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FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICES CERTIFICATION CLAIMS Requirements for Establishing Recipient Claims ____________________________________________________________________________________

1 Section 805 Change #1-2017 April 1, 2017

FNS 805 Requirements for Establishing Recipient Claims Change #1-2017 April 1, 2017

805.01 GENERAL POLICY

All adult (age 18 and over) household members and any emancipated minor head of household are jointly and separately liable for the value of any overissued benefits. Household members include persons living in the household that were or should have been included in the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) budget at the time of the overissuance. Notes must be placed in Enterprise Program Integrity Control System (EPICS) for the following: Bankruptcy, address change, State override requests, Voluntary Repayment Agreements (VRA), and block requests.

A. Establish a recipient claim against a household that received more FNS benefits than it was entitled to receive.

B. In most situations, all adult household members who were in the household at the time of the overissuance are considered debtors for the claim. A head of household under the age of 18 is also considered a debtor on a claim. See 805.03 for exceptions and information on changes in household composition, authorized representatives, etc.

C. Do not establish a claim against households for non-reportable changes. Simplified Reporting, Transitional Food and Nutrition Services (TFNS), and SNAP cases have limited reporting requirements. Refer to sections 450, 550, or 600.

805.02 TYPES OF CLAIMS

There are three types of recipient claims.

A. Agency Error (AE) - agency action or inaction. This includes state agency errors. Do not use State Issuance Errors (SIE) as a claim type without State Office authorization.

B. Inadvertent Household Error (IHE) - the household’s misunderstanding or unintentional error.

C. Intentional Program Violation (IPV) - the household has:

1. Intentionally failed to report or,

2. Misrepresented the household’s situation or,

3. Intentionally misused benefits.

See Section 825.03 for methods to establish an IPV.

805.03 SITUATIONS WHEN A RECIPIENT CLAIM IS NOT ESTABLISHED

A. Neither an Agency Error (AE) claim nor an Inadvertent Household Error (IHE) claim is established solely based on the fact that the local agency failed to insure that certain procedural requirements were met. These requirements include: