Refunding Deposits (APS 013)

Overview

Applicable to

State agencies and institutions of higher education.

Policy

Generally, state agencies and institutions of higher education must refund erroneous collections if a refund claim is made within four years of when the amount was due or collected by the state.

Legal citations

Government Code, Section 403.077, allows the refunding of erroneous collections and is applicable to all agencies and institutions of higher education.

General Appropriations Act (GAA), Article IX, Section 8.04, 88th Legislature, Regular Session, allows money to be refunded, as provided by law.

Legend

How to Refund Deposits

Refunding Deposits

Authorized refunds are made by refund transactions. The refund transaction code (T-code) reverses the increase to the original comptroller revenue object. 

Refunds must be issued within four years of the receipt or due date and must come from the fund and the appropriation where the money was originally deposited. If the refunded revenue comes from an “unappropriated activity account,” use the current appropriation year, unless otherwise restricted.

An agency refunding revenue must include in the Legal/Descriptive Text an explanation of the accounting transaction and reference Government Code, Section 403.077, which gives authority to all agencies and institutions of higher education to issue a non-tax refund.

Determining Appropriation Year

The table below explains how to determine the correct appropriation year (AY) to enter on the refund transaction:

If the refund revenue is from…	Then the appropriation year is…
99906 – Unappropriated Receipts – GR	Current
Any other active appropriation	Original
Any other expired appropriation	Current

Refunding Erroneous Deposits

Refunds must contain the same coding block elements as the original transaction, subject to the AY determination above.

Process the refund in USAS with Document Type 9, Batch Type 4, using the coding block in the table below.

If…Original Deposit T-code/Title was:	Then…Refund T-code/Title is:	Appropriation Number	COBJ	Appropriated Fund/Agency Fund/PCA
179*/Deposits in Excess of Revenue Budget	222/Vouchers Payable – Refund of Revenue	Original for active appropriations/ Determined by agency for expired appropriations	Original	Original
188/Deposit For Susp or Funds Held for Others	229/Refund of Revenue – Funds Held for Others
195**/Record Deposit of Revenue in Treasury	222/Vouchers Payable – Refund of Revenue

* If the original deposit T-code was 179, the agency must also reverse the budgetary impact by entering a Document Type J, Batch Type 2, using T-codes 195/179R.

** If the original deposit T-code was 195, and the agency increased its budget with T-codes 006/009, the agency must reduce that budget by entering a Document Type A, Batch Type 1, using T-codes 009R/006R.

Refunds From Abolished Funds

A refund from an abolished fund, where balances exceeding the amount of the refund were transferred to General Revenue (GR), may be issued from GR.

Refund requests from abolished funds where balances were not transferred to GR or where insufficient balances were transferred to GR must be submitted to the Legislature for specific appropriation in order to process the refund.

Refunds Between Agencies

For USAS entries, the Recurring Transaction Indicator (RTI) process can also be used. Enter a Document Type T, Batch Type 4, and reference an RTI established by the agency seeking the refund.

T-code/Title	Appropriation Number	COBJ	Appropriated Fund/Agency Fund/PCA	RTI
222/Vouchers Payable – Refund of Revenue	Original	Original	Original	Provided by agency seeking refund

Note: See Interagency Payments and Receipts for Goods and Services (APS 014) for valid combinations for interagency transactions.

After Four-Year Period

As required by Encumbrance Reporting and Lapsing of Appropriations (APS 018), reported revenue deposited by an agency in GR and subject to a refund, but not refunded within the time limits established by Article IX, Section 8.04 of the GAA, must be transferred to GR under Agency 902, using RTI 003973, vendor number #39029029020000 and the following coding block:

Agency	T-code/Title	COBJ	Appropriated Fund/Agency Fund/PCA
Affected Agency	475/Accrued Transfers Out w/Liquid	7973	Determined by Agency

Sales Tax Refunds

It is not necessary for revenues to be transferred to the Trust and Suspense Fund (0900) before a refund is issued, unless the refund involves sales tax deposited under Agency 902. See Deposit of Sales Taxes Collected by State Agencies (APS 008) for instructions on refunding sales tax.

Budgets

A budget is not established, since neither the transfer nor the refund of the revenue requires one.

Any budget previously established and/or increased by the original deposit of the refunded revenue must be reduced in the same manner as it was originally increased.