The following terms are defined in § 4001.2 of this chapter: Code, PBGC, and Person. In addition, for purposes of this part:

Administrative offset or offset means withholding funds payable by the United States (including funds payable by the United States on behalf of a state government) to, or held by the United States for, a person to satisfy a debt owed by the person. The term “administrative offset” can include, but is not limited to, the offset of Federal salary, vendor, retirement, and Social Security benefit payments. The terms “centralized administrative offset” and “centralized offset” refer to the process by which the Treasury Department's Financial Management Service offsets Federal payments through the Treasury Offset Program.

Administrative wage garnishment means the process by which a Federal agency orders a non-Federal employer to withhold amounts from a debtor's wages to satisfy a debt, as authorized by 31 U.S.C. 3720D,31.11, and this part.

Agency or Federal agency means an executive department or agency; a military department; the United States Postal Service; the Postal Regulatory Commission; any nonappropriated fund instrumentality described in 5 U.S.C. 2105(c); the United States Senate; the United States House of Representatives; any court, court administrative office, or instrumentality in the judicial or legislative branches of the Government; or a Government corporation.

Creditor agency means any Federal agency that is owed a debt.

Debt means any amount of money, funds or property that has been determined by an appropriate official of the Federal Government to be owed to the United States government, including government-owned corporations, by a person. As used in this part, the term “debt” can include a debt owed to PBGC, but does not include debts arising under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 1 et seq.).

Debtor means a person who owes a debt to the United States.

Delinquent debt means a debt that has not been paid by the date specified in the agency's initial written demand for payment or applicable agreement or instrument (including a post-delinquency payment agreement) unless other satisfactory payment arrangements have been made.

Disposable pay has the same meaning as that term is defined in 5 CFR 550.1103.

Employee or Federal employee means a current employee of PBGC or other Federal agency, including a current member of the uniformed services, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service, the National Guard, and the reserve forces of the uniformed services.

FCCS means the Federal Claims Collection Standards, 31 CFR parts 900-904.

Financial Management Service (FMS) means the Treasury Department bureau that is responsible for the centralized collection of delinquent debts through the offset of Federal payments and other means.

Payment agency or Federal payment agency means any Federal agency that transmits payment requests in the form of certified payment vouchers, or other similar forms, to a disbursing official for disbursement. The payment agency may be the agency that employs the debtor. In some cases, PBGC may be both the creditor agency and payment agency.

Salary offset means a type of administrative offset to collect a debt under Section 5514 of Title 5 of the United States Code and 5 CFR part 550, subpart K by deduction(s) at one or more officially established pay intervals from the current pay account of an employee with or without his or her consent.

Tax debt means a debt arising under the Code.

Tax refund offset means the reduction by the IRS of a tax overpayment payable to a taxpayer by the amount of past-due, legally enforceable debt owed by that taxpayer to a Federal agency pursuant to Treasury regulations.

(a) Scope. This part provides procedures for the collection of debts owed to PBGC, other than those subject to recoupment (29 CFR 4022, subpart E). This part also provides procedures for collection of other debts owed to the United States when a request for offset of a payment, for which PBGC is the payment agency, is received by PBGC from another agency (for example, when a PBGC employee owes a student loan debt to the United States Department of Education).

(b) Applicability. (1) This part applies to PBGC when collecting a debt owed to PBGC; to persons who owe debts to PBGC; to persons controlled by or controlling persons who owe debts to a Federal agency, and to Federal agencies requesting offset of a payment issued by PBGC as a payment agency (including salary payments to PBGC employees).

(2) This part does not apply to debts owed to PBGC being collected through recoupment under subpart E of part 4022 of this chapter. Benefits paid by PBGC generally will not be offset, subject to limited exceptions (e.g., in certain fiduciary breach situations).

(3) This part does not apply to tax debts, to any debt based in whole or in part on conduct in violation of the antitrust laws, nor to any debt for which there is an indication of fraud or misrepresentation, as described in § 900.3 of the FCCS, unless the debt is returned by the Department of Justice to PBGC for handling.

(4) Nothing in this part precludes the use of other statutory or regulatory authority to collect or dispose of any debt. See, for example, 5 U.S.C. 5705,Advancements,which. See, also, 5 U.S.C. 4108,governing.

(5) To the extent that provisions of laws, other regulations, and PBGC enforcement policies differ from the provisions of this part, those provisions of law, other regulations, and PBGC enforcement policies apply to the remission or mitigation of fines, penalties, and forfeitures, and to debts arising under ERISA, rather than the provisions of this part.

(c) Additional policies and procedures. PBGC may, but is not required to, promulgate additional policies and procedures consistent with this part, the FCCS, and other applicable law, policies, and procedures.

(1) PBGC does not intend this regulation to prohibit PBGC from demanding the return of specific property or the payment of its value.

(2) The failure of PBGC to comply with any provision in this regulation will not serve as a defense to the existence of the debt.

(d) Duplication not required. Nothing in this part requires PBGC to duplicate notices or administrative proceedings required by contract, this part, or other laws or regulations.

(e) Use of multiple collection remedies allowed. PBGC and other Federal agencies may simultaneously use multiple collection remedies to collect a debt, except as prohibited by law. This part is intended to promote aggressive debt collection, using for each debt all available and appropriate collection remedies. To provide PBGC with flexibility in determining which remedies will be most efficient in collecting the particular debt, these remedies are not listed in any prescribed order.

This part adopts and incorporates all provisions of FCCS. This part also supplements the FCCS by prescribing procedures consistent with FCCS, as necessary and appropriate for PBGC operations.

(a) How and where to file. PBGC applies the rules in subpart A of part 4000 of this chapter to determine permissible methods of filing with PBGC under this part. See § 4000.4 of this chapter for information on where to file.

(b) Date of filing. PBGC applies the rules in subpart C of part 4000 of this chapter to determine the date that a submission under this part was filed with PBGC.

(c) Computation of time. PBGC applies the rules of subpart D of part 4000 of this chapter to compute any time period under this part.