at-9828

ACTION TRANSMITTAL

AT-98-28

DATE: September 29,1998

TO: State Agencies Administering Child Support Enforcement Plans Approved Under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act and Other Interested Individuals

SUBJECT: Implementation of revised financial forms (Forms OCSE-34A and OCSE-396A) for State reporting of collections, expenditures, estimates and budget projections under the Child Support Enforcement Program.

BACKGROUND: The enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P. L. 104-193) in August 1996 changed a number of the requirements affecting financial data needs.

In September 1997, Form ACF-396 was introduced and approved by OMB for interim use for the reporting of expenditures, estimates and projections while OCSE continued its review of the newly-enacted statutory changes. During that time, and as a result of the efforts of a Federal-State partnership representing all interested parties and individuals, new financial reporting forms were developed that will provide OCSE with the information needed to complete its various financial and reporting responsibilities with minimal collection and reporting burden on State agencies.

PURPOSE: With this Action Transmittal, OCSE will implement the following financial reporting forms.
Form OCSE-396A: "Child Support Enforcement Program Financial Report"
Form OCSE-34a: "Child Support Enforcement Program Quarterly Report of Collections"

These forms replace existing Forms ACF-396 and OCSE-34, respectively, as of the effective date indicated below.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:

1. On both forms there are instances where the data entries appear in a different order from past reporting forms. This was done, where possible, to assure that subtotals are added top-to-bottom or left-to- right, as applicable. The information being requested was not changed.

2. On both forms, "edit checks" are included in the right margin of the instructions to indicate whether the information on that line is a "direct entry" from the State's accounting records or calculated from other entries on the form.

3. In recognition of the need to enter fiscal years beyond 1999, the column headings in Part 3 of Form OCSE-396A ("Semiannual Budget Projections") were preprinted as "Fiscal Year 20___." However, Budget Projections submitted in October 1999 will still contain data for fiscal years 1998 or 1999. For those reports, the preprinted information should be lined out and the correct fiscal year entered.

4. The following revisions merit particular attention:

   a. Form OCSE-396A (Part1), Line 1b added for the reporting of costs attributable to Non-IV-D cases; processed through the State Disbursement Unit or included in the State Registry.

b. Form OCSE-396A (Part 1,) Lines 5 and 10 added for the reporting of costs eligible for the 80 percent FFP rate and Net Federal Share of Collections, respectively. (These lines were previously included on the interim Form ACF-396)

   c. Form OCSE-396A (Part 1), Line 2b instructions revised to include reporting of "undistributable" collections as program income and as carried forward from Line9a of Form OCSE-34A.

      d. Form OCSE-34A, Line 2d added for the reporting of collections received through High Volume Automated Administrative Enforcement procedures.

e. Form OCSE-34A, Line 2e instructions revised to include the reporting of Non-IV-D collections received through income withholding and processed through the State Disbursement Unit.

f. Form OCSE-34A, Line 2a through 2g instructions revised to include the reporting of "net" amounts on these lines.

g. Form OCSE-34A, Line 4 added for the reporting of those Non-IV-D collections (from Line e) that were forwarded to Non-IV-D families during the quarter.

h. Form OCSE-34A, Line 9a added for the reporting of Undistributable Collections that are carried to Line 2b of Form OCSE-396A as program income.

SUBMITTAL SCHEDULE:

    Form OCSE-34A
    Due: Quarterly, within 30 days of the end of the each fiscal quarter

Form OCSE-396A, Part 1
    Due: Quarterly, within 30 days of the end of each fiscal quarter.

    Form OCSE-396A, Part 2
    Due: Quarterly (as needed in support of "prior quarter" entries on Part 1) within 30 days of the end of each quarter.

   Form OCSE-396A, Part 3
    Due: Semiannually, within 30 days of the end of fiscal quarters 2 and 4.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The use of from OCSE-34A and Form OCSE-396A is required beginning with fiscal year 1999, i.e., for all collections and expenditures made on or after October 1, 1998.

The first submission of Form OCSE-34A and Form OCSE-396A (Part 1 or 2), to report collections and expenditures for the first quarter of fiscal year 1999, is due by January 30, 1999.

The first submission of Form OCSE-396A (Part3), to provide budget information for fiscal years 1998, 1999 and 2000, is due by October 30,1998.

SUPERSEDED MATERIAL: With the implementation of these new reporting forms, all previous versions of these forms - Form OCSE-131, Form ACF-396 and Form OCSE-34 are no longer valid and must no longer be used. As the only exception to the preceding instruction, where it is necessary to revise a report submitted for a fiscal quarter ended prior to October 1,1998, the State may use the same version of the financial reporting form used for original submission.

Accordingly, the following Action Transmittals, pertaining to previously versions of these forms, are repealed:

OCSE-AT-97-14, dated September 29,1997
OCSE-AT-93-11, dated August 27,1993
OCSE-AT-93-09, dated August 06,1993
OCSE-AT-89-12, dated July 10,1989
OCSE-AT-89-01, dated January 17,1989

RELATED MATERIAL:The following documents pertain to reporting on Form OCSE-157, the "Child Support Enforcement Annual Data Report", which is used in conjunction with the financial reporting forms:

Action Transmittal OCSE-AT-98-20, dated July 10, 1998
Dear Colleague Letter DCL-98-92, dated September 2, 1998

ATTACHMENTS: Form OCSE-396A, Parts 1,2 and 3 with accompanying instructions
Form OCSE-34A with accompanying instructions

INQUIRIES: Inquiries should be made to the appropriate ACF Regional Administrator

_________________

David Gray Ross
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement