Conditions for requesting an offset.
5 C.F.R. § 845.404
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01An agency may request that money payable from the Fund be offset to recover any valid debt due the United States when all of the following conditions are met:
(a) The debtor failed to pay all of the debt on demand, or the creditor agency has collected as much as possible from payments due the debtor from the paying agency; and
(b) The creditor agency sends a debt claim to OPM (under § 845.405(b) (1), (2), (3) or (4), as appropriate) after doing one of the following:
(1) Obtaining a court judgment for the amount of the debt;
(2) Following the procedures required by 31 U.S.C. 3716 and 4 CFR 102.4;
(3) Following the procedures required by 5 U.S.C. 5514 and subpart K of part 550 of this chapter; or
(4) Following the procedures agreed upon by the creditor agency and OPM, if it is excepted by § 845.405(b)(4) from the completion of procedures prescribed by § 845.405(b)(3).
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-5.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026
