal tax refunds to collect past-due
support imposed by State law or procedures. HHS shall consolidate and transmit to FMS the information contained
in the notifications of liability for
past-due support submitted by the
States provided that the State has certified that the requirements of paragraph (c)(4) of this section have been
met.
(3) Notification of liability for past-due
support transmitted directly to FMS by
States. States must notify HHS of pastdue support in accordance with the
provisions of paragraph (c)(2) of this
section unless HHS rules authorize no-
tification to FMS directly. If authorized by HHS rules, States may notify
FMS directly of past-due support.
States notifying FMS directly of pastdue support shall do so in the manner
and format prescribed by FMS. The notification of liability shall be accompanied by a certification that the State
has complied with the requirements
contained in paragraph (c)(4) of this
section and with any requirements applicable to the offset of Federal tax refunds to collect past-due support imposed by State law or procedures. FMS
may reject a notification of past-due
support which does not comply with
the requirements of this section. Upon
notification of the rejection and the
reason for rejection, the State may resubmit a corrected notification.
(4) Advance notification to debtor of intent to collect by tax refund offset. The
State, or HHS if the State requests and
HHS agrees, is required to provide a
written notification to the debtor, pursuant to the provisions of 42 U.S.C.
664(a)(3) and 45 CFR 303.72(e), informing
the debtor that the State intends to
refer the debt for collection by tax refund offset. The notice also shall:
(i) Instruct the debtor of the steps
which may be taken to contest the
State’s determination that past-due
support is owed or the amount of the
past-due support;
(ii) Advise any non-debtor who may
file a joint tax return with the debtor
of the steps which a non-debtor spouse
may take in order to secure his or her
proper share of the tax refund; and
(iii) In cases when a debt is being enforced by more than one State, advise
the debtor of his or her opportunities
to request a review with the State enforcing collection or the State issuing
the support order as prescribed by the
provisions of 45 CFR 303.72(g).
(5) Correcting and updating notification. The State shall, in the manner
and in the time frames provided by
FMS or HHS, notify FMS or HHS of
any deletion or net decrease in the
amount of past-due support referred to
FMS, or HHS as the case may be, for
collection by tax refund offset. The
State may notify FMS or HHS of any
increases in the amount of the debt referred to FMS for collection by tax refund offset provided that the State has
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complied with the requirements of
paragraph (c)(4) of this section with regard to those debts.
(6) Collection of past-due support enforced by multiple States. When a State
has knowledge that the debt is being
enforced by more than one State, the
State notifying FMS, or HHS as the
case may be, of the debt shall inform
any such other State involved in enforcing the debt when it receives the
offset amount.
(d) Priorities for offset. (1) As provided
in 26 U.S.C. 6402 as amended, a tax refund payment shall be reduced in the
following order of priority:
(i) First by the amount of any pastdue support assigned to a State (welfare cases) which is to be offset under
26 U.S.C. 6402(c), 42 U.S.C. 664 and this
section;
(ii) Second, by the amount of any
past-due, legally enforceable debt owed
to a Federal agency which is to be offset under 26 U.S.C. 6402(d), 31 U.S.C.
3720A and § 285.2 of this part;
(iii) Third, by the amount of any
qualifying past-due support not assigned to a State (non-welfare cases)
which is to be offset under 26 U.S.C.
6402(c), 42 U.S.C. 664 and this section;
and
(iv) Fourth, by the amount of any
past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligation which is to be offset under 26 U.S.C. 6402(e).
(2) Reduction of the tax refund payment pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6402(a), (c),
(d), and (e) shall occur prior to crediting the overpayment to any future liability for an internal revenue tax.
Any amount remaining after tax refund offset under 26 U.S.C. 6402(a), (c),
(d), and (e) shall be refunded to the taxpayer, or applied to estimated tax, if
elected by the taxpayer pursuant to
IRS regulations.
(e) Post-offset notice. (1)(i) FMS shall
notify the debtor in writing of:
(A) The amount and date of the offset
to satisfy past-due support;
(B) The State to which this amount
has been paid or credited; and
(C) A contact point within the State
that will handle concerns or questions
regarding the offset.
(ii) The notice in paragraph (e)(1)(i)
of this section also will advise any nondebtor who may have filed a joint tax
return with the debtor of the steps
which a non-debtor spouse may take in
order to secure his or her proper share
of the tax refund. See paragraph (f) of
this section.
(2) FMS will advise HHS of the
names, mailing addresses, and identifying numbers of the debtors from
whom amounts of past-due support
were collected, of the amounts collected from each debtor through tax refund offset, the names of any non-debtor spouses who may have filed a joint
return with the debtor, and of the
State on whose behalf each collection
was made. Alternatively, FMS will provide such information to each State
that refers debts directly to FMS. FMS
will inform HHS and each State that
the payment source is a tax refund
payment.
(3) At least weekly, FMS will notify
the IRS of the names and taxpayer
identifying numbers of the debtors
from whom amounts owed for past-due
support were collected from tax refund
offsets and the amounts collected from
each debtor.
(4) At such time and in such manner
as FMS and HHS agree, but no less
than annually, FMS will advise HHS of
the States which have furnished notices of past-due support, the number
of cases in each State with respect to
which such notices have been furnished, the amount of past-due support
sought to be collected by each State,
and the amount of such tax refund offset collections actually made in the
case of each State. As FMS and HHS
may agree, FMS may provide additional offset-related information about
States which have furnished notices of
past-due support.
(f) Offset made with regard to a tax refund payment based upon joint return. If
the person filing a joint return with a
debtor owing the past-due support
takes appropriate action to secure his
or her proper share of a tax refund
from which an offset was made, the
IRS will pay the person his or her
share of the refund and request that
FMS
deduct
that
amount
from
amounts payable to HHS or the State,
as the case may be. FMS and HHS, or
the appropriate State, will adjust their
debtor records accordingly.
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§ 285.4
(g) Disposition of amounts collected.
FMS will transmit amounts collected
for debts, less fees charged under paragraph (h) of this section, to HHS or to
the appropriate State. If FMS learns
that an erroneous offset payment is
made to HHS or any State, FMS will
notify HHS or the appropriate State
that an erroneous offset payment has
been made. FMS may deduct the
amount of the erroneous offset payment from amounts payable to HHS or
the State, as the case may be. Alternatively, upon FMS’ request, the State
shall return promptly to the affected
taxpayer or FMS an amount equal to
the amount of the erroneous payment
(unless the State previously has paid
such amounts, or any portion of such
amounts, to the affected taxpayer).
HHS and States shall notify FMS any
time HHS or a State returns an erroneous offset payment to an affected
taxpayer. FMS and HHS, or the appropriate State, will adjust their debtor
records accordingly.
(h) Fees. The State will pay a fee to
FMS for the full cost of administering
the tax refund offset program. The fee
(not to exceed $25 per case submitted)
will be established annually in such
amount as FMS and HHS agree to be
sufficient to reimburse FMS for the
full cost of the offset procedure. FMS
will deduct the fees from amounts collected prior to disposition and transmit
a portion of the fees deducted to reimburse the IRS for its share of the cost
of administering the tax refund offset
program. Fees will be charged only for
actual tax refund offsets completed.
(i) Review of tax refund offsets. In accordance with 26 U.S.C. 6402(f), any reduction of a taxpayer’s refund made
pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6402(c), (d), or (e)
shall not be subject to review by any
court of the United States or by the
Secretary of the Treasury, FMS or IRS
in an administrative proceeding. No action brought against the United States
to recover the amount of this reduction
shall be considered to be a suit for refund of tax.
(j) Access to and use of confidential tax
information. Access to and use of confidential tax information in connection
with the tax refund offset program is
permitted to the extent necessary in
establishing
appropriate
agency
records, locating any person with respect to whom a reduction under 26
U.S.C. 6402(c) is sought for purposes of
collecting the debt, and in the defense
of any litigation or administrative procedure ensuing from a reduction made
under section 6402(c).
(k) Effective date. This section applies
to tax refund payments payable under
26 U.S.C. 6402 after January 1, 1999.
[63 FR 72094, Dec. 30, 1998]
§ 285.4 Offset of Federal benefit payments to collect past-due, legally
enforceable nontax debt.
(a) Scope. (1) This section sets forth
special rules applicable to the offset of
Federal benefit payments payable to an
individual under the Social Security
Act (other than Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) payments), part B of the
Black Lung Benefits Act, or any law
administered by the Railroad Retirement Board (other than payments that
such Board determines to be tier 2 benefits) to collect delinquent nontax debt
owed to the United States.
