404.520—Referral of overpayments to the Department of the Treasury for tax refund offset—General.
(a)
The standards we will apply and the procedures we will follow before requesting the Department of the Treasury to offset income tax refunds due taxpayers who have an outstanding overpayment are set forth in §§ 404.520 through 404.526. These standards and procedures are authorized by 31 U.S.C. 3720A and are implemented through Department of the Treasury regulations at 31 CFR 285.2.
(b)
We will use the Department of the Treasury tax refund offset procedure to collect overpayments that are certain in amount, past due and legally enforceable, and eligible for tax refund offset under regulations issued by the Department of the Treasury. We will use these procedures to collect overpayments only from individuals who are not currently entitled to monthly Social Security benefits under title II of the Act. We will refer an overpayment to the Department of the Treasury for offset against tax refunds no later than 10 years after our right to collect the overpayment first accrued.