January:
The North Carolina Department of Revenue does not send any setoff files to the Clearinghouse in January - tax payer refunds are being processed and setoff during January and will be provided in the first setoff file on the first Tuesday in February. The North Carolina Education Lottery may send files during January but the Clearinghouse does not process until the first Department of Revenue file is received in February.
February through December:
The Clearinghouse conducts a thorough reconciliation on the first setoff file from the North Carolina Department of Revenue to ensure that all data is correct before proceeding with the following steps. Remember, all January setoffs are in this first February setoff file.
The reconciliation for the first few setoff and lottery files of the year are normally so large and may require additional processing time and verifications before being available to the participating local governments. However, the files are normally available no later than the Friday of the same week the file is received. Beginning in May the Clearinghouse normally has all processing completed by Thursday.
The Clearinghouse begins the standard operations explained in the steps below:
| Step | Setoff Step | Status | Date(s) | Estimated Completion Date (If not ON SCHEDULE) or SPECIAL COMMENT |
| 1 | a) The N. C.
Department of Revenue processes tax refunds against debtors from the
Clearinghouse database.
b) The N.C. Education Lottery reviews all winners of over $600 against the Clearinghouse database |
COMPLETED | Monday, December 12 through Sunday, February 5 | |
| 2 | The N. C. Department of Revenue mails the "Notice of Individual Income Tax Adjustment" letters to the debtors that were setoff. This letter references the Clearinghouse toll-free Interactive Voice Response (IVR) telephone number (877) 843-0330. | COMPLETED | Tuesday, December 13 through Monday, February 6 | |
| 3 | Debtors setoff receive the mailing notices and call the Clearinghouse (IVR) to inquire on all local governmental entities who submitted a claim against their tax refund | COMPLETED | Wednesday, December 14 through Wednesday, February 8 | |
| 4 | Participating local governmental entities submit electronic data files to the Clearinghouse via the client software or ASCII/Excel files | COMPLETED | Monday, December 5 through Friday (5:00 p.m.) January 27 | |
| 5 | The Clearinghouse processes all local governmental entity data creating an updated database from data sent by Friday 5:00 p.m. | COMPLETED | Saturday through Monday: December 9-11, 16-18, 23-25, 30 - January 2, 7-9, 14-16, 21-23 and 28-30 | |
| 6 | The Clearinghouse transmits a replacement database to North Carolina Department of Revenue who forwards a copy to the N.C. Education Lottery. Only debts $50.00 or more that have passed their Compliance Date and have not passed the Expiration Date are sent | COMPLETED | Tuesdays, December 13, 20, 27 and January 3,10,17,24 and 31 | |
| 7 | a) The N. C.
Department of Revenue transmits an electronic tax refund setoff file to
the Clearinghouse
b) The N. C. Education Lottery transmits an electronic lottery setoff file to the Clearinghouse |
COMPLETED | Tuesday, February 7 | |
| 8 | The Clearinghouse reconciles information from the N. C. Department of Revenue and N.C. Education Lottery, using the electronic data files from each | COMPLETED | Tuesday, February 7 through Thursday, February 9 | " |
| 9 | a)
The N. C. Department of Revenue electronically transfers all tax refund
setoff funds to N.C. Capital Management
b) The N. C. Education Lottery electronically transfers all lottery setoff funds to N.C. Capital Management
|
COMPLETED | Friday, February 10 | |
| 10 | The Clearinghouse updates the master database to reflect all setoffs received in the electronic file from the N. C. Department of Revenue and N.C. Education Lottery | COMPLETED | Friday, February 10 | |
| 11 | The Clearinghouse faxes a report to N.C. Capital Management providing the associated Capital Management account numbers and deposit amounts for each local governmental entity that received funds. Additionally, the Clearinghouse faxes a copy of the above report to the N. C. League of Municipalities and the Association of County Commissioners | COMPLETED | Friday, February 10 | |
| 12 | The Clearinghouse transfers the setoff data files (including Excel file of all setoffs) to the secure folder for each local governmental entity in the file | COMPLETED | Friday, February 10 |
|
| 13 | The Clearinghouse transmits electronic mail notifications and instructions to each local governmental entity that various files are available for download | COMPLETED | Friday, February 10 | |
| 14 | Local governmental entities proceed with the downloads from their secure folders, using either the Web Browser or the Client software and processes the setoff results | IN PROGRESS | Friday, February 10 UNTIL COMPLETION | |
| 15 | The Clearinghouse updates the Statistics information on the website | ON SCHEDULE | Monday, February 13 - 5:00 p.m. | |
|
Last Status Update |
Friday, February 10, 2012 - 10:37 A.M. |
Notes:
Step 2: Department of Revenue mails an official letter informing the debtor they were setoff
Step 3: Interactive Voice Response system (IVR) process:
Debtor is prompted for their Social Security
Number
Provides the Local Governmental Entity Name,
Contact Name and Telephone Number (from the online Participation Form) of
ALL local governmental entities that submitted a claim against their tax
refund Step 6: The Clearinghouse
performs the following edits: Compliance Date - only debts sent to the
North Carolina Department of Revenue and Education Lottery are those having a Compliance Date that has
lapsed. Future Compliance Dates are held until that date passes. Expiration Date - only debts sent to
Department of Revenue having an Expiration Date that have not yet lapsed
(today or in the future) Debt Amount - only debts $50.00 or more are
sent to the North Carolina Department of Revenue. Note: the Clearinghouse
does NOT combine debts, this must be done by the local governments
submitting debts Step 10: The Clearinghouse
updates the master database: Debt Amounts updated to reflect the
tax refunds and lottery setoff(s) Indicators set to ensure that setoff
rules enforced: only one transaction fee ($15) per Social Security Number
per debt, per local governmental entity, per Tax Year Step 11: The Clearinghouse
faxes a report to N.C. Capital Management: The funds are normally available on the following Tuesday If there are questions or issues involving the access of these funds please call N. C. Capital Management Trust at (800) 222-3232
Instructions for Downloading/accessing the Setoff file information in Step 14:
Client Software Users: version 2011