29.516—Collection of overpayments.
(a) Means of collection.
Collection of an overpayment may be made by means
of offset under § 29.517, or under any statutory
provision providing for offset of money due the
debtor from the Federal Government including, but
not limited to, Federal Benefit Payments.
Collection may also be effected by referral to the
Justice Department for litigation, as provided in
§ 29.520, or referral to a collection agency as
provided in § 29.519, or by other means authorized
by federal law.
(b) Additional charges.
Interest,
penalties, and administrative costs will be
assessed on the overpayment in accordance with
standards established in 31 U.S.C. 3717 and 31 CFR
901.9. Additional charges will be waived when
required by the FCCS. The Department will waive
the collection of interest on the overpayment
pending the Benefits Administrator's consideration
of a request for reconsideration and the
Department's consideration of a request for waiver
and/or compromise or the appeal of a
reconsideration decision. In addition, such
charges may be waived when the Department
determines—
(1)
Collection of those charges would be
against equity and good conscience under the
standards prescribed in §§ 29.523 through 29.525;
or
(c) Collection in installments.
(1)
Whenever feasible, overpayments will be
collected in one lump sum.
(d) Offset Amount.
(1)
The amount
offset from a monthly Federal Benefit Payment will
be the lesser of:
(2)
For purposes of this subsection, the
“monthly Federal Benefit Payment” is the amount of
the gross monthly benefit after any reductions or
deductions required under law, including
reductions made to recover overpayments of Federal
Benefit Payments.
(e) Commencement of collection.
(1)
Except as provided in paragraph (e)(2) of this
section, collection will begin after the time
limits for requesting further rights stated in §
29.512 through § 29.514 expire and no such
requests have been made, or after the Benefits
Administrator and/or the Department have issued
decisions on all timely requests for or appeals of
those rights, unless failure to make an offset
would substantially prejudice the Department's
ability to collect the overpayment and the time
before the payment is to be made does not
reasonably permit the completion of the
proceedings in § 29.511 through § 29.514 or
litigation. When offset begins without completion
of the administrative review process, these
procedures will be completed promptly, and amounts
recovered by offset but later found not owed will
be refunded promptly.
(2)
The procedures identified in § 29.511
through § 29.514 will not be applied when the
overpayment is caused by—
(i)
A retroactive adjustment in the periodic
rate of annuity or any deduction taken from
annuity when the adjustment is a result of the
annuitant's election of different entitlements
under law, if the adjustment is made within 120
days of the effective date of the election; or
(ii)
interim estimated payments made before the
formal determination of entitlement to annuity, if
the amount is recouped from the
total annuity payable on the first day of the
month following the later of—
(f)
Collection of delinquent
debts —(1) Debts delinquent over 180
days. The Benefits Administrator must refer
all overpayment debts that are over 180 days
delinquent to the Secretary for collection
pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3711(g) and 3716, and 31 CFR
part 901.
(2)
Debts delinquent less than 180
days. Once an overpayment debt becomes
delinquent, the Benefits Administrator should
refer it to the Secretary for collection by
centralized administrative offset pursuant to 31
CFR 901.3, unless collection of the debt by some
other means is likely to occur in a more timely
and efficient manner.
(3)
Once a debt is referred under this
subsection, the Benefits Administrator has no
further obligation to collect the debt.