TN 18 (11-08)

A. General

The FMS-133 is used to notify SSA of beneficiary payments returned to Treasury as a result of a reclamation request. The FMS-135 is used to notify SSA when Treasury debits a financial institution’s (FI) Federal Reserve Account. Both of these forms are used to document funds that have been recovered from the FI and require action by SSA to post the funds to the payment records. The FMS-133 also provides SSA with the information needed to contact the last withdrawer when all of the funds paid after death are unrecoverable by the FI (see SSA Contacts Last Withdrawer GN 02408.630).

Effective January 2, 2008, the Department of the Treasury (DT) imposed a three (3) year time limit for Federal agencies to submit final debits (i.e., ACH reclaims) of a Financial Institution's (FI) Federal Reserve account via the FMS-135, Request for Debit. An ACH reclaim represents a debit against an FI for certain liability on payments disbursed after the death of a beneficiary. Agencies have three years from the date of the FMS-133, Notice of Reclamation, to submit ACH reclaims via the FMS-135 to DT's Philadelphia, Kansas City and San Francisco Regional Financial Centers. Items older than three years are rejected and not processed.

FMS faxes the FMS-133 and FMS-135 into the PC paperless system for action.

B. Processing the FMS-133

1. When all of the funds have been returned (i.e., To Be Recovered By Agency block on FMS-133 equals $0.00):

Code the SSA-4208 to reduce the special payment amount (SPA) and clear the Accounts Receivable System (ARS).

See How to Complete Form SSA-4208 for Electronic Fund Transfer Reclamations SM 00609.865.

2. When part of the funds or no funds have been returned (i.e., To Be Recovered By Agency block contains a dollar amount):

• Code the SSA-4208 for the total amount refunded.

  See How to Complete Form SSA-4208 for Electronic Fund Transfer Reclamations SM 00609.865C.

• Attempt to recover the outstanding balance from the last withdrawer’s address found on the back of the FMS-133. See SSA Contacts Withdrawers GN 02408.630.

NOTE: If the FMS-133 does not list the names of the withdrawers for a sole-owner account, stamp “RECLAIM” on the top-middle portion of the FMS-133. Do not stamp over any information DT needs to reclaim the outstanding amount. Return the FMS-133 to Treasury for debit of the FI’s Federal Reserve Account.

REMINDER: Do not use MADCAP/ROAR to reduce or clear the SPA/BOUD because they do not post the credit to the appropriate payment and do not clear ARS.

C. Processing the FMS-135

Code the SSA-4208 with the amount reclaimed on the FMS-135 to reduce the SPA and clear ARS.

See How to Complete Form SSA-4208 for Electronic Fund Transfer Reclamations SM 00609.865.

NOTE: If any portion of the outstanding credit is not recovered, input a second SSA-4208 to write-off the ARS control on the remaining outstanding payments.

REMINDER: Do not use MADCAP/ROAR to reduce or clear the SPA/BOUD because they do not post the credit to the appropriate payment and do not clear ARS.

D. Processing the FMS-133 when the United States Secret Service (USSS) is involved

When a reclamation request contains at least seven payments with an outstanding dollar amount over $15,000.00, Treasury forwards a copy of the reclamation request to the USSS for review and forwards the FMS-133 into the PC paperless system.

SSA receives the FMS-133 with language stating:

“Forward to USSS (date) - Agency should not attempt collection until response received from USSS”

The USSS attempts to contact the last withdrawers and make a refund agreement.

When the USSS and SSA both secure refund agreements, accept and process the better one . No action is taken on the FMS-133 when the terms of the agreement are honored.

When the terms of the agreement are not honored or no agreement is made, the FMS-133 is stamped “RECLAIM” and returned to the appropriate RFC for final debit.

E. Office of the Inspector General (OIG) referrals

OIG generally investigates fraud cases that meet the prosecutive acceptance guidelines for federal judicial district where the fraud occurred.

When SSA receives an FMS-133 with more than $5,000 in incorrect payments unavailable to reclaim:

1. The CCRE's or TST's in the module components refers the case to OIG via the e8551 process prior to contacting the last withdrawer (http://electronic8551.ssahost.ba.ssa.gov/(S(zmstkbinxywy4cfi23yfnryl))/forms/e8551.aspx).

2. Diary control the case for 30 days. CCRE's or TST's in the module components recontacts OIG directly when no response is received after 30 days.

3. Process the FMS-133 per GN 02408.626B.2. when OIG does not open a case.