The CAO must follow these steps to compute the amount of lost benefits: 7 CFR § 273.17(d)
Correct the amount of the current benefit, if necessary.
Determine the period for which benefits are to be restored, excluding months before the 12-month limit.
Determine eligibility for each month in which benefits have been lost.
NOTE: If the case record does not contain enough information to decide on eligibility, the CAO must tell the household what information is needed. The household is ineligible for restored benefits for any month it does not provide information needed for eligibility.
Compute the amount of lost benefits from the beginning of the restoration period until the error was corrected or the household became ineligible, by: 7 CFR § 273.17(d)(1)(iv)
Computing benefit amounts the household should have received for each month; 7 CFR § 273.17(d)(3)
Subtracting the monthly benefits amount the household actually received; and
Adding the monthly differences to get the total amount of lost benefits.
Restore the benefit to the household unless there is an outstanding overissuance claim. If there is an overissuance claim, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) must determine the amount of the benefit to be restored. 7 CFR § 273.17(d)(4)
If an overissuance claim against a household is unpaid or suspended, the CAO must offset the amount of the restored benefit against the amount due on the claim. The CAO must restore the balance, if any, to the household. 7 CFR § 273.18(g)
The CAO may establish an overissuance for some months when computing the restored benefit. The offset also applies to these overissuances.
If the case record contains an overpayment referral, the CAO must send the Offset Overissuance Against Restored Benefits form (PA 816SP; see Appendix B of this section) to the OIG to determine whether there is a balance due on the overissuance claim. The OIG must tell the CAO the benefit amount to be restored.
If the CAO completes an overpayment referral, it must use the Automated Restitution Referral and Computation (ARRC) system. Once the claim has been computed, the CAO must send the PA 816SP to the OIG. If a paper PA 189 is required, the CAO must attach the PA 816SP to the paper PA 189.
To offset the overissuance against restored benefits:
The claim must be computed in ARRC;
The amount must be passed to RMS; or
The CAO must send a paper PA 189 with the PA 816SP.
The OIG follows up on claims selected for prosecution review in which the claim amount has not passed to RMS.
Reissued March 1, 2012 , replacing July 15, 2008