10 C.F.R. § 1015.203 Collection By Administrative Offset

• Library: Code of Federal Regulations
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through November 30, 2023
• Citation: 10 C.F.R. § 1015.203
• Year: 2023

(a) Scope.

(1) The term "administrative offset" has the meaning provided in 31 U.S.C. 31undefined3701(a)(1).

(2) This section does not apply to:(i) Debts arising under the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 42undefined301, et. seq.) except as provided in 42 U.S.C. 42undefined404;(ii) Payments made under the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 42undefined301, et. seq.) except as provided for in 31 U.S.C. 31undefined3716(c) (see 31 CFR 31undefined285.4, Federal Benefit Offset);(iii) Debts arising under, or payments made under, the Internal Revenue Code (see 31 CFR 31undefined285.2, Tax Refund Offset) or the tariff laws of the United States;(iv) Offsets against Federal salaries to the extent these standards are inconsistent with regulations published to implement such offsets under 5 U.S.C. 5undefined5514 and 31 U.S.C. 31undefined3716 (see 5 CFR part 550 , subpart K, and 31 CFR 31undefined285.7, Federal Salary Offset);(v) Offsets under 31 U.S.C. 31undefined3728 against a judgment obtained by a debtor against the United States;(vi) Offsets or recoupments under common law, state law, or Federal statutes specifically prohibiting offsets or recoupments of particular types of debts; or(vii) Offsets in the course of judicial proceedings, including bankruptcy.

(3) Unless otherwise provided for by contract or law, debts or payments that are not subject to administrative offset under 31 U.S.C. 31undefined3716 may be collected by administrative offset under the common law or other applicable statutory authority.

(4) Unless otherwise provided by law, administrative offset of payments under the authority of 31 U.S.C. 31undefined3716 to collect a debt may not be conducted more than 10 years after the Government's right to collect the debt first accrued, unless facts material to the Government's right to collect the debt were not known and could not reasonably have been known by the official or officials of the Government who were charged with the responsibility to discover and collect such debts. This limitation does not apply to debts reduced to a judgment.

(5) In bankruptcy cases, DOE will seek legal advice from appropriate legal counsel concerning the impact of the Bankruptcy Code, particularly 11 U.S.C. 11undefined106, 11undefined362, and 11undefined553, on pending or contemplated collections by offset.

(b) Mandatory centralized administrative offset.

(1) As described in § 10undefined1015.201(e), under the DCIA, DOE is required to refer all debts over 180 days delinquent to Treasury for purposes of debt collection (i.e., cross-servicing). Administrative offset is one type of collection tool used by Treasury to collect debts referred under 31 CFR 31undefined285.12. Thus, by transferring debts to Treasury, DOE will satisfy the requirement to notify Treasury of debts for the purposes of administrative offset and duplicate referrals are not required. A debt, which is not transferred to Treasury for purposes of debt collection, however, may be subject to the DCIA requirement of notification to Treasury for purposes of administrative offset.

(2) The names and taxpayer identifying numbers (TINs) of debtors who owe debts referred to Treasury as described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section shall be compared to the names and TINs on payments to be made by Federal disbursing officials. Federal disbursing officials include disbursing officials of Treasury, the Department of Defense, the United States Postal Service, other Government...