Collections

Collections in United States

Practical Information

Note: Some of this information was last updated in 1982

Past due accounts that the lawyer undertakes to collect for others. Collections may be turned over to the lawyer by local clients, or they may be forwarded from another town by a collection agency (in U.S. law) or by another lawyer. Unless suit is filed, collections are handled on a contingent fee basis. Although some commercial items involve large amounts, the majority of them are for small sums, with a correspondingly small fee. See also comercial law lists (in U.S. law); installment collections (in U.S. law).

(Revised by Ann De Vries)

What is Collections?

For a meaning of it, read Collections in the Legal Dictionary here. Browse and search more U.S. and international free legal definitions and legal terms related to Collections.

Collections in the Federal Budget Process

Meaning of Collections in the congressional and executive budget processes (GAO source): Amounts received by the federal government during the fiscal year. Collections are classified into three major categories: (1) governmental receipts (also called budget receipts or federal receipts), (2) offsetting collections, and (3) offsetting receipts.

Governmental receipts result from the exercise of the government’s sovereign powers. Offsetting collections and receipts result from businesslike transactions with the public or transactions between appropriated activities. Offsetting collections and offsetting receipts are recorded as offsets to spending. They are offsetting collections when the collections are authorized by law to be credited to expenditure accounts. Otherwise, they are deposited in receipt accounts and called offsetting receipts.

For further discussion, see “Federal Receipts and Collections” in the Analytical Perspectives of the President’s budget. (See also Account in the President’s Budget; Off-Budget; On-Budget; Revenue.) Federal Budget Collections include Governmental Receipts, Offsetting Collections and Offsetting Receipts.

Guide to U.S. Federal Offsetting Collections (Budget Process)

  • Offsetting Collections
  • Reimbursements
  • Federal Fund Accounts
  • Offsetting Governmental Collections
  • Refunds

Guide to U.S. Federal Offsetting Receipts (Budget Process)

  • Offsetting Receipts
  • Proprietary Receipts
  • Intragovernmental Transfers
  • Offsetting Governmental Receipts

Resources

See Also

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)


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