Offsetting Receipts in the United States
Offsetting Receipts in the Federal Budget Process
Meaning of Offsetting Receipts in the congressional and executive budget processes (GAO source): Collections that are offset against gross outlays but are not authorized to be credited to expenditure accounts. Offsetting receipts are deposited in receipt accounts. Like offsetting collections, they result from (1) businesslike transactions or market-oriented activities with the public, (2) intragovernmental transfers, and
(3) collections from the public that are governmental in nature but required by law to be classified as offsetting receipts.
Offsetting receipts are offsets to gross budget authority and outlays, usually at the agency or subfunction level, but some are undistributed and are offsets to budget authority and outlays in the aggregate. (See also Undistributed Offsetting Receipts.) Unlike offsetting collections, offsetting receipts cannot be used without being appropriated. Trust fund offsetting receipts are permanently appropriated and, therefore, can be used without subsequent annual appropriation legislation. (See Permanent Authority under Timing of Legislative Action under Budget Authority; Trust Fund Receipt Account under Trust Fund Accounts under Account in the President’s Budget.) The Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended by the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) of 1990, defines offsetting receipts and collections as negative budget authority and the reductions to it as positive budget authority. (See also Earmarking; Reimbursement.)
Guide to U.S. Federal Offsetting Receipts (Budget Process)
- Offsetting Receipts
- Proprietary Receipts
- Intragovernmental Transfers
- Offsetting Governmental Receipts
Resources
See Also
- Federal Appropriations
- Entries about the United States Budget Process in the Encyclopedia (including Offsetting Receipts)
- Public Debt
Further Reading
- Legislatures and the budget process: the myth of fiscal control
(J Wehner, 2010)
- Reconcilable Differences?: Congress, the Budget Process, and the Deficit (JB Gilmour, 1990)
- Fiscal institutions and fiscal performance
(JM Poterba, J von Hagen, 2008)