§ 512.10 - Collection by administrative offset.

§ 512.10 Collection by administrative offset.

(a) Collection by administrative offset will be undertaken in accordance with these regulations on all claims which are liquidated and certain in amount, in every instance where the appropriate Board official determines such collection to be feasible and not otherwise prohibited.

(1) For purpose of this section, the term administrative offset has the same meaning as provided in 31 U.S.C. 3716(a)(1).

(2) Whether collection by administrative offset is feasible is a determination to be made by the Board on a case-by-case basis, in the exercise of sound discretion. Broadcasting Board of Governors will consider not only the practicalities of administrative offset, but whether such offset is best suited to protect and further all of the Government's interests. Broadcasting Board of Governors will give consideration to the debtor's financial condition, and is not required to use offset in every instance where there is an available source of funds. Broadcasting Board of Governors will also consider whether offset would tend to substantially disrupt or defeat the purpose of the program authorizing the payments against which offset is contemplated.

(b) Before the offset is made, a debtor shall be provided with the following: written notice of the nature and the amount of the debt and the Board's intention to collect by offset; opportunity to inspect and copy Board records pertaining to the debt; opportunity to obtain review within the Board of the determination of indebtedness; and opportunity to enter into written agreement with the Board to repay the debt. Broadcasting Board of Governors may also make requests to other agencies holding funds payable to the debtor, and process requests for offset that are received from other agencies.

(1) Broadcasting Board of Governors will exercise sound judgment in determining whether to accept a repayment agreement in lieu of offset. The determination will weigh the Government's interest in collecting the debt against fairness to the debtor.

(2) In cases where the procedural requirements specified in this paragraph (b) have previously been provided to the debtor in connection with the same debt under some other statutory or regulatory authority, such as pursuant to an audit allowance, the Board is not required to duplicate those requirements before taking administrative offset.

(3) Broadcasting Board of Governors may not initiate administrative offset to collect a debt more than 10 years after the Government's right to collect the debt first accrued, unless facts material to the Government's right 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 the debt. When the debt first accrued is to be determined according to existent law regarding the accrual of debts (e.g., 28 U.S.C. 2415).

(4) Broadcasting Board of Governors is not authorized by 31 U.S.C. 3716 to use administrative offset with respect to: Debts owed by any State or local Government; debts arising under or payments made under the Social Security Act, the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 or the tariff laws of the United States; or any case in which collection of the type of debt involved by administrative offset is explicitly provided for or prohibited by another statute. Unless otherwise provided by contract or law, debts or payments which are not subject to administrative offset under 31 U.S.C. 3716 may be collected by administrative offset under the common law or other applicable statutory authority.

(5) Broadcasting Board of Governors may effect administrative offset against a payment to be made to a debtor prior to completion of the procedures required by paragraph (b) of this section if failure to take offset would substantially prejudice the Government's ability to collect the debt, and the time before the payment is to be made does not reasonably permit the completion of those procedures. Amounts recovered by offset but later determined not to be owed to the Government shall be promptly refunded 30 days after the Board has notified the debtor in writing that the debt is not owed. Such written notification will be issued within 15 days after the Board has confirmed through a review of its official records that the debt is not owed.

(c) Type of hearing or review:

(1) For purposes of this section, whenever Broadcasting Board of Governors is required to afford a hearing or review within the Board, the Board will provide the debtor with a reasonable opportunity for an oral hearing when: An applicable statute authorizes or requires the Board to consider waiver of the indebtedness involved, the debtor requests waiver of the indebtedness, and the waiver determination turns on an issue of veracity; or the debtor requests reconsideration of the debt and the Board determines that the question of the indebtedness cannot be resolved by review of the documentary evidence. Unless otherwise required by law, an oral hearing under this section is not required to be a formal evidentiary type hearing.

(2) This section does not require an oral hearing with respect to debt collection systems in which determinations of indebtedness or waiver rarely involve issues of veracity and the Board has determined that the review of the written record is ordinarily enough to correct prior mistakes.

(3) In those cases where an oral hearing is not required by this section, the Board will make its determination on the request for waiver or reconsideration based upon a review of the written record.

(d) Appropriate use will be made of the cooperative efforts of other agencies in effecting collection by administrative offset. Broadcasting Board of Governors will not refuse to initiate administrative offset to collect debts owed the United States, unless the requesting agency has not complied with the applicable provisions of these standards.

(e) Collection by offset against a judgment obtained against the United States shall be accomplished in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3728.

(f) Whenever the creditor agency is not the agency which is responsible for making the payment against which offset is sought, the latter agency shall not initiate the requested offset until it has been provided by the creditor agency with an appropriate written certification that the debtor owes the debt (including the amount) and that full compliance with the provisions of this section has taken place.

(g) When collecting multiple debts by administrative offset, Broadcasting Board of Governors will apply the recovered amounts to those debts in accordance with the best interests of the United States, as determined by the facts and circumstances of the particular case, paying particular attention to the applicable statutes of limitations.