41 C.F.R. § 105-55.011 Collection By Administrative Offset

• Library: Code of Federal Regulations
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through December 31, 2023
• Citation: 41 C.F.R. § 105-55.011
• 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, except as provided in 42 U.S.C. 42undefined404; (ii) Payments made under the Social Security Act, 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 General Services Administration's (GSA's) right to collect the debt first accrued, unless facts material to GSA's right to collect the debt were not known and could not reasonably have been known by the official or officials of GSA 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, GSA will ascertain 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) GSA is required to refer past due, legally enforceable non-tax debts that are over 180 days delinquent to the Secretary for collection by centralized administrative offset. Debts that are less than 180 days delinquent also may be referred to the Secretary for this purpose. See paragraph (b)(5) of this section for debt certification requirements.

(2) The names and taxpayer identifying numbers (TINs) of debtors who owe debts referred to the Secretary as described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section will be compared to the names and TINs on payments to be made by Federal disbursing officials. Federal disbursing officials include disbursing officials of the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Defense, the United States Postal Service, other Government corporations, and disbursing officials of the United States designated by the Secretary. When the name and TIN of a debtor match the name and TIN of a payee and all other requirements for offset have been met, the payment will be offset to satisfy the debt.

(3) Federal disbursing officials will notify the debtor/payee in writing that an offset has occurred to satisfy, in part or in full, a past due, legally enforceable delinquent debt. The notice will include a description of the type and amount of the payment from which the offset was taken, the amount of offset that was taken, the identity of GSA as the creditor agency requesting the offset, and a contact point within GSA who will respond to questions regarding the offset.

(4)(i) Offsets may be initiated only after the debtor-(A) Has been sent written notice of the type and amount of the debt, the intention of GSA to use administrative offset to collect the debt, and an explanation of the debtor's rights under 31 U.S.C. 31undefined3716(c)(7); and (B) The debtor has been given-(1) The opportunity to inspect and copy Agency records related to the debt; (2) The opportunity for a review within GSA of the determination of indebtedness (see paragraph (e) of this section); and (3) The...