(2) As used in this section, benefit
payments ‘‘due to’’ an individual,
‘‘payable to’’ an individual, and/or benefit payments ‘‘received by’’ an individual, refer to those benefit payments
expected to be paid to an individual before any amounts are offset to satisfy
the payee’s delinquent debt owed to the
United States. Nothing in these
phrases, similar phrases, or this section is intended to imply or confer any
new or additional rights or benefits on
an individual with respect to his or her
entitlement to benefit payments. The
Financial Management Service (FMS),
the Social Security Administration,
the Railroad Retirement Board, and
other payment agencies are not liable
for the amount offset from an individual’s benefit payment on the basis that
the underlying obligation, represented
by the payment before the offset was
taken, was not satisfied. See 31 U.S.C.
3716(c)(2)(A).
(b) Definitions. As used in this section:
Administrative offset or offset means
withholding funds payable by the
United States (including funds payable
by the United States on behalf of a
State government) to, or held by the
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United States for, a person to satisfy a
debt.
Agency or Federal agency means a department, agency, court, court administrative office, or instrumentality in
the executive, judicial, or legislative
branch of the Federal Government, including government corporations.
Covered benefit payment means a Federal benefit payment payable to an individual under the Social Security Act
(other than SSI payments), part B of
the Black Lung Benefits Act, or any
law administered by the Railroad Retirement Board (other than payments
that such Board determines to be tier 2
benefits). The amount of the covered
benefit payment payable to a debtor
for purposes of this section will be the
amount after reduction or deduction
required under the laws authorizing
the program. Reductions to recover
benefit overpayments are excluded
from the covered benefit payment when
calculating amounts available for offset.
Creditor agency means a Federal agency owed a debt that seeks to collect
that debt through administrative offset.
Debt or claim means an amount of
money, funds, or property which has
been determined by an agency official
to be due the United States from any
person, organization, or entity except
another Federal agency. Debt or claim
does not include a debt or claim arising
under the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 or the tariff laws of the United
States.
Debtor means a person who owes a
debt. The term ‘‘person’’ includes any
individual, organization or entity, except another Federal agency.
Disbursing official means an official
who has authority to disburse public
money pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3321 or another law, including an official of the
Department of the Treasury, the Department of Defense, the United States
Postal Service, or any other government corporation, or any official of the
United States designated by the Secretary of the Treasury to disburse public money.
FMS means the Financial Management Service, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.
Monthly covered benefit payment
means a covered benefit payment payable to a payee on a recurring basis at
monthly intervals that is not expressly
limited in duration, at the time the
first payment is made, to a period of
less than 12 months.
Payee means a person who is due a
payment from a disbursing official. For
purposes of this section, a ‘‘payee’’ is a
person who is entitled to the benefit of
all or part of a payment from a disbursing official.
Taxpayer identifying number means
the identifying number described under
section 6109 of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 6109). For an individual, the taxpayer identifying
number generally is the individual’s social security number.
(c) Administrative offset, generally. Disbursing officials shall offset payments
to satisfy, in whole or in part, debts
owed by the payee. Disbursing officials
shall compare payment records with
records of debts submitted to FMS for
collection by administrative offset. A
match will occur when the taxpayer
identifying number and name of the
payee (as defined in paragraph (b) of
this section) on a payment record are
the same as the taxpayer identifying
number and name of the debtor on a
debt record. When a match occurs and
all other requirements for offset have
been met, the disbursing official shall
offset the payment to satisfy, in whole
or in part, the debt. Any amounts not
offset shall be paid to the payee. Covered benefit payments, i.e., payments
made to individuals under the Social
Security Act (other than Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) payments), part
B of the Black Lung Benefits Act, or
any law administered by the Railroad
Retirement Board (RRB) (other than
tier 2 benefit payments) are among the
types of payments which may be offset
to collect debts owed to the United
States. Offset of covered benefit payments are subject to the limitations
contained in this section. Offsets of
covered benefit payments will occur
only if the name and taxpayer identifying number of the person who is entitled to the benefit of all or a part of
the payment matches the name and
taxpayer identifying number of the
debtor.
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§ 285.5
(d) Submission of debts to FMS for collection by administrative offset. Creditor
agencies must notify FMS of all pastdue, legally enforceable debt delinquent for more than 180 days for purposes of collection by administrative
offset. Creditor agencies may notify
FMS of all debt delinquent for less
than 180 days for purposes of collection
by administrative offset. Prior to such
notification, creditor agencies must
certify to FMS that the debt is pastdue, legally enforceable, and that the
creditor agency has provided the debtor with notice and an opportunity for a
review in accordance with the provisions of 31 U.S.C. 3716(a) and other applicable law.
(e) Offset amount. (1) The amount offset from a monthly covered benefit
payment shall be the lesser of:
(i) The amount of the debt, including
any interest, penalties and administrative costs;
(ii) An amount equal to 15% of the
monthly covered benefit payment; or
(iii) The amount, if any, by which the
monthly covered benefit payment exceeds $750.
(2) A debtor shall not receive a refund
of any amounts offset if the debtor’s
monthly covered benefit payments are
reduced, suspended, terminated, or otherwise not received for a period of 12
months.
(3) Examples. (i) A debtor receives
monthly Social Security benefits of
$850. The amount offset is the lesser of
$127.50 (15% of $850) or $100 (the amount
by which $850 exceeds $750). In this example, the amount offset is $100 (assuming the debt is $100 or more).
(ii) A debtor receives monthly Social
Security benefits of $1250. The amount
offset is the lesser of $187.50 (15% of
$1250) or $500 (the amount by which
$1250 exceeds $750). In this example, the
amount offset is $187.50 (assuming the
debt is $187.50 or more).
(iii) A debtor receives monthly Social
Security payments of $650. No amount
will be offset because $650 is less than
$750.
(f) Notification of offset. (1) Before offsetting a covered benefit payment, the
disbursing official will notify the payee
in writing of the date offset will commence. The notice shall inform the
payee of the type of payment that will
be offset; the identity of the creditor
agency which requested the offset; and
a contact point within the creditor
agency that will handle concerns regarding the offset.
(2) The disbursing official conducting
the offset will notify the payee in writing of the occurrence of the offset to
satisfy, in whole or in part, a delinquent debt owed to the United States.
The notice shall inform the payee of
the type and amount of the payment
that was offset; the identity of the
creditor agency which requested the
offset; and a contact point within the
creditor agency that will handle concerns regarding the offset.
(3) Non-receipt by the debtor of the
notices described in paragraphs (f)(1)
and (f)(2) of this section shall not impair the legality of the administrative
offset.
(g) Fees. A fee which FMS has determined to be sufficient to cover the full
cost of the offset procedure, shall be
deducted from each offset amount.
Creditor agencies may add this fee to
the debt if not otherwise prohibited by
law.
(h) Disposition of amounts collected.
The disbursing official conducting the
offset will transmit amounts collected
for debts, less fees charged under paragraph (g) of this section, to the appropriate creditor agency. If an erroneous
offset payment is made to a creditor
agency, the disbursing official will notify the creditor agency that an erroneous offset payment has been made.
The disbursing official may deduct the
amount of the erroneous offset payment from future amounts payable to
the creditor agency. Alternatively,
upon the disbursing official’s request,
the creditor agency shall return
promptly to the disbursing official or
the affected payee an amount equal to
the amount of the erroneous payment.
The disbursing official and the creditor
agency shall adjust the debtor records
appropriately.
[63 FR 44988, Aug. 21, 1998]
§ 285.5 Centralized offset of Federal
payments to collect nontax debts
owed to the United States.
(a) Scope. (1) This section governs the
centralized offset of Federal payments
to collect delinquent, nontax debts
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§ 285.5
31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–06 Edition)
owed to Federal agencies in accordance
with 31 U.S.C. 3716, 3720A and 26 U.S.C.
6402 and applicable regulations. The
Department of the Treasury’s Financial Management Service (FMS) administers centralized offset through
the Treasury Offset Program. Offset occurs when the Federal government
withholds part or all of a debtor’s Federal payment to satisfy the debtor’s delinquent debt owed to the government.
(2) Special rules apply to the collection of delinquent, nontax debts
through the centralized offset of certain types of Federal payments, including tax refunds (31 CFR 285.2), Federal
benefit payments (31 CFR 285.4), and
Federal salary payments (31 CFR 285.7).
