Debt Management Services

Guides, Policies & Instructions

• Administrative Wage Garnishment
  Information and Instructions to Federal Agencies for Preparing Administrative Wage Garnishment Forms.

• Cross-Servicing
  Cross-Servicing Implementation Guide (Revised October 2007)
  Please call the Agency Liaison hotline (1-800-858-0725) for more information regarding cross-servicing.

  Exemption of Classes of Debts from Mandatory Transfer to Treasury
  Procedures and Standards (January 2001)

  Exemption from Mandatory Transfer to Treasury for Certain Debts Being Collected by Administrative Wage Garnishment
  Memorandum to Chief Financial Officers (August 2005)

  Federal Debt Collection Center Designation
  Policy, Procedures, and Standards (July 2010)

• Guide to the Federal Credit Bureau Program
  Guide to the Federal Credit Bureau Reporting
  Guidance for federal agencies to report information on federal debts (consumer and commercial) to designated credit reporting agencies. This revision of the October 2001 publication provides contact updates for Fiscal Service and the credit bureaus, minor technical corrections and revised formatting. No substantive changes have been made to the content.

• IRS Debtor Address Information
  Instructions for agencies wishing to participate in a computer matching program with the Internal Revenue Service to obtain debtor information.

• Managing Federal Receivables
  General overview of standards, guidelines, and procedures for the successful management of federal activities ranging from the extension of credit or financial assistance to closing-out uncollectible debts.

• Taxpayer Identifying Number (TIN) Requirements
  • TIN Policy
    Includes links to the TIN Policy Directive, Preamble discussion, and other supporting information, such as a Fact Sheet.
  • TIN Policy Directive (11/09/00)
    Requires federal payment certifying officials to include a valid TIN on all payment vouchers certified to Treasury for payment, except in certain limited circumstances.

  • 31 CFR Part 212 - Taxpayer Identifying Number Requirement
    SUMMARY: The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA) requires executive agencies to include payee taxpayer identifying numbers (TINs) on certified payment vouchers which are submitted to disbursing officials. The Financial Management Service (FMS), the Department of the Treasury disbursing agency, and other executive branch disbursing agencies are responsible for examining certified payment vouchers to determine whether such vouchers are in proper form. To ensure that executive branch agencies submit payment certifying vouchers in a form which includes payee TINs, FMS issued a proposed rule on September 2, 1997. The rule, as proposed, would require disbursing officials to reject payment requests without TINs.

    Upon review of the comments received in response to the proposed rule, FMS has determined that a better approach to ensure compliance with the DCIA TIN requirement, in lieu of issuing a final rule, is to require each executive agency to submit a TIN Implementation Report to FMS documenting how the agency is complying with this requirement. Accordingly, FMS is issuing this document withdrawing the September 2, 1997, notice of proposed rulemaking (SEE BELOW). The Policy Statement outlining TIN Implementation Report requirements is being published in the Federal Register concurrently with this document. To view the Policy Statement, click here.

    31 CFR Part 212 Taxpayer Identifying Number Requirement (Proposed Rule)
    The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA) requires that executive agencies include the taxpayer identifying number (TIN) of each person to whom payment may be made with each payment request submitted to a disbursing official on a certified voucher. This requirement will ensure that TINs of federal payment recipients are available to facilitate debt collection by offset of federal payments under the DCIA, and for vendor income reporting to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as mandated by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (IRC).

    Taxpayer Identifying Number (TIN) Implementation Reports

    Agency Taxpayer Identifying Number Implementation Reports; Policy Statement
    SUMMARY: The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 requires that executive agencies include the taxpayer identifying number (TIN) of each payee on certified payment vouchers which are submitted to a disbursing official. The Financial Management Service (FMS), the Department of the Treasury disbursing agency, and other executive branch disbursing agencies are responsible for examining certified payment vouchers to determine whether such vouchers are in the proper form. 31 U.S.C. 3325(a)(2)(A). To ensure that executive branch agencies submit payment certifying vouchers in a form which includes payee TINs, FMS is requiring each executive agency to prepare and submit an agency TIN Implementation Report documenting agency compliance with the TIN requirement. This Policy Statement describes agency TIN Implementation Report requirements.

• Treasury Offset Program Exemptions
  Standards for Exemption of Federal Payments into the Treasury Offset Program
  Standards and Procedures (January 2001)
  Payments Exempt from Offset by Disbursing Officials
  TOP Payment Exemption Chart (April 2013)

• Treasury Report on Receivables (TROR)
  TROR Guidance: Includes revised receivables form and instructions, instructional workbook and TROR reporting schedule.