Lesson 6: The Warrant Offset Process

About the Process

Each week, the Fiscal Management Division of the Comptroller’s office:

• Determines which warrants have been held 30 days and are eligible to be offset.
• Sends any warrants eligible for offset for child support directly to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for processing.
• Deposits remaining warrants into Treasury funds for each hold source agency.
• Sends letters to the hold source agencies notifying them of the transfer of funds and a report listing the payees and amounts to be credited.

Offset held warrant greater than debt owed

If the amount of the offset held warrant is greater than the liability amount owed by the payee, the Comptroller’s office issues a payment for the remaining amount, referred to as an overage payment. If this results in the debt being paid off, the Comptroller’s office removes the hold from TINS.

Offset held warrant less than debt owed

If the offset held warrant does not fully pay off the payee’s debt, the Comptroller’s office adjusts the liability amount in TINS to reflect the remaining outstanding debt.   

Next: Offset Hierarchy