While this rule applies to such payments, nothing in this rule is intended
to contradict any provision of those
more specific sections. To the extent
any provision of this rule is inconsistent with a more specific provision
of §§ 285.2, 285.4 or 285.7 of this part, the
more specific provision shall apply.
(3) The receipt of collections pursuant to this section does not preclude a
Federal agency from pursuing other
debt collection remedies in conjunction
with centralized offset. Nothing in this
section precludes an agency from pursuing all available debt collection remedies simultaneously, provided that
collections do not exceed the amount
of the debt, including any interest,
penalties, and administrative costs.
(b) Definitions. As used in this section:
Agency or Federal agency means a department, agency or subagency, court,
court administrative office, or instrumentality in the executive, judicial, or
legislative branch of the Federal Government, including government corporations.
Centralized offset means the offset of
Federal payments through the Treasury Offset Program to collect debts
which creditor agencies have certified
pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3716(c), 3720A(a)
and applicable regulations. The term
‘‘centralized offset’’ includes the Treasury Offset Program’s processing of offsets of Federal payments disbursed by
disbursing officials other than FMS.
Creditor agency has the same meaning
as found at 31 U.S.C. 3701(e)(1) and
means any Federal agency that is owed
a claim or debt that seeks to collect
that claim or debt through offset of
Federal payments.
Debt or claim has the meaning contained in 31 U.S.C. 3701(b) and means
any amount of money, funds, or property that has been determined by an
appropriate official of the Federal government to be owed to the United
States by a person, organization, or entity, except another Federal agency.
The terms ‘‘debt’’ and ‘‘claim’’ are synonymous and include debt administered by a third party acting as an
agent for the Federal Government. For
purposes of this section, the term
‘‘debt’’ does not include debts arising
under the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (26 U.S.C. 1 et seq.), the tariff laws
of the United States, or the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), except
to the extent provided in sections 204(f)
and 1631(b)(4) of such Act (42 U.S.C.
404(f) and 1383(b)(4)(A), respectively)
and 31 U.S.C. 3716(c).
Debt collection center means a Federal
agency or a unit or subagency within a
Federal agency that has been designated by the Secretary to collect
debt owed to the United States.
Debtor means a person who owes a
debt to the United States.
Delinquent or past-due refers to the
status of a debt and means a debt has
not been paid by the date specified in
the agency’s initial written demand for
payment, or applicable agreement or
instrument (including a post-delinquency payment agreement), unless
other payment arrangements satisfactory to the creditor agency have been
made. Nothing in this section is intended to define whether a debt is delinquent or past-due for purposes other
than offset under this section.
Delinquent debt record means information about a past-due, legally enforceable debt submitted by a creditor agency to FMS for purposes of offset in accordance with the provisions of this
section. Information about a past-due,
legally enforceable debt includes, but
is not limited to, the amount of the
debt and the debtor’s name, address,
and taxpayer identifying number.
Disbursing official means an official
who has authority to disburse public
money pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3321 or another law, including an official of the
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Fiscal Service, Treasury
§ 285.5
Department of the Treasury, the Department of Defense, the United States
Postal Service, or any other government corporation, or any official of the
United States designated by the Secretary of the Treasury to disburse public money.
FMS means the Financial Management Service, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury and its disbursing office. FMS is responsible for
administering centralized offset.
Legally enforceable refers to a characteristic of a debt and means there
has been a final agency determination
that the debt, in the amount stated, is
due, and there are no legal bars to collection by offset. Debts that are not legally enforceable for purposes of this
section include, but are not limited to,
debts subject to the automatic stay in
bankruptcy proceedings or debts covered by a statute that prohibits collection of such debt by offset. For example, if a delinquent debt is the subject
of a pending administrative review
process required by statute or regulation, and if collection action during the
review process is prohibited, the debt is
not considered legally enforceable for
purposes of this section. Nothing in
this section is intended to define
whether a debt is legally enforceable
for purposes other than offset under
this section.
Match means the taxpayer identifying number and name (or derivative
thereof) of the payee on a payment
record are the same as the taxpayer
identifying number and name of the
debtor on a delinquent debt record.
Offset means withholding funds payable by the United States to, or held by
the United States for, a person to satisfy a debt owed by the payee.
Past-due has the same meaning as
‘‘delinquent’’, as defined above.
Payee means a person who is due a
payment from a disbursing official as
certified by the payment agency. For
purposes of this section, a ‘‘payee’’ is a
person who is entitled to the benefit of
all or part of a payment from a disbursing official.
Payment agency means any agency
that transmits payment requests, in
the form of certified payment vouchers
or other similar forms, to a disbursing
official for disbursement.
Payment record means information
contained on a payment request, in the
form of a certified payment voucher or
other similar form, that has been
transmitted to a disbursing official for
disbursement in accordance with the
provisions of 31 U.S.C. 3325 and 3528 or
other applicable law. For purposes of
matching, ‘‘payment record’’ may include information extracted from a
payment request. Such information
could include, but is not limited to, the
amount and type of payment and the
payee’s name, address, and taxpayer
identifying number.
Person means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, organization, State or local government, or
any other type of entity other than a
Federal agency.
Recurring payment means a payment
to an individual that is expected to be
payable to a payee at regular intervals,
at least four times annually. The term
‘‘recurring payment’’ does not include
payments made pursuant to a Federal
contract, grant or cooperative agreement.
Representative payee means a person
named as payee on the payment voucher certified by the payment agency who
is acting on behalf of a person entitled
to receive the benefit of all or part of
the payment.
Secretary means the Secretary of the
Treasury.
Taxpayer identifying number means
the identifying number described under
section 6109 of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 6109). For an individual, the taxpayer identifying
number is generally the individual’s social security number.
(c) General rule. (1) Creditor agencies
shall submit delinquent debts to FMS
for purposes of offset in accordance
with paragraph (d) of this section.
(2) Disbursing officials shall compare
payment records with delinquent debt
records submitted to FMS for collection by offset. When a match occurs,
and all other requirements for offset
have been met, the disbursing official
shall offset the payment to satisfy, in
whole or part, the payee’s debt to the
extent allowed by law. The disbursing
official shall pay any amounts not offset to the payee. See paragraphs (e), (f),
(g), and (h) of this section.
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(d) Requirements for creditor agencies—
(1) Mandatory notification of delinquent
debts. As required by 31 U.S.C.
3716(c)(6), and in accordance with the
provisions of this section, a creditor
agency shall notify FMS of all legally
enforceable debts over 180 days delinquent that are owed to the creditor
agency. By complying with this requirement, creditor agencies will satisfy the requirement of 31 U.S.C.
3720A(a) to notify the Secretary of past
due, legally enforceable debt for purposes of tax refund offset. If a debt
which is over 180 days delinquent is
considered not legally enforceable solely because it is under review as described in paragraph (d)(6)(ii)(C) of this
section, the agency must submit the
debt to FMS for collection by offset
within 30 days of completing the review.
(2) Discretionary notification of delinquent debts. Creditor agencies may notify FMS of any debt that is less than
180 days delinquent, so long as the requirements of paragraph (d)(3) of this
section are met.
(3) Debt eligibility. (i) A debt submitted to FMS for collection by centralized offset must be:
(A) Past-due in the amount stated by
the creditor agency;
(B) Legally enforceable;
(C) Less than 10 years delinquent, unless the debt legally may be offset if
more than 10 years delinquent;
(D) More than $25, or such other
amount as FMS may prescribe; and
(E) Not secured by collateral subject
to a pending foreclosure action, unless
the creditor agency certifies that offset
will not affect the Government’s rights
to the secured collateral.
(ii) The creditor agency must certify
that the debt is eligible for collection
by offset, as required in paragraph
(d)(6) of this section.
(iii) Debts owed by foreign sovereigns
may be referred to Treasury Offset Program at the discretion of the creditor
agency to the extent allowed by law,
but are excluded from mandatory referral under paragraph (d)(1) of this section.
(iv) In accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3719
and the procedures promulgated thereunder, creditor agencies must report to
Treasury the amount of debt over 180
days delinquent eligible for the Treasury Offset Program. The procedures require that such report include the
amount of debt over 180 days delinquent that the creditor agency has determined is not eligible for the Treasury Offset Program and the reasons for
such determination.
(4) Creditor agency regulations. Prior
to submitting a debt to FMS for purposes of offset, Federal agencies shall
prescribe regulations in accordance
with the requirements of 31 U.S.C.
3716(b), 31 CFR 901.3(b)(4), 31 U.S.C.
