Page 12

FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICES CERTIFICATION CLAIMS Agency Error (AE) Claims

12 Section 810 Change #3 2017 September 20, 2017 6. Expungement:

a. If a household’s benefits have been expunged within the previous three years, adjust the claim by subtracting the amount of the expunged

benefits. Check Data Warehouse for expunged benefits when establishing the claim.

b. To apply the expungement to the claim in EPICS, enter the amount of the expunged benefits as the payment amount and “EX” - Expungement as the method of collection. No retention is received for expungements. Do not apply any amount which exceeds the claim balance.

EXAMPLE: If the expunged amount is $100.00 and the claim balance is $80.00, apply $80.00 as the payment.

7. Treasury Offset Program through the United States Treasury Department:

a. Delinquent debts are automatically submitted to the US Treasury Department for collection using the EPICS system. If a TOP review is requested, follow policy in section 845.

b. See Section 845 for more information.

E. Unspecified Joint Cash Collections

An unspecified joint cash collection is when payments are received in response to correspondence that contained both FNS and other program claim(s) and the debtor does not specify to which claim to apply the collection. When an unspecified joint cash collection is received for a combined public assistance/FNS recipient claim, each program must receive its prorated share of the amount collected.

F. Compromising Claim

1. Any claim or any portion of a claim may be compromised (reduced) if the local agency can reasonably determine that a household’s economic circumstances indicate that the claim will not be repaid in three (3) years. For example, if the only debtor is in a nursing home, disabled, or elderly and needs all current income and assets and current FNS benefits to pay essential living expenses, the remaining balance of the claim may be compromised. To compromise a claim in EPICS, send a request for compromise to the State Office. The request must include justification of the compromise and be signed by the Investigator and the Program Integrity Supervisor. Fax the request to 919-334-1265, to the State Office/Attn: Program Integrity.

2. Apply restored benefits or supplements to the full amount of the claim, including any claim amount that was compromised.

3. If a compromised claim subsequently becomes delinquent, the compromised portion of a claim may be re-instated and subject to collection. To uncompromise a claim in EPICS, submit a request to the State Office