Vendor Refunds

Vendor Refunds. A. Vendor payments refunded to a subgrantee may occur as a result of a household moving, closing an account, other household circumstances, or instances of error or fraud. B. Accurate accounting of vendor refunds requires subgrantees and energy vendors to coordinate carefully. C. Subgrantees must inform energy vendors to send the refund checks to the agency that submitted the payment on behalf of the household. D. If the refund is for a deposit, the vendor can utilize the funds to offset the final bill. However, if there is an overage, the funds must be returned to the subgrantee. E. The vendor must include the following information with each refund check, even if the refund check is for more than one household: 1) Household’s name (name on the account) 2) Address 3) Account number 4) Amount of household refund 5) Year credit occurred 6) Date of payment on account 7) Reason for refund F. Subgrantees should account for these refunds separately in the subgrantees’ accounting system. It is very important that each refund be identified by the LIHEAP program year. G. All LIHEAP grants that are still open (current), the Vendor Refunds must go back into the awarded amount at the agency level to be reissued as benefit to any household. However, the agency must still request the required documents from the Vendor for your records and credit the client’s account accordingly in the VROMA system. H. Agency Fiscal management user(s) are required to complete the vendor refund process within Virtual ROMA after receiving a refund check from the vendor. I. The refund amount should be credited back to the client’s LIHEAP Benefit Matrix. J. Subgrantees must return all vendor refunds for all grants where the period of performance has ended (closed) to the Department of Human Services- Division of Community Services. Subgrantees must submit one check for all refunds received for the previous year(s) closed LIHEAP grants no more than twice a year (June 30th and December 31st of each year). Subgrantees must submit the following information with each subgrantee refund check: 1) Vendor Name and Vendor check # 2) Household name for each refund 3) Address 4) Account number 5) Client ID number 6) Amount of household refund 7) Reason for refund 8) LIHEAP grant year 9) Date of benefit 10) Date refund received by Subgrantee, and 11) The required Procurement Services document for processing payment. (See example in the Forms/Resources section Virtual ROMA) K. Subgrantee checks should be made payable to: Treasurer, State of Mississippi and mailed to: Director, Division of Community Services 200 South Lamar Street Jackson, Mississippi 39201 L. MDHS-DCS will return any prior year refunds to the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Community Services.