What definitions apply to the regulations in this part?
36 C.F.R. § 1201.3
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01As used in this part:
Administrative 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 claim.
Administrative Wage Garnishment means a process whereby a Federal agency may, without first obtaining a court order, order an employer to withhold up to 15 percent of your wages for payment to the Federal agency to satisfy a delinquent non-tax debt.
Agency means a department, agency, court, court administrative office, or instrumentality in the executive, judicial, or legislative branch of government, including a government corporation.
Archivist means the Archivist of the United States, or his or her designee.
Certification means a written statement received by a paying agency or disbursing official from a creditor agency that requests the paying agency or disbursing official to offset the salary of an employee and specifies that required procedural protections have been afforded the employee.
Claim (see definition of debt in this section).
Compromise means the settlement or forgiveness of a debt.
Creditor agency means the agency to which the debt is owed, including a debt collection center when acting on behalf of the creditor agency.
Day means calendar day. To count days, include the last day of the period unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday, or a Federal legal holiday.
Debt collection center means the Treasury or any other agency or division designated by the Secretary of the Treasury with authority to collect debts on behalf of creditor agencies.
Debt and claim are deemed synonymous and interchangeable. These terms mean an amount of money, funds, or property that has been determined by an agency official to be due the United States from any person, organization, or entity except another Federal agency. For the purpose of administrative offset under 31 U.S.C. 3716 and subpart E of these regulations, the terms, “debt” and “claim” also include money, funds or property owed by a person to a State (including past-due support being enforced by a State); the District of Columbia; American Samoa; Guam; the United States Virgin Islands; the Commonwealth of the Northern Marina Islands; or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Debtor means a person, organization, or entity, except another Federal agency, who owes a debt. Use of the terms “I,” “you,” “me,” and similar references to the reader of the regulations in this part are meant to apply to debtors as defined in this paragraph.
Delinquent debt means a debt that has not been paid by the date specified in NARA'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 means the part of an employee's pay that remains after deductions that are required to be withheld by law have been made.
Employee means a current employee of an agency, including a current member of the Armed Forces or Reserve of the Armed Forces of the United States.
Federal Claims Collection Standards (FCCS) means the standards currently published by DOJ and the Treasury at 31 CFR parts 900-904.
NARA means the National Archives and Records Administration.
Paying agency means any agency that is making payments of any kind to a debtor. In some cases, NARA may be both the creditor agency and the paying agency.
Payroll office means the office that is primarily responsible for payroll records and the coordination of pay matters with the appropriate personnel office.
Person includes a natural person or persons, profit or non-profit corporation, partnership, association, trust, estate, consortium, state or local government, or other entity that is capable of owing a debt to the United States; however, agencies of the United States are excluded.
Private collection contractor means a private debt collector under contract with an agency to collect a non-tax debt owed to the United States.
Salary offset means a payroll procedure to collect a debt under 5 U.S.C. 5514 and 31 U.S.C. 3716 by deduction(s) at one or more officially established pay intervals from the current pay account of an employee, without his or her consent.
Tax refund offset means the reduction of a tax refund by the amount of a past-due legally enforceable debt owed to NARA or any other Federal agency.
Waiver means the cancellation, remission, forgiveness, or non-recovery of a debt.
Withholding order means any order for withholding or garnishment of pay issued by an agency, or judicial or administrative body.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-36.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026