The Treasury Department's Financial Management Service (FMS) has created a quick reference guide on the garnishment of accounts containing federal benefits.
https://public.shazam.net/mr_ach_resources_gov_digest.html

A co-worker has interpreted this guide to state that the salaries of federal government workers are considered "benefit payments" as well as tax refunds. I know they have a table that includes these but I thought they are changing those payments to include a blank in Positions 54 & 55 for future use of the "XX" should additional authority be acquired.

I think it will be vital to rely upon the coding to determine if the customer received a "benefit payment." But for future reference, are salaries of federal gov't workers and tax refunds considered "benefit payments?"

Thanks!

Sorry, what the QRG is saying is that government salaries, IRS tax refunds, etc. will have blanks in Position 54 & 55 as opposed to XX for qualifying benefits. They are not qualifying benefits, only the ones listed on page 3 are qualifying benefits.

The beauty of the way the regulation is worded is that you can rely on the XX in those two positions and not worry about checking a list. I think, though, you might want to see if payments pass the laugh test to ensure some smart-a$$ company hasn't stuffed "XX" into his headers in those positions just to play with your mind. It's reasonable certain that other agencies will step through the hoops to get Treasury to code XX in those positions if their payments are protected by statute.