Clarifying Information - WAC 388-410-0005

All adult members of a cash assistance unit are responsible for overpayments incurred after January 1, 1982 provided they were members of the assistance unit at the time of the overpayment.

The amount of an overpayment can be reduced by the amount of any unpaid underpayments in any period prior to the month in which the overpayment is computed.

Unintentional ABD Cash Overpayments Effective July 1, 2025, with the passing of Senate Bill 5079 , the department will no longer establish unintentional ABD overpayments. This includes when the overpayment is client-caused unintentional or department-caused unintentional. Unintentional ABD cash overpayments established prior to July 1, 2025, are still subject to collection. WAC 388-410-0001 section (3) says continued benefits must be paid back to the department. Therefore, even though continued benefit overpayments fall under the unintentional overpayment category when they are created in ACES, they must be established and collected following WAC 388-410-0001 (3).

As of May 1, 2019, dependent children will no longer be included when establishing an overpayment for cash.

On child-only TANF cases, the overpayment is established for the adult receiving the grant.

TANF overpayments are reduced by the amount in excess of current child support kept by DSHS. DCS determines if a household is eligible for the child support payments and takes appropriate actions on any payments potentially made in error, or by fraudulent means. For each TANF overpayment month, review SEMS for the actual current child support kept by DSHS to potentially reduce the overpayment amount for TANF. Documentation must clearly support the current child support used, if any, to reduce the TANF overpayment on the ACES overpayment letter.

When a non-needy caretaker relative or guardian is assessed an overpayment for a child who isn't currently part of the assistance unit: We'll no longer recoup the overpayment by means of mandatory grant reduction. Alert the Office of Financial Recovery (OFR) when a caregiver is in this situation by sending an email to DSHS RE OFR Client Overpayment . This email must include the: Caregivers name and client ID, Date of the original overpayment letter and Text explaining we must no longer recoup the overpayment from the cash grant. Once OFR learns about this change, they will stop the automatic deductions from the TANF grant and pursue other means of collection. EXAMPLE: Zack was receiving non-needy TANF for his grandson Thomas and an overpayment was established. Once Thomas left the household the grant was closed and the recoupment ended. The following year Zack applied for his other grandchild, Katy. Because the prior overpayment wasn’t related to an error in benefits for Katy, no reductions will be assessed to the non-needy TANF grant for Katy. Staff will alert OFR that Thomas is no longer part of the assistance unit. Two months later, Thomas returns to Zack’s home and is added to the non-needy TANF grant. Staff will alert OFR that the child is back in the home. The prior overpayment would now be reduced from the grant.