Except where the context clearly indicates otherwise or where the term is defined elsewhere in this section, the following definitions shall apply to this subpart.

(a) Agency means a department, agency, court, court administrative office, or instrumentality in the executive, judicial, or legislative branch of Government, including government corporations.

(b) Certification means a written statement received by a paying agency from a creditor agency that requests the paying agency to offset the salary of an employee and specifies that required procedural protections have been afforded the employee.

(c) Chairman means the Chairman of the Commission.

(d) Compromise means the settlement or forgiveness of a debt.

(e) Creditor agency means an agency of the Federal government to which the debt is owed.

(f) Director means the Director, Office of Finance of the Commission or an official designated to act on the Director's behalf.

(g) Disposable pay means that part of current basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retired pay, retainer pay, and, in the case of an employee not entitled to basic pay, other authorized pay, remaining for each pay period after the deduction of any amount required by law to be withheld. The Commission shall allow the following deductions in determining the amount of disposable pay that is subject to salary offset:

(1) Federal employment taxes;

(2) Amounts mandatorily withheld for the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home;

(3) Fines and forfeiture ordered by a court-martial or by a commanding officer;

(4) Amounts deducted for Medicare;

(5) Federal, state, or local income taxes to the extent authorized or required by law, but no greater than would be the case if the employee claimed all dependents to which he or she is entitled and such additional amounts for which the employee presents evidence of a tax obligation supporting the additional withholding;

(6) Health insurance premiums;

(7) Normal retirement contributions, including employee contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan;

(8) Normal life insurance premiums (e.g., Serviceman's Group Life Insurance and “Basic Life” Federal Employee's Group Life Insurance premiums), not including amounts deducted for supplementary coverage.

(h) Employee means a current employee of the Commission or other agency, including a current member of the Armed Forces or a Reserve of the Armed Forces of the United States.

(i) Federal Claims Collection Standards (FCCS) means standards published at 31 CFR chapter IX.

(j) Hearing official means an individual responsible for conducting any hearing with respect to the existence or amount of a debt claimed and for rendering a decision on the basis of such hearing. A hearing official may not be under the supervision or control of the Chairman when the Commission is the creditor agency but may be an administrative law judge.

(k) Notice of Intent to Offset or Notice of Intent means a written notice from a creditor agency to an employee, organization, or entity stating that the debtor is indebted to the creditor agency and apprising the debtor of certain procedural rights.

(l) Notice of Salary Offset means a written notice from the paying agency to an employee after a certification has been issued by a creditor agency, informing the employee that salary offset will begin at the next officially established pay interval.

(m) Office of Finance means the Office of Finance of the Commission.

(n) Paying agency means the agency of the Federal government that employs the individual who owes a debt to an agency of the Federal government. In some cases, the Commission may be both the creditor agency and the paying agency.

[62 FR 38019, July 16, 1997, as amended at 68 FR 32976, June 3, 2003]