This subpart regulates state income tax withholding from payments of basic benefits under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).

For the purpose of this subchapter:

Agreement means the Federal-State agreement contained in this subpart.

Annuitant means an employee or Member retired, or a spouse, widow, or widower receiving survivor benefits, under chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code.

Effective date means, with respect to a request or revocation, that the request or revocation will be reflected in payments authorized after that date, and before the next request or revocation is implemented.

Fund means the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund as established and described in section 8348 of title 5, United States Code.

Income tax and State income tax mean any form of tax for which, under a State statute, (a) collection is provided, either in imposing on employers generally the duty of withholding sums from the compensation of employees and making returns of such sums to the State or by granting to employers generally the authority to withhold sums from the compensation of employees, if any employee voluntarily elects to have such sums withheld; and (b) the duty to withhold generally is imposed, or the authority to withhold generally is granted, with respect to the compensation of employees who are residents of the State.

Net recurring payment means the amount of annuity or survivors benefits (not recurring interim payments made while a claim is pending adjudication) payable to the annuitant on a monthly basis less the amounts currently being deducted for health benefits, Medicare, life insurance, Federal income tax, overpayment of annuity, indebtedness to the Government, voluntary allotments, waivers, or being paid to a third party or a court officer in compliance with a court order or decree.

Net withholding means the amount of State income tax deductions withheld during the previous calendar quarter as a result of requests which designated the State as payee, less similar deductions taken from prior payments which are cancelled in the previous calendar quarter.

Proper State Official means a State officer authorized to bind the State contractually in matters relating to tax administration.

Received means, in respect to the magnetic tape containing requests and revocations, received at the special mailing address established by OPM for income tax requests, or, for those items not so received, received at the OPM data processing center charged with processing requests.

Requests means, in regard to a request for tax withholdings, a change in the amount withheld, or revocation of a prior request, a written submission from an annuitant in a format acceptable to the State which provides the annuitant's name, FERS claim number, Social Security identification number, address, the amount to be withheld and the State to which payment is to be made, which is signed by the annuitant or, in the case of incompetence, his or her representative payee.

State means a State, the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United States.

OPM will enter into an agreement with any State within 120 days of an application for agreement from the proper State official. The terms of the standard agreement will be §§ 841.1004 through 841.1007 of this subpart. OPM and the State may agree to additional terms and provisions, insofar as those additional terms and provisions do not contradict or otherwise limit the terms of the standard agreement.

OPM will, in performance of this agreement:

(a) Process the magnetic tape containing State tax transactions against the annuity roll once a month at the time monthly recurring payments are prepared for the United States Treasury Department. Errors that are identified will not be processed into the file, and will be identified and returned to the State for resolution via the monthly error report. Collections of State income tax will continue in effect until the State requesting the initial action supplies either a valid revocation or change. The magnetic tape must be received 35 days prior to the date of the check in which the transactions are to be effective. For example, withholding transactions for the July 1 check must be received 5 days prior to June 1. If the magnetic tape submitted by the State cannot be read, OPM will notify the State of this fact, and if a satisfactory replacement can be supplied in time for monthly processing, it will be processed.

(b) Deduct from the regular, recurring annuity payments of an annuitant the amount he or she has so requested to be withheld, provided that:

(1) The amount of the request is an even dollar amount, not less than Five Dollars nor more than the net recurring amount. The State may set any even dollar amount above Five Dollars as a minimum withholding amount.

(2) The annuitant has not designated more than one other State for withholding purposes within the calendar year. The State can set any limit on the number of changes an annuitant may make in the amount to be withheld.

(c) Retain the amounts withheld in the Fund until payment is due.

(d) Pay the net withholding to the State on the last day of the first month following each calendar quarter.

(e) Make the following reports:

(1) A monthly report which will include all the State tax withholdings, cancellations and adjustments for the month, and also each request OPM was not able to process, with an explanation, in coded format, of the reason for rejection.

(2) A quarterly report which will include State, State address, quarterly withholdings, quarterly cancellations and adjustments, quarterly net withholdings and year-to-date amounts. Where cancelled or adjusted payments were made in a previous year, OPM shall append a listing of the cancelled or adjusted payments which shows the date and amount of each cancelled or adjusted tax withholding, and the name and Social Security identification number of the annuitant from whom it was withheld. If either party terminates the agreement and the amount of cancelled or adjusted deductions exceeds the amount withheld for the final quarter, then the quarterly report shall show the amount to be refunded to OPM and the address to which payment should be made.

(3) An annual summary report which contains the name, Social Security identification number, and total amount withheld from non-cancelled payments during the previous calendar year, for each annuitant who requested tax withholding payable to the State. In the event the annuitant had State income tax withholding in effect for more than one State in that calendar year, the report will show only the amount withheld for the State receiving the report.

(4) An annual report to each annuitant for whom State income taxes were withheld giving the amount of withholding paid to the State during the calendar year.

The State will, in performance of this agreement:

(a) Accept requests and revocations from annuitants who have designated that State income tax deductions will go to the State.

(b) Convert these requests on a monthly basis to a machine-readable magnetic tape using specifications received from OPM, and forward that tape to OPM for processing.

(c) Inform annuitants whose tax requests are rejected by OPM that the request was so rejected and of the reason why it was so rejected.

(d) Recognize that, to the extent not prohibited by State laws, records maintained by the State relating to this program are considered jointly maintained by OPM and are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a). Accordingly, the States will maintain such records in accordance with that statute and OPM's implementing regulations at 5 CFR part 297.

(e) Respond to requests of annuitants for information and advice in regard to State income tax withholding.

(f) Credit the amounts withheld from FERS annuities to the State tax liability of the respective annuitants, and, subject to applicable provisions of State law to the contrary, refund any balance over and above that liability to the annuitant, unless he or she should request otherwise.

(g) Surrender all tax withholding requests to OPM when this agreement is terminated or when the documents are not otherwise needed for this State tax withholding program.

(h) Allow OPM, the Comptroller General or any of their duly authorized representatives access to, and the right to examine, all records, books, papers or documents related to the processing of requests for State income tax withholding from FERS annuities.

These additional provisions are also binding on the State and OPM:

(a) A request or revocation is effective when processed by OPM. OPM will process each request by the first day of the second month following the month in which it is received, but incurs no liability or indebtedness by its failure to do so.

(b) Any amount deducted from an annuity payment and paid to the State as a result of a request is deemed properly paid, unless the annuity payment itself is cancelled.

(c) OPM will provide the State with the information necessary to properly process a request for State income tax withholding.

(d) If the State is paid withholding which is contrary to the terms of the annuitant's request, the State is liable to the annuitant for the amount improperly withheld, and subject to account verification from OPM, agrees to pay that amount to the annuitant on demand.

(e) In the case of a dispute amount in any of the reports described and authorized by this agreement, the Associate Director will issue an accounting. If the State finds this accounting unacceptable, it may then and only then pursue such remedies as are otherwise available.

(f) If a State received an overpayment of monies properly belonging to the Fund, OPM will offset the overpayment from a future payment due the State. If there are no further payments due the State, OPM will inform the State in writing of the amount due. Within 60 days of the date of receipt of that communication that State will make payment of the amount due.

This agreement may be modified or terminated in the following manner:

(a) Either party may suggest a modification of non-regulatory provisions of the agreement in writing to the other party. The other party must accept or reject the modification within 60 calendar days of the date of the suggestion.

(b) The agreement may be terminated by either party on 60 calendar days written notice.

(c) OPM may modify this agreement unilaterally through the rule making process described in sections 553, 1103, and 1105 of title 5, United States Code.