U.S. Treasury Checks
Role of the Financial Management Service
Although many child support payments have been converted to electronic payments,
there is still a considerable number of child support checks issued from Federal
agencies. The Financial Management Service (FMS), a bureau of the U.S. Department
of the Treasury, is the principal disbursing agent of the Federal government.
FMS issues approximately 85 percent of all Federal payments. A few Federal
agencies, e.g., Department of Defense (DoD), have either statutory or delegated
authority to issue their own payments, which account for the remaining 15 percent.
FMS has four Regional Financial Centers (RFC) and a Debt Management Operations
Center where all Treasury disbursements are issued, both paper check and EFT
payments. The Debt Management Operations Center issues payments that are partially
offset (attached) for child support, for example, IRS tax refund payments.
FMS Regional Financial Centers
Austin Financial Center
P.O. Box 149058
Austin , TX 78714-9058
(512) 342-7300, 7261, or 7269
Office Symbol 220
Birmingham Debt Management Operations Center
P.O. Box 2451
Birmingham , AL 35201-2451
(205) 912-6100
Kansas City Financial Center
P.O. Box 12599
Kansas City , MO 64116-0599
Help Desk: 816-414-2100
Office Symbol 310
Philadelphia Financial Center
P.O. Box 8676
Philadelphia , PA 19101-8676
(215) 516-8015, 8019 or 8141
Office Symbol 303
San Francisco Financial Center
P.O. Box 193858
San Francisco , CA 94119-3858
Office Symbol 312
How to Read U.S. Treasury Checks
What To Do If the Check Should Not Have Been Sent to Your State Disbursement Unit (SDU)
If you are certain that the check should not have been sent to your SDU, contact
the appropriate RFC and arrange to return the check. The city and state of
the appropriate RFC appears on the face of the check to the left of the check
number. U.S. Treasury checks, with the exception of a check returned from Social
Security Administration (SSA), have the return address of the RFC on the return
envelope.
If your SDU needs to return a payment to the SSA by paper check, please use
the following procedures:
- Make the check payable to the Social Security Administration (not the U.S. Treasury)
- Include on the check the Social Security number (SSN) of the non-custodial
parent (NCP)/SSA beneficiary
- Send the check to the SSA at:
Mid-Atlantic Program Service Center
P. O. Box 3430
Philadelphia, PA 19122
This will help the SSA receive the payment directly without delay.
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Understand What is on the Face of a U.S. Treasury Check
- The date line is the first print line located below the words "Check No." and runs the length of the check. Typical information found on the date line, from left to right, includes:
- Date of the check, far left side
- RFC
- Check symbol, a four-digit check symbol related to the series of the check number, and
- Check number, far right side.
- The payment ID line, the second print line, is located directly below the date line. Typical information found on the payment ID line, from left to right, includes:
- Line code
- Payer
- SSN of NCP, far right side
- An "S" after the SSN indicates that the check is an SSA income-attached benefits check. The number immediately following the "S" indicates the type of SSA payment. For example,
S1 = SSA recurring payment
S2 = prior month's accrual (PMA)
S3 = current month's accrual (CMA)
- The Agency Location Code is an eight-digit number identifying the federal payroll agency that prepared the payroll file that FMS issued.
- The name and address lines, print lines 3-7, include the following data elements:
- Payee to whom the check was issued, 3rd print line. On a child support check, this would be the SDU to which the check is being sent
- Name of NCP or payer, 4th print line,
- Case or member identification number, 3rd or 4th print line, depending on number of lines in address, and
- Amount of payment, 5th print line, far right.
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Understand What is on the Face of a DoD Check
Most DoD garnishment payments are sent electronically, but there are still some paper checks being sent to SDUs, counties, and individual custodial parents.
- DoD civilian checks processed by Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS): The NCP's name, SSN and Case ID are printed at the bottom few lines of the check.
- Retired Military Members: The NCP's SSN is embedded amongst letters, displayed towards the top of the check under U.S. Treasury, and beside the "Defense Finance". The Case ID is the second line of the address. The NCP's name is not always present by the Case ID.
- Navy Active/Reserve Members: The NCP's name is not printed on the bottom of the check. The NCP's SSN is embedded amongst letters.
- Army Active/Reserve Members: The NCP's SSN is printed next to the first line
of the address. The Case ID is printed on line two of the address. The NCP's name is not always presented by the Case ID.
- Air Force Active/Reserve Members: The NCP's SSN is printed
below the date on the left side of the check. The Case ID is printed on the
second line of the address. The NCP's name is not always present by the Case
ID.
- Marine Corps Active/Reserve Members: For states still receiving individual printed checks, the NCP's last name and SSN are printed at the bottom of the check. The Case ID is printed on the second line of the address.
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Determine The Source of Income
Most child support payments from Federal payroll agencies are deducted from the paychecks of Federal employees. A child support payment from a Federal employee's salary will indicate that to the right of the address block:
Sometimes, however, the child support payment comes not from a salary but from another source of income.
For tax refunds, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses the following term:
Payments from SSA benefits are designated as follows:
- SOC SEC
FOR AUG [monthly Social Security retirement income-withholding]
- SOC SEC
FOR INS [disability insurance income-withholding]
Payments from the Office of Personnel Management appear as follows:
- CSA ANNUITY [Civil Service Annuity]
- CSR REFUND [Civil Service Refund]
- CSF LUMP SUM [Civil Service annual leave lump sum payment]
Payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs are designated as follows:
- VA COMP [income-withholding from compensation for disability]
- VA PENS [income-withholding of pension]
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What to Do if You Cannot Identify a U.S. Treasury Check
Unidentified checks are an unfortunate occurrence of SDU processing. There may be several reasons why you cannot identify a check:
- Your SDU implementation may have involved a lot of case clean-up. Perhaps your IV-D offices closed some non-performing cases. The check could be for a closed case.
- Your county clerks of court did not collect certain identifiers like SSN, so the non-IV-D or private orders in your automated system and SDU may lack complete identification.
- You assigned each case/order a unique identifier of which Federal agencies were not informed.
- You cannot identify a check without the county identifier (e.g., FIPS code), and the U.S. Treasury check does not include this information.
If you receive a U.S. Treasury check for which you need more identifying information to match the payment to your SDU database, first contact the Department of Treasury's RFC that issued the check. The RFC contact will ask for the check number and check symbol as well as other payment information such as the date of payment, amount, and account number (for example, the NCP's SSN). The RFC contact can then provide the name of the Federal payroll agency that certified the child support payment and can explain the various codes on the face of the check.
If you actually need someone to research the underlying income-withholding order, you will need to contact either the Federal payroll agency that does payroll for the NCP employee or contact the actual agency where the NCP works. (Some Federal payroll agencies do not store complete information about the income-withholding order. You may need to contact the actual agency where the NCP works for more information.)
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DFAS Contacts for Identifying Checks
The DFAS has identified the following contact for assistance with identifying a DFAS child support payment:
Longo, Loretta
Financial Systems Specialist, DFAS
(216) 204-1612—problems with DFAS payments—direct line
(216) 522-5118, ext. 41612
Fax: (216) 522-5471
Loretta.longo@dfas.mil
