United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao_comptroller_general legislative 2016-06-24 U.S. Government Publishing Office 1996-10-25 monographic deposited born digital 5 p. GA 1.13:B-261699 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-B-261699 P0b002ee18fd4b75c f:261699 DGPO 2016-06-24 2016-06-24 GAOREPORTS-B-261699 machine generated eng fdlp COMPTROLLERDECISION GAOREPORTS-B-261699 B-261699 Comptroller General Decision

1. An agency asks whether the gross amount of an overpayment of pay must be used to determine those cases that come within its $1,500 waiver authority, when the agency intends to consider waiving only a specific amount less than $1,500. The waiver statute, at 5 U.S.C. sec. 5584(a)(2)(A) (1994), limits the waiver authority of an agency head to claims "in an amount aggregating not more than $1,500." The term "aggregate amount" is defined in 4 C.F.R. sec. 91.2(j) (1996) to mean "the gross amount of the claim against the employee . . ." Therefore, an agency head may grant waiver only where the gross amount of an employee's debt before deductions is $1,500, or less.<p/>2. Each of a group of employees received a single overpayment of compensation. Because the administrative error occurred at the end of the calendar year, the agency was unable to correct the error during the year and had to report it as income for the year on the employee's W-2 statement and withhold monies for income taxes. The employees were notified and were required to repay the gross amount of the overpayment, but recoupment did not occur until the following year. However, due to their individual income tax circumstances, most of them were unable to recover from the taxing authorities the amount withheld for income taxes on the overpayment. The agency asks whether the amount withheld for income taxes may be waived because it is unrecoverable. The application of the tax laws to an individual's income is a matter solely within the jurisdiction of the taxing authority, and an individual's income tax liability on the overpayment does not permit partial waiver of a debt not otherwise appropriate for waiver. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-B-261699/html/GAOREPORTS-B-261699.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-B-261699/pdf/GAOREPORTS-B-261699.pdf GAO/B-261699 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-B-261699 Comptroller General Decision GAO/B-261699; Fort Polk Employees-Erroneous Payment of; Title 5 Section 5584(a) Title 5 Section 5584(a)(2)(A) Title 5 Section 5584(a)(2)(C) 5 U.S.C. 5584(a) 5 U.S.C. 5584(a)(2)(A) 5 U.S.C. 5584(a)(2)(C) Title 26 Section 1341 26 U.S.C. 1341