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(Revised 6/1/07 ML #3078)
(NDAC 75-02-01.2-71(6))
When you find a payment was incorrect, reconstruct each budget month and corresponding payment month using the policies and procedures that were in effect for the payment month. Overpayments are applied against minor caretakers or primary individuals age 18 and over. The overpayment or underpayment is the difference between the benefit amount the client actually received before recoupment and the benefit amount the client should have received before recoupment. Do not allow earned income disregards if earned income is not reported timely. JOBS transportation supportive service payments are not included when determining overpayments. All other supportive service/special allowance payments are included when determining overpayments.
Once a TANF payment has been made, the month becomes a count month towards the lifetime limit. The month remains a county month even if the month is corrected and overpayments established. Once a month is a count month, it remains a count month.
An overpayment should be applied to a caretaker/relative, who is not a dependent child (whether hr or she is in the case or not). A dependent child means a child who is deprived of parental support and under the age of eighteen or under age nineteen and a full-time student. In the case of a minor parent, the overpayment should follow the minor parent (whether they are in their own case or in a minor parent budgeting case).
The overpayment will be recouped from the TANF benefit. The recoupment will not include the transportation allowance payments.
If a client doesn’t cooperate by providing actual information to determine the amount of the incorrect payment, use the best estimate or the best information available. One source of information is IEVS.
Information received through the Information Eligibility Verification System (IEVS) should serve as a lead in exploring if income or an asset is currently available. IEVS information consists of earned income from Job Service; unemployment benefits from Job Service; asset information from the Internal Revenue Service; and annual wage, self-employment, and pension information from Social Security Administration. See Income and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS) 449-20 for further information.
If through the IEVS verification process, it is discovered the income was not used to determine the TANF benefit, rework the benefit month the income received is used for budgeting purposes and establish overpayments. In addition, determine if an intentional program violation should be pursued.
If the household fails to respond to the appropriate IEVS notice regarding an IEVS hit within 30 days, a notice of adverse action must be sent to the household advising the household their case will be closed; however, the verification process will continue. The county social service office should directly contact the reporting third party to assist in determining the proper payment amount or to arrive at the correct amounts of overpayment. If verification from the third party cannot be obtained, use the quarterly wage match and divide that figure by three to determine the amount of overpayment for those months.
Recover overpayments from the following people:
Household members who got more benefits than they were eligible to receive.
A household containing an adult member from a different unit that received more benefits than they were eligible to receive. Overpayments follow a member to a new case if the member was a minor caretakers or age 18 or over when the overpayment occurred. These people remain equally responsible for the overpayment.
A unit containing a member from a different TANF household that received more benefits from this program than they were eligible to receive.
In most cases, overpayments follow a member to a new unit if the member was part of the overpaid unit at the time the overpayment occurred.
Overpayments follow the responsible member.
Any overpayment, whether resulting from an error made by the household, administrative error, fraud recovery or from assistance granted pending a fair hearing decision subsequently made in favor of the county social service office, is subject to recovery. This applies regardless of when the overpayment occurred. The county social service office must promptly take all reasonable and practical steps to correct any overpayment. "Promptly" means that action to recoup shall be initiated in the month following the month in which the overpayment is detected. No distinction is made between willful and unwillful withholding of or failure to report information that affects eligibility or the amount of the TANF benefit. Only overpayments occurring under North Dakota programs can be recouped. Requests from other states for recoupment cannot be honored.
Recovery methods of recovering overpayments from participants are:
Recoupment.
Voluntary repayment agreement – an overpayment repayment agreement is a payment plan the client and the county agency agree to as a method of repaying an overpayment.
Criminal restitution.
