Expired Account / Expired Appropriation Account (CongressionalGlossary.com)

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Expired Account / Expired Appropriation Account

An appropriation account expires “[a]t midnight on the last day of an appropriation’s period of availability” and is “no longer available for incurring new obligations.” (GAO Red Book, Volume I, at 1-37.) However, an expired appropriation “remains available for 5 years for the purpose of paying obligations incurred prior to the account’s expiration and adjusting obligations that were previously unrecorded or under recorded.” (31 U.S. Code § 1553.)

Following the five-year period, the account is closed, and “[a]ny remaining balance (whether obligated or unobligated) in the account shall be cancelled and shall thereafter not be available for obligation or expenditure for any purpose.” (31 U.S.C. § 1552(a).) This means that the funds are “returned to the general fund of the Treasury.” (GAO Red Book, Volume I, at at 5-73.)

“Collections authorized or required to be credited to … [the] appropriation account, but not received before closing of the account … shall be deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.” (31 U.S.C. § 1552(b).) In the event that obligations or adjustments to obligations that should have been charged to an account are discovered after the account is closed, they “may be charged to any current appropriation account of the agency available for the same purpose” as the closed account as long as they are “not chargeable to any current appropriation account of the agency.” (31 U.S.C. § 1553(b)(1).)

Congress may exempt appropriations from these rules through specific legislation. (GAO Red Book, Volume I, at 5-75.)

For further discussion, see “Expired Appropriation Accounts” in the GAO Red Book, Volume I, at 5-71 to 5-75.)

More

• Account / Appropriation Account (CongressionalGlossary.com)
• “Interagency Contracting: An Overview of Federal Procurement and Appropriations Law,” CRS Report R40814 (39-page PDF)
• “Expiration and Cancellation of Unobligated Funds,” CRS In Focus IF12329 (5-page PDF)

Courses

• Congressional Operations Briefing – Capitol Hill Workshop
• Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
• Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing
• Custom, On-Site Training
• Congressional Operations Poster, with Federal Budget Process Flowchart
• Federal Budgeting, a Five-Course series on CD
• Congress, the Legislative Process, and the Fundamentals of Lawmaking Series, a Nine-Course series on CD

Publications

The Federal Budget Process 2E

Pocket Constitution

Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials: A Guide for Citizen Lobbyists and Grassroots Advocates

Congressional Procedure

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net