{"data":{"id":"us/5-cfr-1639.4","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"5 CFR 1639.4","heading":"Definitions.","body":"As used in this part:\nAdministrative offset, as defined in 31 U.S.C. 3701(a)(1), means withholding funds payable by the United States (including funds payable to the United States on behalf of a State government) to, or held by the United States for, a person to satisfy a debt owed to the United States.\nAgency means executive departments and agencies, the United States Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission, the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and any court, court administrative office, or instrumentality in the judicial or legislative branches of the Government, and Government corporations.\nBoard means the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which administers the Thrift Savings Plan and the Thrift Savings Fund.\nCertification means a written debt claim form received from a creditor agency which requests the paying agency to offset the salary of an employee.\nCreditor agency means an agency of the Federal Government to which the debt is owed.\nDebt means money owed by an individual to the United States including a debt owed to the Thrift Savings Fund or to a Federal agency, but does not include a Thrift Savings Plan loan.\nDelinquent debt means a debt that has not been paid within the time limit prescribed by the Board.\nDisposable pay means that part of current basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retirement pay, retainer pay, or, in the case of an employee not entitled to basic pay, other authorized pay remaining after the deduction of any amount required by law to be withheld, excluding any garnishment under 5 CFR parts 581, 582. The Board will include the following deductions in determining disposable pay subject to salary offset:\n(1) Federal Social Security and Medicare taxes;\n(2) Federal, state, or local income taxes, but no more than would be the case if the employee claimed all dependents to which he or she is entitled and any additional amounts for which the employee presents evidence of a tax obligation supporting the additional withholding;\n(3) Health insurance premiums;\n(4) Normal retirement contributions as explained in 5 CFR 581.105(e);\n(5) Normal life insurance premiums, excluding optional life insurance premiums; and\n(6) Levies pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5514(d).\nEmployee means a current employee of an agency, including a current member of the Armed Forces or Reserve of the Armed Forces of the United States.\nExecutive Director means the Executive Director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, or his or her designee.\nFederal Claims Collection Standards means the standards published at 4 CFR chapter II.\nHearing official means an individual responsible for conducting any hearing with respect to the existence or amount of a debt claimed, and rendering a decision on the basis of the hearing.\nNet Assets Available for Thrift Savings Plan Benefits means all funds owed to Thrift Savings Plan participants and beneficiaries.\nNotice of intent to offset or notice of intent means a written notice from a creditor agency to an employee which alleges that the employee owes a debt to the creditor agency and which apprises the employee of certain administrative rights.\nNotice of salary offset means a written notice from the paying agency to an employee informing the employee that it has received a certification from a creditor agency and intends to begin salary offset.\nParticipant means any person with an account in the Thrift Savings Plan, or who would have an account but for an employing agency error.\nPaying agency means the agency of the Federal Government which employs the individual who owes a debt to the United States. In some cases, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board may be both the creditor agency and the paying agency.\nPayroll office means the payroll office in the paying agency which is primarily responsible for the payroll records and the coordination of pay matters with the appropriate personnel office with respect to an employee.\nPerson includes a natural person or persons, profit or non-profit corporation, partnership, association, trust, estate, consortium, State and local governments, or other entity that is capable of owing a debt to the United States Government; however, agencies of the United States, are excluded.\nPrivate collection contractor means a private debt collector under contract with an agency to collect a non-tax debt owed to the United States.\nSalary offset means an offset to collect a debt under 5 U.S.C. 5514 by deduction(s) at one or more officially established pay intervals from the current pay account of an employee, without his or her consent.\nTax refund offset means the reduction of a tax refund by the amount of a past-due legally enforceable debt owed to the Board or a Federal agency.\nThrift Savings Fund means the Fund described in 5 U.S.C. 8437.\nThrift Savings Plan means the Federal Retirement Thrift Savings Plan established by the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986, codified in pertinent part at 5 U.S.C. 8431 et seq..\nWaiver means the cancellation, remission, forgiveness, or non-recovery of a debt allegedly owed by a person to the Board or a Federal agency as permitted or required by 5 U.S.C. 5584 or 8346(b), 10 U.S.C. 2774, 32 U.S.C. 716, or any other law.","path":["Title 5—Administrative Personnel","CHAPTER VI—FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD","PART 1639—CLAIMS COLLECTION","Subpart A—Administrative Collection, Compromise, Termination, and Referral of Claims"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-5.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:23:53Z","sha256":"69f61029a04b467738da60bf6f34a3a0a55be00577608f844d5c517b909ec575","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/5-cfr-1639.3","next":"us/5-cfr-1639.5"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}