Two Treasury Offset Programs (TOP) are involved in offsetting a portion of a Title II electronic funds transfer (EFT) benefit payment: Benefit Payment Offset (BPO) and Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP). The offset amount is sent to another agency by Treasury, and the remainder goes to the beneficiary's account at a financial institution (FI). For more information on TOP, see GN 02201.029.

This section describes what to do when the payment that was offset was not due the beneficiary for a reason other than the beneficiary's death.

When a Title II EFT payment was not due for a reason other than death, and a portion of the benefit was sent to another agency through TOP, use an F-stop to recover the amount that was offset.

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) reverses the offset and returns the money to the SSA Trust Fund from which it was issued, using code 71.

This is the only time we use an F-stop for a Title II EFT payment.

Regular overpayment procedures apply for the payment. The initial notice to the beneficiary must contain the entire amount, not only the amount after offset. Return any excess collected, regardless of the amount, to the beneficiary.

To determine whether a TOP offset was processed on the payment, check the MBR TRANS field, or the Payment History Update System (PHUS). When TOP offset applies, the following information is on the queries:

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  The TRANS field of the MBR shows “LAP-ZT PHUS - TOP OFFSET.”

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  The PHUS record shows “ZT PHUS TOP OFFSET” followed by a line that states the amount of the offset and the month the offset occurred.

When you need to know the type of offset (BPO or FPLP), go to Online Retrieval System (ORS) IESI, and look for the notice.

The PC uses this procedure when an EFT payment that was not due for a reason other than death was reduced by TOP offset. At present, this includes only a Benefit Payment Offset (BPO) or Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP) offset.

When you are in a component other than the PC, notify the PC to make the input and process the overpayment.

Direct requests for status of an FMS-133/135 with BPO involved to the Department of the Treasury’s San Francisco Regional Financial Center (SFC) at:

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  GN 02410.300 - Benefit Payment Offset (BPO)

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  GN 02410.305 - Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP)

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  SM 00609.210 - Postentitlement Online System, Modernized Data Input, RSDHI and FALCON Transmissions - General Data

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  MSOM INTRANETMAMPSCDI 003.003 - SSA-4510 Non-Receipt Input Form (4510NRC)