treasury offset program

[mikah2k]

I was looking at a treasury webpage here and saw faq question #5.

5. What is the Treasury Offset Program (TOP)?

A5: The Treasury Offset Program (TOP) is a centralized debt collection program that FMS developed to assist agencies in the collection of delinquent debt owed to the Federal Government. Federal statutes require a Federal disbursing official to conduct such an offset when the name and TIN of a payee match the name and TIN of a delinquent debtor. Treasury uses TOP to match delinquent debt files against payment files. When a match occurs, the payment is intercepted and offset up to the amount of the debt. For more information on TOP, including all published rules, notices, and bulletins, please refer to http://www.fms.treas.gov/dms/top.html.

So I wondered over to the offet program website

The Treasury Offset Program is a centralized offset program, administered by the Financial Management Service's (FMS) Debt Management Services (DMS), to collect delinquent debts owed to federal agencies and states (including past-due child support), in accordance with 26 U.S.C. § 6402(d) (collection of debts owed to federal agencies), 31 U.S.C. § 3720A (reduction of tax refund by amount of the debts), and other applicable laws. FMS disburses federal payments, such as federal tax refunds, for agencies making federal payments (known as "payment agencies"), such as the Internal Revenue Service. "Creditor agencies," such as the Department of Education, submit delinquent debts to FMS for collection and inclusion in TOP and certify that such debts qualify for collection by offset.

Payment agencies prepare and certify payment vouchers to FMS and disbursing officials at other federal agencies that are non-Treasury disbursed (such as the Department of Defense), who then disburse payments. The payment vouchers contain information about the payment including the name and Tax Identification Number (TIN) of the recipient. Before an eligible federal payment is disbursed to a payee, disbursing officials compare the payment information with debtor information, which has been supplied by the creditor agency, in FMS' delinquent debtor database. If the payee's name and TIN match the name and TIN of a debtor, the disbursing official offsets the payment, in whole or in part, to satisfy the debt, to the extent legally allowed. The disbursing official is required to perform such offset pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 3716(c).

FMS transmits amounts collected through offset to the appropriate creditor agencies. FMS maintains information about the delinquent debt in the TOP delinquent debtor database and continues to offset eligible federal payments until the creditor agency suspends or terminates debt collection or offset activity for the debt. A creditor agency will suspend collection if the debt is subject to a bankruptcy stay or if other reasons justify suspension. A creditor agency will terminate collection of a debt if it is paid in full, compromised, discharged, or if other reasons justify termination.

TITLE 31 > SUBTITLE III > CHAPTER 37 > SUBCHAPTER II > § 3716

§ 3716. Administrative offset

Subsection "(c)" is wordy. Read it if you have time.

[fulltitle]

Without Prejudice.
I think I replied to a query like this before. The "US Treasury Offset" office is located at Birmingham, Alabama.