3720A(a), and 31 CFR 285.2(c). Before
submitting debts to FMS for purposes
of offsetting Federal salary payments,
creditor agencies must also publish
regulations pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 5514, 31
CFR 285.7(d)(2), and 5 CFR 550.1104.
(5) Delinquent debt information requirements. For each debt submitted to FMS
for offset, the creditor agency shall
provide the following information:
(i) Name and taxpayer identifying
number of the person who owes the
debt;
(ii) Debtor’s address last known to
the creditor agency;
(iii) The amount of the debt (including, as applicable, interest, penalties
and administrative costs) and the date
on which the debt became delinquent;
(iv) The address and telephone number of the contact point within the
creditor agency who will handle questions, concerns or communications regarding the debt;
(v) Written certification as required
in paragraph (d)(6) of this section; and
(vi) Other information as may be requested by FMS.
(6) Creditor agency certification. At the
time the creditor agency notifies FMS
of a debt for purposes of collection by
offset, the creditor agency shall provide, in the manner required by FMS,
written certification to FMS that:
(i) The debt meets the requirements
described in paragraph (d)(3)(i) of this
section;
(ii) In compliance with 31 U.S.C. 3716,
3720A, 26 U.S.C. 6402, and applicable
regulations, the creditor agency has
made a reasonable attempt to provide
each debtor with:
(A) Written notification, at least
sixty days prior to submitting the debt
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Fiscal Service, Treasury
§ 285.5
and at the debtor’s most current address known to the agency, of the nature and the amount of the debt, the
intention of the creditor agency to collect the debt through offset, and an explanation of the rights of the debtor;
(B) An opportunity to inspect and
copy the records of the creditor agency
with respect to the debt;
(C) An opportunity for a review within the creditor agency of the determination of indebtedness, including the
opportunity to present evidence that
all or part of the debt is not past-due
or legally enforceable;
(D) An opportunity to enter into a
written repayment agreement with the
creditor agency; and
(E) In the case of Federal employees,
an opportunity for a hearing prior to
submitting the debt for Federal salary
offset. See 5 U.S.C. 5514 and 5 CFR
550.1104. (See 31 CFR 285.7(d), which describes the authority to waive the salary offset certification as a prerequisite to referring the debt for other
types of offsets.)
(iii) The creditor agency has complied with all statutes, regulations, and
policies applicable to the creditor
agency’s assessment of interest, penalties and administrative costs (including, as applicable, 31 U.S.C. 3717), and
that the creditor agency has provided a
written notice to debtors explaining
the creditor agency’s requirements
concerning any such charges assessed
against those debtors;
(iv) The individual signing the certification has the delegated authority
to execute the certification on behalf
of the head of the creditor agency; and
(v) such additional information that
FMS may from time to time require in
compliance with law, regulation or policy.
(7) Updating Certification. After a debt
has been submitted to FMS for purposes of collection by offset, the creditor agency shall provide, at least annually, in the manner and time frames
required by FMS, written certification
to FMS that:
(i) The debt continues to meet the requirements described in paragraph
(d)(3) of this section; and
(ii) The creditor agency has properly
credited all collections to the debt bal-
ance (other than collections received
through centralized offset).
(8) FMS instructions to creditor agencies. Agencies will provide the certification in a form and manner prescribed
by FMS. FMS will instruct agencies as
to the form such written certifications
will take and how certifications can be
delivered to FMS, including, but not
limited to, the use of electronic data
transmission.
(9) Agencies which are both creditor
and disbursing officials. A creditor agency that also designates disbursing officials pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3321(c) is not
required to certify debts arising out of
its operations to FMS before such
agency’s disbursing officials offset to
collect such claims. This paragraph
(d)(9) does not apply to FMS when it
submits debts which it is servicing pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3711(g).
(10) Correcting and updating debt information. (i) When submitting debts for
offset, the creditor agency must properly credit all collections, other than
collections received from centralized
offset.
(ii) The creditor agency shall update
delinquent debt records, in the manner
and time frames required by FMS, to
reflect any amounts credited by the
creditor agency to the debtor’s account
after submission of the debt to FMS
(other than credits for amounts collected by centralized offset).
(iii) The creditor agency may update
delinquent debt records to reflect any
increases in the amount of the debt
submitted to FMS for collection by offset provided that the creditor agency
has complied with the requirements of
paragraph (d)(6) of this section with regard to the increased amounts.
(iv) The creditor agency shall notify
FMS immediately of any change in the
status of the legal enforceability of the
debt—for example, if the creditor agency receives notice that the debtor has
filed for bankruptcy protection.
(v) The creditor agency shall notify
FMS if it has returned any monies to
the debtor/payee.
(11) Debts at FMS, a debt collection center, or the Department of Justice. If a
creditor agency has transferred a debt
to FMS or a Treasury-designated debt
collection center pursuant to 31 U.S.C.
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31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–06 Edition)
3711(g) and 31 CFR 285.12, or if a creditor agency has referred a debt to the
Department of Justice for enforced collection, then FMS, the debt collection
center, or the Department of Justice,
as the case may be, is responsible for
submitting the debt information to
FMS to satisfy the creditor agency’s
obligations under 31 U.S.C. 3716(c)(6)
and this section.
(12) Certification of amount to be offset
if different than maximum allowed by
law. Generally, the amount of an offset
will be calculated as set forth in paragraph (f)(2) of this section. If the creditor agency certifies to FMS that the
creditor agency has determined the offset amount allowed by law would result in financial hardship to the debtor
and that a lesser offset amount (specified either in dollar amount or as a percentage of the payment) is reasonable
and appropriate based on the debtor’s
financial circumstances, then the disbursing official shall offset such lesser
amount specified by the creditor agency.
(13) Duplication of notices not required.
Nothing in this section requires any
creditor agency to duplicate any notice
or opportunity for hearing or review
provided to the debtor prior to offset.
(e) Payments made by the United
States—(1) Payments eligible for offset.
Except as set forth in paragraph (e)(2)
of this section, all Federal payments
are eligible for offset under this section. Eligible Federal payments include, but are not limited to, Federal
wage, salary, and retirement payments, vendor and expense reimbursement payments, certain benefit payments, travel advances and reimbursements, grants, fees, refunds, judgments
(including those certified for payment
pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 1304), tax refunds,
and other payments made by Federal
agencies.
(2) Payments excluded from offset under
this section. This section does not apply
to the following payments:
(i) Black Lung Part C benefit payments, or Railroad Retirement tier 2
payments;
(ii) Payments made under the tariff
laws of the United States;
(iii) Veterans Affairs benefit payments to the extent such payments are
exempt from offset pursuant to 38
U.S.C. 5301;
(iv) Payments made under any program administered by the Secretary of
Education under title IV of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 for which payments are certified by the Department
of Education;
(v) Payments made under any other
Federal law if offset is expressly prohibited by Federal statute;
(vi) Payments made under any program for which the Secretary has
granted an exemption in accordance
with the provisions of 31 U.S.C.
3716(c)(3)(B) and paragraph (e)(7) of this
section; and
(vii) Federal loan payments other
than travel advances.
(3) Specific rules for certain payment
types. (i) Specific rules apply with respect to the offset of the following
types of payments:
(A) Social Security benefit payments
(excluding Supplemental Security Income payments), Black Lung (part B)
payments, and Railroad Retirement
(other than tier 2) payments to the extent such payments are subject to offset under 31 U.S.C. 3716(c)(3)(A) (see 31
CFR 285.4);
(B) Federal salary payments (see 31
CFR 285.7; 5 CFR 550.1101 through
550.1108); and
(C) Tax refund payments (see 31 CFR
285.2).
(ii) This section governs the offset of
such payments to the extent that this
section is not inconsistent with the
special rules that apply for a particular
type of payment.
(4) Payments made to joint payees. If a
payment is certified to more than one
payee (i.e., joint payees), the entire
payment (including a tax refund payment) will be subject to offset for a
debt of either payee, unless otherwise
prohibited by law or regulation. See 31
CFR 285.2(g) regarding offset of joint
tax refunds and claims to return offset
funds to the non-debtor, joint payee.
(5) Payments made to representative
payees. If a payment is made to a person solely in that person’s capacity as
a representative payee for another person having the beneficial interest in a
payment, the disbursing official shall
offset that payment only to collect
debts owed by the person having the
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Fiscal Service, Treasury
§ 285.5
beneficial interest in the payment.
Payment agencies are responsible for
identifying representative payees.
(6) Assigned payments. (i) If a person,
including a Federal contractor, assigns
the right to receive a Federal payment
to a third party (the ‘‘assignee’’), the
assigned payment will be subject to
offset to collect a delinquent debt owed
by the assignee.
