OFFICE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

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DEPOSIT PROCEDURES FOR COLLECTIONS RECEIVED
AT FOREIGN POSTS

USFCS posts located in foreign countries may receive US Dollars or other foreign currencies in the form of U.S. and foreign checks, money orders and cash. Collections may be for user fees for commercial information products and business facilitation services, participation fees collected for trade promotion events and other miscellaneous purposes.

All collections, regardless of type of monetary exchange and for whatever reason collected, need to be recorded on an "International Trade Administration Collections Transactions Record" (CTR), and transmitted to the BANK ONE, Lockbox at the address and in the manner detailed below. All foreign posts transmitting funds to the Lockbox for deposit must follow the procedures described herein to ensure that collections are properly accounted for and deposited in the US Treasury.

ITA's policy is to encourage collections by credit card and if a credit card cannot be used then collection should be drawn in US Dollars (USD) on US banks.

Group A. A $10.00 Fee will apply for receipt of foreign currency checks, or dollar checks drawn on a foreign bank from the countries in this group.

A.) Processes and Responsibilities for Receiving Funds:

CHECKS:

Checks or money orders must be made payable to one of the six following payees. Checks made payable to any other payee will be returned to the transmitting office.

ITA

Department of Commerce

U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service

US&FCS

Record the specified appropriation code (J/XXX), smart code (XXXX) and organization code (XX-XX) on each check and money order received. Appropriate accounting codes for the various collection types are described in the current fiscal year ITA Financial Management Policy and Accounting Classification Instructions.

Each post must ensure the following endorsement language appears on the reverse side of all checks and money orders prior to forwarding them to the Lockbox:

" Pay to the Order of any Federal Reserve Bank or Branch or General Depository for credit to the Treasurer of the United States. This check is a payment of an obligation to the United States and must be paid at par. N.P. Do not wire nonpayment. International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230 13-12-0001"

CASH:

All cash received at the post must be converted to a money order or check in U.S. Dollars. The money order or check must be made payable to the ?International Trade Administration? and transmitted to the Lockbox. Costs associated with converting the cash into a money order or check must be received from the customer given you the cash, may be paid from the amount being converted, and must be noted on the Collection Transaction Record (CTR).

A survey of a selected number of foreign posts was conducted by the Foreign Commercial Service to determine the variety and best transmittal options available to posts to get their collections to the Bank One Lockbox. As expected, the best method of transmittal varies. Generally, however, the most secure and cost effective method was determined to be the U.S. Mail (APO) where available. Each post should consider the options available for transmittal. Security of the checks, costs of shipping, and time that it takes to reach the lockbox should be considered. We suggest the posts batch the checks in different days, taking into account APO routine, to ensure batches go on different flights and days. In the event that a batch of checks get lost in the mail, the post must to go back to the participants and ask for a replacement of the lost checks.

Regardless of the method in which the post transmits its collections to the Lockbox (APO, Courier, etc.) all collections, the accompanying CTR, and required documentation will be sent to the following Lockbox address:

E.) National Business Center (NBC) Role:

All collections and funds received at Commercial Service post locations must be transmitted to the BANK ONE Lockbox. An "International Trade Administration Collections Transaction Record" (CTR) form must accompany each transmittal of checks and money orders to the Lockbox. The CTR is required to convey all necessary accounting and tracking information represented by the check or money order to the Lockbox. All posts receiving funds must follow the procedures described herein to ensure that collections are properly accounted for and deposited.

Cash Receipts:

All cash received at the post must be converted to a money order or check in U.S. Dollars. The money order or check must be made payable to the ?International Trade Administration? and transmitted to the Lockbox. Costs associated with converting the cash into a money order or check must be received from the customer given the cash and may be paid from the amount being converted, and must be footnoted on the CTR.

Posts will use the Collection Transaction Record (CTR) form to list and document collections being sent to the Lockbox.

Checks must be separated into two groups before being transmitted to Lockbox. Each group must be accompanied by a separate CTR. Each CTR will constitute a separate batch.

Collections received in U.S. dollars that total $5,000 or more must be transmitted to Lockbox on the same business day in which they are received. Collections of foreign currencies with a United States dollar (USD) converted value of $5,000 or more must also be transmitted on the same business day received.

