Frequently Asked Questions for the Public
The Bureau of the Fiscal Service in the Department of the Treasury collects overdue (delinquent) nontax debt for other federal agencies.
If you owe money to a federal agency and you did not pay it on time, you have a delinquent debt. You will receive a letter first from the agency to whom you owe the debt. If you do not pay the agency, the debt then goes to Treasury and we send you a letter about that debt. The letter tells you what agency you owe money to, how much you owe, and how you can pay.
You can pay in any of 3 ways: online, by phone, or by mail.
Online:
- Go to Pay.gov - Online Payment for Delinquent Nontax Debt and follow the instructions. You can use a debit card or you can give your bank account information. Pay.gov is a secure site
- Online Bill Payment (OLBP): Sign into your bank’s website and add Bureau of Fiscal Service as a payee. You also can set up recurring payments through your bank’s online bill payment system when applicable.
By mobile phone: Use your mobile phone to access www.pay.gov/paygov/paymydebt.
By phone: Call 888-826-3127. The call is toll free. Give the representative your debit card or bank account information.
By mail: Send a check or money order to pay your debt. On the memo line of your check or money order, write the Treasury Case Number or Account Number for your debt. You will find that number in the letter you got from us about the debt. We need that to be sure to assign your payment to your debt. If you mail your payment, the address is:
U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 979101
St. Louis, MO 63197-9000
Yes. To ask for proof that you owe the debt, call 888-826-3127 and talk to a debt recovery analyst. We will get the documents about your debt from the agency to which you owe the debt. We will then send the documents to you.
Maybe. Generally, federal agencies must add interest, penalties, and the cost of managing your debt ("administrative costs") to overdue (delinquent) debts.
The law is 31 U.S.C. § 3717.
Therefore, the amount you owe may go up the longer you wait to pay.
Maybe. Generally, federal agencies must report overdue (delinquent) debt to a credit bureau. Credit bureaus give you a credit score that others (such as car dealers or banks) use to decide whether to give you a loan or what interest rate to charge you. So, not paying what you owe the federal agency may hurt your credit score.
You might be able to pay part now and part later. That's an "installment agreement" or "repayment agreement." In an installment agreement, we agree on how often you will pay and how much you will pay each time until the entire debt is paid off.
Call 888-826-3127 to discuss your options for paying the debt. A debt recovery analyst will discuss your situation with you. You will have to give the analyst information about your finances.
If you qualify, the analyst will set up an installment plan with you.
Call 888-826-3127. Talk to a debt recovery analyst about the change in your financial situation.
If you can't pay the full amount that you owe, even over time, you can talk about that with a debt recovery analyst. Call 888-826-3127.
You may be eligible for a "compromise agreement" or other relief. With a compromise agreement, you satisfy your debt by paying less than the full amount of the debt.
You will have to give the analyst information about your finances.
If we give you a compromise agreement, you must pay the agreed-upon amount. You must also do everything else that you agreed to when setting up the compromise agreement.
By law, we may be required to tell the IRS how much of the debt you did not have to pay. That then may count as income to you for tax purposes.
We will send you a Form 1099-C at the end of the year. Form 1099-C tells you what we reported to the IRS.
No. We at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service in the Department of the Treasury cannot decide that you do not have to pay anything on a debt that you owe to another federal agency. This is called "waiving the debt," and is not a legally available option for most types of debts.
If a debt is a type for which there is legal waiver authority, only the agency to which you owe the debt can waive (decide that you don't have to pay anything on) that debt.
If you think that the agency should waive the debt, talk to a debt recover analyst. Call 888-826-3127.
If you think you don't owe the debt, you can dispute the debt (tell us why you think this is an error).
To dispute the debt, you should send us a letter. In the letter, tell us why you don't owe the debt or why you think the amount due on the debt is incorrect. Include a copy of any documents that support your dispute. For example, if you have already paid the debt, send proof of that. Be sure to keep a copy of your documents for yourself.
Send your letter and other documents to this address:
U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 830794
Birmingham, AL 35283-0794
When we get your letter and other documents, we will ask the agency that referred your debt to us to look at what you wrote and get back to us with their response.
If you prefer, you may dispute your debt by calling 888-826-3127 and speak with a debt recover analyst. The analyst can walk you through the process of disputing the debt. If the agency says the debt is valid (you really owe them money), we will continue collecting it.
If the agency says there was an error, they will fix the error. That may include telling us to stop collecting the debt.
The Department of the Treasury is generally required to take money from certain federal payments (for example, tax refund payments and social security payments) and certain state payments to pay back a federal agency for an overdue (delinquent) debt. The process of withholding money in this way is called "offsetting a payment."
If you have questions about what your payment agreement says, talk to a debt recovery analyst. Call 888-826-3127.
For more information about offsets, see the Treasury Offset Program.
Yes. A federal agency can order an employer to withhold up to 15 percent of an employee's pay to pay an overdue (delinquent) nontax debt. This is called "administrative wage garnishment" or "AWG." The agency can start AWG without getting an order from a court.
See the page on questions about AWG.
If the person named in the letter as the person who owes the debt is in jail or has died, let us know. Call 888-826-3127 to talk to a debt recovery analyst.
The analyst will tell you what papers you must send to show that the person is in jail or has died. Send the papers to us at this address:
U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 830794
Birmingham, AL 35283-0794
We will review the papers and let you know what to do next.
If you have filed for bankruptcy protection, let us know right away.
Call us at 888-826-3127 or write to us at this address:
U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 830794
Birmingham, AL 35283-0794
Yes. If you want to write to us about your debt instead of calling, send your letter to this address:
U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 830794
Birmingham, AL 35283-0794
Fiscal Service Contact Information
Debt Recovery Analyst: 1-888-826-3127
U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 830794
Birmingham, AL, 35283-0794
If you received a delinquent debt notice or a letter about a defaulted student loan from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, or have questions regarding the offset of your federal tax refund or of another U.S. government-issued payment, please visit our Treasury Offset Program (https://fiscal.treasury.gov/top/) for more information, or the Contact Debt Management page to find out how we can help you.