(ii) An assigned payment will also be
subject to offset to collect delinquent
debts owed by the assignor unless:
(A) In accordance with 41 U.S.C.
15(e)–(f), the payment has been properly assigned to a financial institution
pursuant to a Federal contract, the
contract contains provisions prohibiting the payment from being reduced
or offset for debts owed by the contractor, and the debt arose independently of the contract; or
(B) pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3727, the
payment is being made to the assignee
as settlement or satisfaction of a claim
brought by the assignee against the
creditor agency based upon the contract, and the debt of the contractor
arises independently of the contract; or
(C) the debtor has properly assigned
the right to such payments and the
debt arose after the effective date of
the assignment.
(7) Payment agency requests for exemptions from centralized offset pursuant to
31 U.S.C. 3716(c)(3)(B)—(i) Means-tested
payments. The Secretary will exempt
from centralized offset payments made
under means-tested programs when requested by the head of the agency making such payments. For purposes of
this section ‘‘means-tested programs’’
are those which base eligibility on a
determination that the income and/or
assets of the beneficiary are inadequate
to provide the beneficiary with an adequate standard of living without program assistance.
(ii) Payments made under programs
which are not means-tested. Upon written request from the payment agency,
the Secretary may exempt classes of
payments which are not means-tested.
Payment agencies may request that
the Secretary exempt 100% of each payment in a payment class or that the
Secretary exempt a specific lesser percentage. The Secretary will consider
such requests under standards pre-
scribed by the Secretary and published
on
the
FMS
Web
site.
See
www.fms.treas.gov/debt.
(iii) Procedures for requesting exemptions. The head of the payment agency
must make a request for exemption in
writing. The request must comply with
the procedures published by FMS and
made available at its Web site. See
www.fms.treas.gov/debt.
(iv) Exemptions apply to classes of payments. The Secretary will only exempt
classes of payments. Requests for exemption of individual payments will
not be considered.
(8) Payment agency responsibilities. (i)
Payment agencies shall prepare and
submit payment vouchers in the manner prescribed by the disbursing official to ensure that all payments legally
eligible for offset will be offset and all
payments not eligible will not be offset. Payment agencies shall notify the
disbursing agency, in the manner prescribed by FMS, that a payment is a
recurring payment.
(ii) Payment agencies shall also review the nature of payments the agency certifies and notify FMS of any
legal bars to centralized offset of payments.
(9) Payment and disbursing officials
have satisfied the obligation underlying
the payment. When an offset occurs, the
debtor has received payment in full for
the underlying obligation represented
by the payment. Pursuant to 31 U.S.C.
3716(c)(2)(A), neither the disbursing official nor the payment agency shall be
liable for the amount of the offset on
the basis that the underlying obligation was not satisfied. For example, if
an agency certifies a payment to a Federal contractor for work completed or
services provided, and that payment is
offset to collect a delinquent debt that
the contractor owes to another Federal
agency, the contractor has been paid in
full for its services. When the creditor
agency credits the offset amount to the
contractor’s delinquent debt, the contractor has received full value for the
services performed under the contract.
(f) Offset—(1) When offset occurs. When
a match occurs and all other requirements for offset under 31 U.S.C. 3716(c),
3720A, and applicable regulations have
been met, the disbursing official shall
offset the payee’s Federal payment to
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satisfy, in whole or part, the debt owed
by the debtor. Offsets will continue
until the debt, including any interest,
penalties, and administrative costs, is
paid in full or otherwise resolved to the
satisfaction of the creditor agency.
(2) Offset amount. (i) Except as otherwise provided in 31 CFR 285.4(e) and
285.7(g) (addressing centralized offset of
certain Federal benefit payments and
salary payments, respectively), the disbursing official shall offset the lesser
of:
(A) The amount of the payment as
shown on the payment record; or
(B) The amount of the debt, including
any interest, penalties and administrative costs; or
(C) In the case of retirement annuity
payments certified by the Office of Personnel Management, up to twenty-five
percent of the amount of the payment
as shown on the payment record.
(ii)
Notwithstanding
paragraph
(f)(2)(i) of this section, if a creditor
agency has specified another amount,
either in dollars or as a percentage of
the payment, pursuant to paragraph
(d)(15) of this section, the disbursing official shall offset the amount specified
by the creditor agency.
(3) Priorities for collecting multiple
debts owed by the payee. (i) A levy pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 shall take precedence over deductions under this section.
(ii) When a payment may be offset to
collect more than one debt, amounts
offset will be applied:
(A) First, to satisfy any past due support debts assigned to a State pursuant
to sections 402(a)(26) and 471(a)(17) of
the Social Security Act (see 26 U.S.C.
6402(c) and §§ 285.1 and 285.3 of this
part);
(B) Second, to satisfy any debts owed
to Federal agencies, as described in
this § 285.5;
(C) Third, to satisfy any qualifying
past-due support claims not assigned to
a State (see 26 U.S.C. 6402(c) and §§ 285.1
and 285.3 of this part); and
(D) Fourth, to any debts owed to
States for debts other than past-due
support (see § 285.8 of this part).
(g) Notices—(1) Warning notice by disbursing official to payee/debtor. Before
offsetting a recurring payment, the disbursing official, or FMS on behalf of
the disbursing official, will notify the
payee in writing when offsets will
begin (which may be stated as a number of days or number of payments
from the time of the notice) and the
anticipated amount of such offset
(which may be stated as a percentage
of the payment). Such notice shall also
provide the information contained in
paragraph (g)(3) of this section. Failure
to send such notice does not affect the
validity of the offset.
(2) No additional warning notice when
collections are suspended and resumed. As
described in paragraph (f)(3)(iii) of this
section, FMS may suspend or reduce
the application of collections from a
recurring payment for one debt when
another debt, which is owed by the
same debtor and has a higher legal priority, is submitted to FMS for collection. The disbursing official is not required to send additional warning notices when collections for the lower
priority debt resume; however, pursuant to paragraph (g)(3) of this section,
each offset will be accompanied by an
offset notice, which explains how the
offset amounts were applied.
(3) Offset notice. When an offset occurs under this section, the disbursing
official, or FMS on behalf of the disbursing official, shall notify the payee
in writing that an offset has occurred
including:
(i) A description of the payment and
the amount of offset taken;
(ii) The identity of the creditor agency requesting the offset; and
(iii) The address and telephone number of the contact point within the
creditor agency who will handle concerns regarding the offset.
(h) Notification to creditor and payment
agencies. (1) FMS will notify the creditor agency of all offsets made to collect the creditor agency’s debts. Such
notification shall include the complete
name and taxpayer identifying number
of
each
debtor/payee,
the
total
amounts collected from each debtor/
payee’s payment, and the amount of
any fees charged by FMS and any other
disbursing official conducting offsets.
FMS will not advise the creditor agency of the source of payment from which
such amounts were collected.
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§ 285.7
(2) When a non-Treasury disbursing
official conducts the offset, that disbursing official will transmit to FMS
all of the information necessary for
FMS to send notification under paragraph (h)(1) of this section, including
the amount of any fees that the creditor agency is responsible for paying.
(3) FMS will make available to the
payment agency the information contained in the notification of offset, so
that the payment agency may direct
any questions concerning the claim to
the appropriate contact person in the
creditor agency.
(i) Disposition of amounts collected. (1)
FMS will transmit amounts collected
for debts, less fees charged pursuant to
paragraph (j) of this section, to the appropriate creditor agency or agencies.
Alternatively, FMS may bill the creditor agency for any fees charged pursuant to paragraph (j) of this section.
(2) If FMS learns from a paying agency that a payment should not have
been made, and thus not offset, FMS
will notify the creditor agency. FMS
may deduct the offset amount from future amounts payable to the creditor
agency. Alternatively, upon FMS’s request, the creditor agency shall return
promptly to the disbursing official an
amount equal to the amount of the offset (without regard to whether any
other amounts payable to such disbursing official have been paid).
(3) Generally, the disbursing official
is not responsible for refunding money
to debtors. The creditor agency shall
notify FMS any time the creditor agency returns all or any part of an offset
payment to an affected payee. See paragraph (d)(10)(v) of this section. FMS
and the creditor agency shall adjust
the debtor records appropriately.
(j) Fees. FMS may charge a fee sufficient to cover the full cost of implementing the centralized offset program, including the amount of any fees
charged by other disbursing officials
conducting an offset under this section.
FMS may deduct the fees from
amounts collected by offset or may bill
the creditor agencies. FMS will charge
fees only for actual offsets collected.
