§ 30.20 To what do §§ 30.20–30.31 apply?

(a)

(1)

(i) Sections 30.20–30.31 establish the general procedures used by the Secretary to collect debts by administrative offset.

(ii) The Secretary uses the procedures established under other regulations, including § 30.33, What procedures does the Secretary follow for IRS tax refund offsets?, 34 CFR part 31, Salary Offset for Federal Employees Who Are Indebted to the United States Under Programs Administrated by the Secretary of Education, and 34 CFR part 32, Salary Offset to Recover Overpayments of Pay or Allowances from Department of Education Employees, if the conditions requiring application of those special procedures exists.

(2) The word “offset” is used in this subpart to refer to the collection of a debt by administrative offset.

(b) The Secretary does not rely on 31 U.S.C. 3716 as authority for offset if:

(1) The debt is owed by a State or local government;

(2) The debt, or the payment against which offset would be taken, arises under the Social Security Act;

(3) The debt is owed under:

(i) The Internal Revenue Code of 1954; or

(ii) The tariff laws of the United States; or

(4) The right to collect the debt first accrued more than ten years before initiation of the offset.

(c)

(1) The Secretary may rely on 31 U.S.C. 3716 as authority for offset of a debt to which paragraph (b)(4) of this section would otherwise apply if facts material to the Government's right to collect the debt were not known and could not reasonably have been known by the official or officials of the Government who are charged with the responsibility to discover and collect the debt.

(2) If paragraph (c)(1) of this section applies, the Secretary may rely on 31 U.S.C. 3716 as authority for offset up to 10 years after the date that the official or officials described in that paragraph first knew or reasonably should have known of the right of the United States to collect the debt.

(d) The Secretary determines when the right to collect a debt first accrued under the existing law regarding accrual of debts such as 28 U.S.C. 2415.

[51 FR 24099, July 1, 1986, as amended at 51 FR 35646, Oct. 7, 1986; 53 FR 33425, Aug. 30, 1988; 54 FR 43583, Oct. 26, 1989]