22 CFR 213.2 – Definitions
(a) Administrative offset means the withholding of money payable by the United States to, or held by the United States for, a person to satisfy a debt the person owes the Government.
Terms Used In 22 CFR 213.2
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
(b) Administrative wage garnishment means the process by which federal agencies require a private sector employer to withhold up to 15% of an employee’s disposable pay to satisfy a delinquent debt owed to the federal government. A court order is not required.
(c) Agency means the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
(d) Claim (or Debt) means an amount of money, funds, or property that a USAID official has determined to be due the United States from any person, organization, or entity, except another Federal Department or Agency. As used in this part, the terms “debt” and “claim” are synonymous and interchangeable.
(e) CFO means the Chief Financial Officer of USAID or a USAID official delegated by the CFO to act on the CFO’s behalf.
(f) Compromise means that the creditor Agency accepts less than the full amount of an outstanding debt in full satisfaction of the entire amount of the debt.
(g) Creditor Agency means the Federal Department or Agency to which the debt is owed, including a debt-collection center when acting on behalf of a creditor Agency in matters pertaining to the collection of a debt.
(h) Debtor means an individual, organization, association, corporation, or a State or local government indebted to the United States, or a person or entity with legal responsibility for assuming the debtor’s obligation.
(i) Delinquent debt means any debt that is past due and is legally enforceable. A debt is past due if it has not been paid by the date specified in the Agency’s initial written demand for payment notice or applicable agreement or instrument (including a postdelinquency payment agreement) unless the parties involved have made other satisfactory payment arrangements.
(j) Discharge of indebtedness means the release of a debtor from personal liability for a debt. Further collection action is prohibited.
(k) Disposable pay means that part of current basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retired pay, retainer pay, or, in the case of an employee not entitled to basic pay, other authorized pay, which remains after the deduction of any amount required by law to be withheld (other than deductions to execute garnishment orders) in accordance with 5 CFR parts 581 and 582. Among the legally required deductions that must be applied first to determine disposable pay are levies pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code (title 26 of the United States Code) and deductions described in 5 CFR 581.105(b) through (f). These deductions include, but are not limited to, Social Security withholdings; Federal, State, and local tax withholdings; health-insurance premiums; retirement contributions; and life-insurance premiums.
(l) Employee means a current U.S. Direct-Hire employee of the Federal Government, including a current member of the Armed Forces or a Reserve of the Armed Forces.
(m) Employee salary offset means the administrative collection of a debt by deductions at one or more officially established pay intervals from the current pay account of an employee without the employee’s consent.
(n) Person means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, and, except for purposes of administrative offsets under subpart C of this part and interest, penalties, and administrative costs under subpart B of this part, includes State and local governments and Indian tribes and components of tribal governments.
(o) Recoupment is a special method for adjusting debts that arise under the same transaction or occurrence. For example, obligations that arise under the same contract generally are subject to recoupment.
(p) Suspension means the temporary cessation of active debt collection pending the occurrence of an anticipated event.
(q) Termination means the cessation of all active debt-collection action for the foreseeable future.
(r) Waiver means the decision to forgo the collection of a debt owed to the United States, as provided for by a specific statute and according to the standards set out under that statute.
(s) Withholding order means any order for the withholding or garnishment of pay issued by USAID or a judicial or administrative body. For the purposes of this part, “wage garnishment order” and “garnishment order” have the same meaning as “withholding order.”