(k) Waiver of certain provisions under
the Computer Matching Privacy and Protection Act of 1988. As authorized by 31
U.S.C. 3716(f), FMS, under a delegation
of authority from the Secretary, has
waived certain requirements of the
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100–503,
as amended, for matches between delinquent debt records and payment
records for offset purposes upon written certification by the head of the
creditor agency that the requirements
of 31 U.S.C. 3716(a) have been met. Specifically, for administrative offset of
Federal payments other than tax refunds, FMS has waived the requirements for a computer matching agreement contained in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o) and
for post-match notice and verification
contained in 5 U.S.C. 552a(p) so long as
the creditor agency provides certification to FMS in accordance with the
provisions of paragraph (d)(6) of this
section. Such waiver is not necessary
for offset of Federal tax refunds, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(8)(B). The Data
Integrity Board of the Department of
the Treasury shall review and include
in reports under 5 U.S.C. 552a(u)(3)(D) a
description of the matching activities
conducted for centralized offset under
this section. No other Data Integrity
Board is required to take any action
under 5 U.S.C. 552a(u) concerning these
computerized comparisons.
[67 FR 78942, Dec. 26, 2002, as amended at 70
FR 7135, Jan. 21, 2005]
§ 285.7 Salary offset.
(a) Purpose and scope. (1) This section
establishes FMS’s procedures for the
centralized offset of Federal salary
payments to collect delinquent nontax
debts owed to the United States. This
process is known as centralized salary
offset. Rules issued by the Office of
Personnel Management contain the requirements Federal agencies must follow prior to conducting centralized or
non-centralized salary offset and the
procedures for requesting offsets directly from a paying agency, rather
than through TOP. See 5 CFR 550.1101
through 550.1108.
(2) This section implements the requirement under 5 U.S.C. 5514(a)(1) that
all Federal agencies, using a process
known as centralized salary offset computer matching, identify Federal employees who owe delinquent nontax
debt to the United States. Centralized
salary offset computer matching is the
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computerized comparison of delinquent
debt records with records of Federal
employees. The purpose of centralized
salary offset computer matching is to
identify those debtors whose Federal
salaries should be offset to collect delinquent debts owed to the Federal
Government.
(3) This section specifies the delinquent debt records and Federal employee records that must be included in
the salary offset matching process. For
purposes of this section, delinquent
debt records consist of the debt information submitted to the Financial
Management Service for purposes of
administrative offset as required under
31 U.S.C. 3716(c)(6). Agencies that submit their debt to FMS for purposes of
administrative offset are not required
to submit duplicate information for
purposes of centralized salary offset
computer matching under 5 U.S.C. 5514
and this section.
(4) This section establishes an interagency consortium to implement centralized salary offset computer matching on a government-wide basis as required under 5 U.S.C. 5514(a)(1).
(5) The receipt of collections from
salary offsets does not preclude a creditor agency from pursuing other debt
collection remedies, including the offset of other Federal payments to satisfy delinquent nontax debt owed to
the United States. A creditor agency
should pursue, when deemed appropriate by such agency, such debt collection remedies separately or in conjunction with salary offset.
(6) This section does not govern the
centralized offset of final salary payments or lump-sum payments made to
employees who have left an agency’s
employ. The centralized offset of such
payments is governed by § 285.5 of this
part.
(b) Definitions. For purposes of this
section:
Administrative offset means withholding funds payable by the United
States to, or held by the United States
for, a person to satisfy a debt owed by
the payee.
Agency means a department, agency
or subagency, court, court administrative office, or instrumentality in the
executive,
judicial,
or
legislative
branch of the Federal government, including government corporations.
Centralized salary offset computer
matching means the computerized comparison of Federal employee records
with delinquent debt records to identify Federal employees who owe such
debts.
Creditor agency means any agency
that is owed a debt.
Debt means any amount of money,
funds, or property that has been determined by an appropriate official of the
Federal government to be owed to the
United States by a person, including
debt administered by a third party acting as an agent for the Federal Government. For purposes of this section, the
term ‘‘debt’’ does not include debts
arising under the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.).
Delinquent debt record means information about a past-due, legally enforceable debt, submitted by a creditor
agency to FMS for purposes of administrative offset (including salary offset)
in accordance with the provisions of 31
U.S.C. 3716 and applicable regulations.
Debt information includes the amount
and type of debt and the debtor’s name,
address, and taxpayer identifying number.
Disbursing official means an officer or
employee designated to disburse Federal salary payments. This section applies to all disbursing officials of Federal salary payments, including but
not limited to, disbursing officials of
the Department of the Treasury, the
Department of Defense, the United
States Postal Service, any government
corporation, and any disbursing official
of the United States designated by the
Secretary.
Disposable pay has the same meaning
as that term is defined in 5 CFR
550.1103.
Federal employee means a current employee of an agency, including a current member of the Armed Forces or a
Reserve of the Armed Forces (Reserves), employees of the United States
Postal Service, and seasonal and temporary employees.
Federal
employee
records
means
records of Federal salary payments
that a paying agency has certified to a
disbursing official for disbursement.
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§ 285.7
FMS means the Financial Management Service, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.
Paying agency means the agency that
employs the Federal employee who
owes the debt and authorizes the payment of his or her current pay. A paying agency also includes an agency
that performs payroll services on behalf of the employing agency.
Salary offset means administrative
offset to collect a debt owed by a Federal employee from the current pay account of the employee.
Secretary means the Secretary of the
Treasury or his or her delegate.
Taxpayer identifying number means
the identifying number described under
section 6109 of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 6109). For an individual, the taxpayer identifying
number is the individual’s social security number.
(c) Establishment of the consortium. As
required by the provisions of 5 U.S.C.
5514(a)(1), by issuance of this section,
the Secretary establishes an interagency consortium to implement centralized salary offset computer matching. The consortium initially includes
all agencies that disburse Federal salary payments, including but not limited to, FMS, the Department of Defense, the United States Postal Service, government corporations, and
agencies with Treasury-designated disbursing officials. The membership of
the consortium may be changed at the
discretion of the Secretary, and the
Secretary will be responsible for the
ongoing coordination of the activities
of the consortium.
(d) Creditor agency participation. (1) As
required under 5 U.S.C. 5514(a)(1), creditor agencies shall participate at least
annually in centralized salary offset
computer matching. By notifying FMS
of all past-due, legally enforceable
debts delinquent for more than 180 days
for purposes of 31 U.S.C. 3716(c)(6), creditor agencies shall have met the requirement set forth in 5 U.S.C.
5514(a)(1). Additionally, creditor agencies may notify FMS of past-due, legally enforceable debts delinquent for
less than 180 days for purposes of centralized offset.
(2) Prior to submitting debts to FMS
for purposes of administrative offset
(including salary offset) and centralized salary offset computer matching,
Federal agencies shall prescribe regulations in accordance with the requirements of 31 U.S.C. 3716 (administrative
offset) and 5 U.S.C. 5514 (salary offset).
(3) Prior to submitting a debt to FMS
for purposes of collection by administrative offset, including salary offset,
creditor agencies shall provide written
certification to FMS that:
(i) The debt is past-due and legally
enforceable in the amount submitted
to FMS and that the creditor agency
will ensure that collections (other than
collections through offset) are properly
credited to the debt;
(ii) Except in the case of a judgment
debt or as otherwise allowed by law,
the debt is referred for offset within
ten years after the agency’s right of action accrues;
(iii) The creditor agency has complied with the provisions of 31 U.S.C.
3716 (administrative offset) and related
regulations including, but not limited
to, the provisions requiring that the
creditor agency provide the debtor
with applicable notices and opportunities for a review of the debt; and
(iv) The creditor agency has complied
with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5514 (salary offset) and related regulations including, but not limited to, the provisions requiring that the creditor agency provide the debtor with applicable
notices and opportunities for a hearing.
(4) The creditor agency is not required to submit the certification set
forth in paragraph (d)(3)(iv) of this section prior to submitting a debt to FMS.
However, if the creditor agency does
not provide such certification initially,
the creditor agency shall provide the
Federal employee with the notices and
opportunity for a hearing, as required
by 5 U.S.C. 5514 and applicable regulations, and shall make the necessary
certification before the disbursing official offsets a salary payment pursuant
to this section. A creditor agency may
submit a debt without the requirement
set forth in paragraph (d)(3)(iv) of this
section, only if the creditor agency intends to complete the certification
after complying with the provisions of
5 U.S.C. 5514 and applicable regulations.
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31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–06 Edition)
(5) The creditor agency shall notify
FMS immediately of any payments
credited by the creditor agency to the
debtor’s account, other than credits for
amounts collected by offset, after submission of the debt to FMS. The creditor agency also shall notify FMS immediately of any change in the status
of the legal enforceability of the debt,
for example, if the creditor agency receives notice that the debtor has filed
for bankruptcy protection.
