Interdepartmental Chargebacks

(1) Types of Chargeback Department Authorization. There are three types of Chargeback Department Authorization: (a) Ad Hoc Chargeback Department. A State Department with explicit statutory authority to provide a specific service(s) or good(s) at a Buyer Department's request, and to be paid by the Buyer Department for the actual cost of the specific service(s) or good(s) provided. (b) Public Fee Chargeback Department. A Department with explicit statutory authority to charge the general public and other Departments for authorized services, goods, fees or licenses, and for which such charges Departments are not specifically exempted by law. Public Fee Chargeback Departments may charge Buyer Departments for the amounts authorized by law, except for fees for licenses or other charges which total less than $25.00 per department per fiscal year and fees for public records requests under $25.00, except where the Public Fee Chargeback department can demonstrate substantial hardship. (c) Statewide Chargeback Department. A Department mandated by explicit statutory authority to charge Departments for services rendered by the Statewide Chargeback Department, or for payments made by the Chargeback Department on behalf of State Departments. For certain mandated Statewide Chargebacks that the Office of the Comptroller, or other authorized Department, are required to make on behalf of all State Departments (for example, unemployment insurance, unemployment health insurance, and medicare tax) the Office of the Comptroller will enable automated processing of Interdepartmental Encumbrances (IE) and Interdepartmental Vouchers (IV), or other appropriate transactions , on behalf of all Departments in lieu of the procedures outlined in 815 CMR 6.04(4) and (5). (2) Chargeback Department status is approved annually by the Office of the Comptroller and recorded in the state accounting system. Departments may not provide legislatively authorized goods or services to another Department prior to approval as a Chargeback Department in the state accounting system. A department seeking to be approved as an Chargeback Department must submit the following documentation to the Office of the Comptroller prior to providing authorized Chargeback goods or services: (a) a completed Chargeback Department Authorization Form; (b) evidence of the Department's explicit legislative authorization to charge other State Departments for specified goods or services; (c) a schedule of rates and charges for the authorized service(s) or good(s), including a detailed explanation of how each rate was derived (statutoryamount, formula, etc.) justifying the accuracy of the rates and charges; (d) The eight-digit account number or fund to be credited with Chargeback funds. (3) Prior to the provision of Chargeback goods or services, or both, authorized Chargeback Departments must notify Buyer Departments of negotiated or mandated estimated charges for the Chargeback goods or services using an Interdepartmental Encumbrance (IE). (4) Within 30 days of the receipt of notification of estimated or mandated charges from an Authorized Chargeback Department the Buyer Department must encumber sufficient funds to cover the full fiscal year of estimated or mandated charges. If the Buyer Department fails to encumber sufficient funds within 45 days of the receipt of notification of estimated or mandated charges from the Authorized Chargeback Department, the Chargeback Department may submit a request to the Office of the Comptroller to encumber funds on behalf of the delinquent Buyer Department. (5) Promptly after the period in which services are performed or goods are delivered, or both, the Chargeback Department shall bill the Buyer Department using an Interdepartmental Voucher (IV). The Buyer Department must process payment within 30 days of receipt of the bill. If the Chargeback Department has not received payment within 45 days of the submission of the IV, the Chargeback Department may request assistance from the Office of the Comptroller to make the payment on behalf of the delinquent Buyer Department. The name of the delinquent Buyer Department shall be submitted upon request to the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees for failure to make timely payments. (6) Revenue received from Interdepartmental Chargebacks may be retained and expended by the Seller Department in accordance with the authorizing legislation for the chargeback. Once a Department has reached the limit imposed by the Department’s chargeback authorization for retaining and expending funds received as chargeback revenues, the Department may not use an ISA in order to retain and expend additional revenues received for chargeback commodities or services, without prior approval of the Office of the Comptroller.