Collections that total less than $5,000 received in U.S. dollars may be transmitted to Lockbox at the end of the workweek. Collections of foreign currencies with a USD total converted value of less than $5,000 may be transmitted at the end of the workweek. Deposits should be made weekly or when collections reach a total of $5,000 or the equivalent, whichever occurs first. In general, collections received too late in the day to meet the deposit cutoff time must be deposited the following business day.

No single individual may control a collection transaction. Offices must ensure that collection duties are separated and performed by different individuals. For example, collections received and posting to the Overseas Transaction Record (CTR) should be done by one individual, preparing and mailing the CTR to the lockbox and reconciling the CTRs received from NBC to the OTD by another. We understand that in some cases the posts do not have the necessary staff to follow this example. In that case, the commercial officer would have to be involved in this process (Note: per separate the Foreign Affairs Manual and the Foreign Affairs Handbook require that when small collections reach $5,000 in aggregate the sum should be deposited then, instead of waiting until the end of the week.)

COMMERCIAL SERVICE OFFICE: Enter the name of the Commercial Service office making the deposit. This name must match the Organization Code, e.g. Zurich.

COUNTRY: The name of the country in which the post transmitting the collections is located, e.g. Switzerland.

ORGANIZATION CODE: Enter the four digit organization code (e.g. 12-XX) that represents the office transmitting the collection. See ITA Financial Management and Accounting Classification Instructions. This code represents the ITA office name listed above.

CONTACT NAME and TELEPHONE NUMBER of person completing the CTR: Enter the name and telephone number of the person completing the CTR.

ADDRESS: Address of post transmitting the deposit.

DATE TRANSMITTED: This is the date that the transmittal was mailed to Lockbox.

NUMBER OF CHECKS INCLUDED IN BATCH: The number of checks being transmitted to Lockbox. The number of checks transmitted must equal the number of transactions entered on the form. Put the checks in the same order as they are entered on the CTR.

TRANSACTION NUMBER:Assign and enter a six digit sequential number, preceded by the fiscal year (e.g., 00-XXXXXX), to each check or money order received at the Commercial Service post. The transaction number series is for the entire fiscal year (e.g., the first check received during fiscal year 2000 would be numbered 00000001, the second 00000002, the 156^th 00000156, etc.).

PAYER NAME:Enter the name of the individual or company as the name appears on the check or money order.

AMOUNT OF CHECK: Enter the numerical currency amount stated on each check, no matter what currency it is.

CURRENCY: Enter the type of monetary unit in which the check was drawn (e.g., US Dollars, Japanese Yen, Swiss Francs, etc.) This entry identifies the numbers entered in the Amount of Check field. Checks and money orders in different country currencies may be transmitted on the same CTR.

CHECK NUMBER:Enter the number that appears on the check or money order, if any.

DATE OF CHECK:Enter the date of the check or money order.

INFORMATION PRODUCT: Indicate the type of information product sold, if applicable. If none, leave blank.

TRADE EVENT NUMBER: If a Participation Agreement was the basis of this collection, enter its Event Number.

APPROPRIATION: Enter the three-digit appropriation code (e.g., 023, 024?.) for the collection. Appropriation Codes may be found in the ITA Financial Management and Accounting Classification Instructions.

PROJECT CODE/PERFORMANCE MEASURE: This code group will consist of six-digits.  The project code group is the first four-digits and the performance measure code group is the last two-digits. These groups cannot be separated by a hyphen.  The project/performance measure codes and their definitions are found in the "ITA Financial Coding Pattern" booklet.

BUDGET OBJECT CODE (BOC) or TRAVEL ORDER NUMBER: Complete this field ONLY if the collection represents a refund of an ITA payment or collection of an excess travel advance to an employee. Enter the appropriate four-digit budget object code only if the collection is a refund or a reimbursement. Enter the eleven-digit travel order number if the collection is a repayment of a travel advance. For example, if an employee obtains a travel advance of $1,000 and after the trip is completed he/she can only justify $900, the employee must refund by check the $100 difference to ITA the employee must enter the eleven-digit code of the travel order number on this designated field. Otherwise this field should be blank.

LOCKBOX REMITTANCE ADDRESS:

Bank One

8^th Floor Mailroom

525 West Monroe Street

Attn: International Trade Administration

Lockbox # 21695

Chicago, IL 60661

For additional information about Lockbox processing or collections reporting contact: Kay Etchell (ext. 297) or Karen Hall (ext. 242) at (303) 236-0390, mailing address:
 
 

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