(e) Centralized salary offset computer
match. (1) Delinquent debt records will
be compared with Federal employee
records maintained by members of the
consortium or paying agencies. The
records will be compared to identify
Federal employees who owe delinquent
debts for purposes of collecting the
debt by administrative offset. A match
will occur when the taxpayer identifying number and name of a Federal
employee are the same as the taxpayer
identifying number and name of a debtor.
(2) As authorized by the provisions of
31 U.S.C. 3716(f), FMS, under a delegation of authority from the Secretary,
has waived certain requirements of the
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, 5 U.S.C. 552a, as
amended, for administrative offset, including salary offset, upon written certification by the head of the creditor
agency that the requirements of 31
U.S.C. 3716(a) have been met. Specifically, FMS has waived the requirements for a computer matching agreement contained in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o) and
for post-match notice and verification
contained in 5 U.S.C. 552a(p). The creditor agency will provide certification
in accordance with the provisions of
paragraph (d)(3)(iii) of this section.
(f) Salary offset. When a match occurs
and all other requirements for offset
have been met, as required by the provisions of 31 U.S.C. 3716(c) the disbursing official shall offset the Federal
employee’s salary payment to satisfy,
in whole or part, the debt owed by the
employee. Alternatively, the paying
agency, on behalf of the disbursing official, may deduct the amount of the offset from an employee’s disposable pay
before the employee’s salary payment
is certified to a disbursing official for
disbursement. The salary paying agen-
cy shall use such records as it deems
necessary to accurately calculate disposable pay in accordance with 5 CFR
550.1103.
(g) Offset amount. (1) The amount offset from a salary payment under this
section shall be the lesser of:
(i) The amount of the debt, including
any interest, penalties and administrative costs; or
(ii) An amount up to 15% of the debtor’s disposable pay.
(2) Alternatively, the amount offset
may be an amount agreed upon, in
writing, by the debtor and the creditor
agency.
(3) Offsets will continue until the
debt, including any interest, penalties,
and costs, is paid in full or otherwise
resolved to the satisfaction of the creditor agency.
(h) Priorities. (1) A levy pursuant to
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall
take precedence over other deductions
under this section.
(2) When a salary payment may be reduced to collect more than one debt,
amounts offset under this section will
be applied to a debt only after amounts
offset have been applied to satisfy past
due child support debts assigned to a
State pursuant to 402(a)(26) or section
471(a)(17) of the Social Security Act.
(i) Notice. (1) Before offsetting a salary payment, the disbursing official, or
the paying agency on behalf of the disbursing official, shall notify the Federal employee in writing of the date deductions from salary will commence
and of the amount of such deductions.
(2)(i) When an offset occurs under
this section, the disbursing official, or
the paying agency on behalf of the disbursing official, shall notify the Federal employee in writing that an offset
has occurred including:
(A) A description of the payment and
the amount of offset taken;
(B) The identity of the creditor agency requesting the offset; and,
(C) A contact point within the creditor agency that will handle concerns
regarding the offset.
(ii) The information described in
paragraphs (i)(2)(i)(B) and (i)(2)(i)(C) of
this section does not need to be provided to the Federal employee when
the offset occurs if such information
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§ 285.8
was included in a prior notice from the
disbursing official or paying agency.
(3) The disbursing official will advise
each creditor agency of the names,
mailing addresses, and taxpayer identifying numbers of the debtors from
whom amounts of past-due, legally enforceable debt were collected and of the
amounts collected from each debtor for
that agency. The disbursing official
will not advise the creditor agency of
the source of payment from which such
amounts were collected.
(j) Fees. Agencies that perform centralized salary offset computer matching services may charge a fee sufficient
to cover the full cost for such services.
In addition, FMS, or a paying agency
acting on behalf of FMS, may charge a
fee sufficient to cover the full cost of
implementing the administrative offset
program. FMS may deduct the fees
from amounts collected by offset or
may bill the creditor agencies. Fees
charged for offset shall be based on actual administrative offsets completed.
(k) Disposition of amounts collected.
The disbursing official conducting the
offset will transmit amounts collected
for debts, less fees charged under paragraph (j) of this section, to the appropriate creditor agency. If an erroneous
offset payment is made to a creditor
agency, the disbursing official will notify the creditor agency that an erroneous offset payment has been made.
The disbursing official may deduct the
amount of the erroneous offset payment from future amounts payable to
the creditor agency. Alternatively,
upon the disbursing official’s request,
the creditor agency shall return
promptly to the disbursing official or
the affected payee an amount equal to
the amount of the erroneous payment
(without regard to whether any other
amounts payable to such agency have
been paid). The disbursing official and
the creditor agency shall adjust the
debtor records appropriately.
[63 FR 23357, Apr. 28, 1998, as amended at 70
FR 22789, May 3, 2005]
§ 285.8 Offset of tax refund payments
to collect state income tax obligations.
(a) Definitions. For purposes of this
section:
Debt as used in this section means
past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligation unless otherwise
indicated.
Debtor as used in this section means
a person who owes a state income tax
obligation.
FMS means the Financial Management Service, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.
IRS means the Internal Revenue
Service, a bureau of the Department of
the Treasury.
Past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligation means a debt which
resulted from:
(1) A judgment rendered by a court of
competent jurisdiction which has determined an amount of State income
tax to be due,
(2) A determination after an administrative hearing which has determined
an amount of state income tax to be
due and which is no longer subject to
judicial review, or
(3) A State income tax assessment
(including self-assessments) which has
become final in accordance with State
law but not collected and which has
not been delinquent for more than 10
years.
State means the several States of the
United States. The term ‘‘State’’ also
includes the District of Columbia,
American Samoa, Guam, the United
States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
State income tax obligation means
State income tax obligations as determined under State law. For purposes of
this section, State income tax obligation includes any local income tax administered by the chief tax administration agency of the State.
Tax refund offset means withholding
or reducing a tax refund overpayment
by an amount necessary to satisfy a
debt owed by the payee(s).
Tax refund payment means any overpayment of Federal taxes to be refunded to the person making the overpayment after the IRS makes the appropriate credits as provided in 26
U.S.C. 6402(a) and 26 CFR 6402–3(a)(6)(i)
for any liabilities for any Federal tax
on the part of the person who made the
overpayment.
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31 CFR Ch. II (7–1–06 Edition)
(b) General rule. (1) FMS will collect
past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligations by tax refund offset upon notification to FMS of a pastdue, legally enforceable State income
tax obligation in accordance with 26
U.S.C. 6402(e) and this section.
(2) FMS will compare tax refund payment records, as certified by the IRS,
with records of debts submitted to
FMS. A match will occur when the taxpayer identifying number (as that term
is used in 26 U.S.C. 6109) and name on a
payment certification record are the
same as the taxpayer identifying number and name on a delinquent debtor
record. When a match occurs and all
other requirements for tax refund offset have been met, FMS will reduce the
amount of any tax refund payment
payable to a debtor by the amount of
any past-due, legally enforceable State
income tax obligation owed by the
debtor. Any amounts not offset will be
paid to the payee(s) listed in the payment certification record.
(3) FMS only will offset a tax refund
payment if the address shown on the
Federal tax return for the taxable year
of the overpayment is an address within the State seeking the offset.
(c) Notification of past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligations. (1)
Notification to FMS of past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligations. States notifying FMS of
state income tax obligations shall do
so in the manner and format prescribed
by FMS. The notification of liability
must be accompanied by a certification
that the debt is past-due and legally
enforceable and that the State has
complied with the requirements contained in paragraph (c)(3) of this section and with any requirements applicable to the offset of Federal tax refunds to collect past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligations
imposed by State law or procedures.
The certification must specifically
state that none of the debts submitted
for collection by offset are debts owed
by an individual who has claimed immunity from state taxation by reason
of being an enrolled member of an Indian tribe who lives on a reservation
and derives all of his or her income
from that reservation unless such
claim has been adjudicated de novo on
its merits in accordance with paragraph (c)(3). FMS may reject a notification of past-due, legally enforceable
State income tax obligations which do
not comply with the requirements of
this section. Upon notification of the
rejection and the reason for rejection,
the State may resubmit a corrected notification.
(2) Minimum amount of past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligations that may be submitted. FMS
only will accept notification of pastdue, legally enforceable State income
tax obligations of $25 or more or such
higher amounts as determined by FMS.
States will be notified annually of any
changes in the minimum debt amount.
(3)(i) Advance notification to the debtor
of the State’s intent to collect by Federal
tax refund offset. The State is required
to provide a written notification to the
debtor by certified mail, return receipt
requested, informing the debtor that
the State intends to refer the debt for
collection by tax refund offset. The notice must also give the debtor at least
60 days to present evidence, in accordance with procedures established by
the State, that all or part of the debt is
not past-due or not legally enforceable.
(ii) Determination. The State must, in
accordance with procedures established
by the State, consider any evidence
presented by a debtor in response to
the notice described in paragraph
(c)(3)(i) of this section and determine
whether an amount of such debt is
past-due and legally enforceable. In
those cases where a debtor claims that
he or she is immune from State taxation by reason of being an enrolled
member of an Indian tribe who lives on
a reservation and derives all of his or
her income from that reservation,
State procedures shall include consideration of such claims de novo on the
merits unless such claims have been
previously adjudicated by a court of
competent jurisdiction. States shall,
upon request from the Secretary of the
Treasury, make such procedures available to the Secretary of the Treasury
for review.
(iii) Reasonable efforts. Prior to submitting a debt to FMS for collection by
tax refund offset the State must make
reasonable efforts to collect the debt.
Reasonable efforts include making
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§ 285.8
written demand on the debtor for payment and complying with any other
prerequisites to offset established by
the State.
(4) Correcting and updating notification. The State shall, in the manner
and in the time frames provided by
FMS, notify FMS of any deletion or decrease in the amount of past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligation referred to FMS for collection
by tax refund offset. The State may notify FMS of any increases in the
amount of the debt referred to FMS for
collection by tax refund offset provided
that the State has complied with the
requirements of paragraph (c)(3) of this
section with regard to those debts.
(d) Priorities for offset. (1) As provided
in 26 U.S.C. 6402, a tax refund payment
shall be reduced first by the amount of
any past-due support assigned to a
State; second, by the amount of any
past-due, legally enforceable debt owed
to a Federal agency; third, by the
amount of any qualifying past-due support not assigned to a State and fourth,
by any past-due, legally enforceable
State income tax obligation.
(2) Reduction of the tax refund payment pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6402(a), (c),
(d) and (e) shall occur prior to crediting
the overpayment to any future liability for an internal revenue tax. Any
amount remaining after tax refund offset under 26 U.S.C. 6402(a), (c), (d) and
(e) shall be refunded to the taxpayer, or
applied to estimated tax, if elected by
the taxpayer pursuant to IRS regulations.
(3) If FMS receives notice from a
State of more than one debt subject to
this section that is owed by a debtor to
the State, any overpayment by the
debtor shall be applied against such
debts in the order in which such debts
accrued.
(e) Post-offset notice. (1) When an offset occurs, FMS shall notify the debtor
in writing of:
(i) The amount and date of the offset
and that the purpose of the offset was
to satisfy a past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligation;
(ii) The State to which this amount
has been paid or credited; and
(iii) A contact point within the State
that will handle concerns or questions
regarding the offset.
(2) The notice in paragraph (e)(1) of
this section also will advise any nondebtor spouse who may have filed a
joint return with the debtor of the
steps which the non-debtor spouse may
take in order to secure his or her proper share of the tax refund. See paragraph (f) of this section.
(3) FMS will advise States of the
names, mailing addresses, and taxpayer
identifying numbers of the debtors
from whom amounts of state income
tax obligations were collected, and of
the amounts collected from each debtor through tax refund offset.
(4) At least weekly, FMS will notify
the IRS of the names and taxpayer
identifying numbers of the debtors
from whom amounts owed for past-due,
legally enforceable State income tax
obligations were collected from tax refund offsets and the amounts collected
from each debtor.
(f) Offset made with regard to a tax refund payment based upon joint return. If
the person filing a joint return with a
debtor owing the past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligation
takes appropriate action to secure his
or her proper share of a tax refund
from which an offset was made, the
IRS will pay the person his or her
share of the refund and request that
FMS deduct that amount from future
amounts payable to the State or that
FMS otherwise obtain the funds back
from the State. FMS, or the appropriate State, will adjust their debtor
records accordingly.
(g) Disposition of amounts collected.
FMS will transmit amounts collected
for debts, less fees charged under paragraph (h) of this section, to the appropriate State. If FMS learns that an erroneous offset payment is made to any
State, FMS will notify the appropriate
State that an erroneous offset payment
has been made. FMS may deduct the
amount of the erroneous offset payment from future amounts payable to
the State. Alternatively, upon FMS’
request, the State shall return promptly to the affected taxpayer or FMS an
amount equal to the amount of the erroneous payment (unless the State previously has paid such amounts, or any
portion of such amounts, to the affected taxpayer). States shall notify
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FMS any time a State returns an erroneous offset payment to an affected
taxpayer. FMS, or the appropriate
State, will adjust their debtor records
accordingly.
(h) Fees. The State will pay a fee to
FMS to cover the full cost of offsets
taken. The fee will be established annually in such amount as FMS determines to be sufficient to reimburse
FMS for the full cost of the offset procedure. FMS will deduct the fees from
amounts collected prior to disposition
and transmit a portion of the fees deducted to reimburse the IRS for its
share of the cost of administering the
tax refund offset program for purposes
of collecting past-due, legally enforceable State income tax obligations reported to FMS by the States. Fees will
be charged only for actual tax refund
offsets completed.
(i) Review of tax refund offsets. In accordance with 26 U.S.C. 6402(f), any reduction of a taxpayer’s refund made
pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 6402(e) shall not
be subject to review by any court of
the United States or by the Secretary
of the Treasury, FMS or IRS in an administrative proceeding. No action
brought against the United States to
recover the amount of this reduction
shall be considered to be a suit for refund of tax. This subsection does not
preclude any legal, equitable, or administrative action against the State
to which the amount of such reduction
was paid.
(j) Access to and use of confidential tax
information. Access to and use of confidential tax information in connection
with the tax refund offset program is
permitted to the extent necessary in
establishing
appropriate
agency
records, locating any person with respect to whom a reduction under 26
U.S.C. 6402(e) is sought for purposes of
collecting the debt, and in the defense
of any litigation or administrative procedure ensuing from a reduction made
under section 6402(e).
(k) Effective date. This section applies
to tax refund payments payable under
26 U.S.C. 6402 beginning January 1,
2000.
[64 FR 71231, Dec. 20, 1999]
Subpart B—Authorities Other Than
Offset
§ 285.11 Administrative wage garnishment.
(a) Purpose. This section provides
procedures for Federal agencies to collect money from a debtor’s disposable
pay by means of administrative wage
garnishment to satisfy delinquent
nontax debt owed to the United States.
(b) Scope. (1) This section applies to
any Federal agency that administers a
program that gives rise to a delinquent
nontax debt owed to the United States
and to any agency that pursues recovery of such debt.
(2) This section shall apply notwithstanding any provision of State law.
(3) Nothing in this section precludes
the compromise of a debt or the suspension or termination of collection
action in accordance with applicable
law. See, for example, the Federal
Claims Collection Standards (FCCS), 31
CFR parts 900–904.
(4) The receipt of payments pursuant
to this section does not preclude a Federal agency from pursuing other debt
collection remedies, including the offset of Federal payments to satisfy delinquent nontax debt owed to the
United States. A Federal agency may
pursue such debt collection remedies
separately or in conjunction with administrative wage garnishment.
(5) This section does not apply to the
collection of delinquent nontax debt
owed to the United States from the
wages of Federal employees from their
Federal employment. Federal pay is
subject to the Federal salary offset
procedures set forth in 5 U.S.C. 5514 and
other applicable laws.
(6) Nothing in this section requires
agencies to duplicate notices or administrative proceedings required by contract or other laws or regulations.
(c) Definitions. As used in this section
the following definitions shall apply:
Agency means a department, agency,
court, court administrative office, or
instrumentality in the executive, judicial, or legislative branch of the Federal Government, including government corporations. For purposes of this
section, agency means either the agency that administers the program that
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| File Type | application/pdf |
| File Title | Document |
| Subject | Extracted Pages |
| Author | U.S. Government Printing Office |
| File Modified | 2006-09-12 |
| File Created | 2006-09-12 |