Introduction

You can request the cancellation of an outstanding warrant any time during the year by submitting the appropriate forms to the State Controller’s Office (SCO). The following interactive PDF forms are available:
 

• Certification - Certification for Cancellation of a Warrant.  Agency personnel must complete warrant information on the Certification form. The payee will then complete the rest of the form and return it to the issuing agency.  The issuing agency will complete a Warrant Cancellation form, attach it to the Certification form, and then send both to the SCO.
• Cancel - Warrant Cancellation.  Agency personnel will complete this form and submit with any needed documentation to the SCO.
• Forgery - Forged Warrant Affidavit. Warrant information on the Forged Warrant Affidavit must be completed by agency personnel.  The payee will then complete the rest of the form, have it notarized, and return it to the issuing agency.  The issuing agency will complete a Warrant Cancellation form, attach it to the original affidavit and send both to the SCO.

When you cancel a warrant, STARS reverses the transaction code used to create the warrant.  Depending on that transaction code, STARS may restore your agency’s cash and spending authority in the same Fund, etc. based on the original warrant. This reversal will also clear the General Ledger balance in the Warrant Clearing fund.

Re-issue a Warrant

You can re-issue a warrant by re-entering the payment in STARS or Payment Services. If you had originally added an invoice and made the payment in Payment Servcies, you can re-issue a warrant by re-entering the payment in STARS or Payment Services. In either case, you may see a warning message that the second payment is a duplicate, but the message is only a warning.

Q Batch

These reversal transactions will be in a Q batch. The Status Date on the warrant cancellation becomes the Effective Date of the reversal transactions. Transactions that process in a Q batch do not post to the Warrant Write File, since these transactions do not issue a warrant, i.e., the cancellation process does not ‘re-issue’ a warrant.

Only the SCO can change information on a Q batch.  If a Q batch errors, the SCO will contact the agency for information to process the batch, if necessary. When a Q batch errors, you will see different statuses on the Warrant Control File. The DAILY BEGINNING STATUS shows the status before the change and the CURRENT STATUS shows the change being made. Once the Q batch processes, the status of both will be C for cancelled.

Warrant status in STARS

• O - Outstanding Warrant. A warrant that has not been redeemed.
• R - Redeemed Warrant (redemption). A warrant that has been paid by the State Treasurer.
• C - Normal Warrant Cancellation A permanent cancellation of the warrant so the warrant cannot be redeemed.
• C - EFT Cancellation. A permanent cancellation of the EFT transaction because the payment never made it to the bank account.
• L - Lost Warrant Cancellation. A permanent cancellation of the warrant so the warrant cannot be redeemed because the payee indicated it was lost.
• F - Forgery Warrant Cancellation. STO will return the warrant back to the bank as a forgery.
• M - Miscellaneous Warrant Cancellation. A cancellation status that is used when no other status is appropriate, or the payment should not have been issued to that vendor.
• P - Prior Year Warrant Cancellation. Outstanding warrants that have been cancelled and the cash sent to Unclaimed Property or returned to the agency due to the age of the warrant.

C- Normal Warrant Cancellation

A normal cancellation is used when you need to cancel a warrant that you have in your possession.  The steps for the normal cancellation process are: 

1.    Stamp or write “VOID” on the face of the warrant.

2.  Complete a CANCEL form and attach the warrant to the form.

3.   Send the completed CANCEL form and warrant to SCO, Division of Statewide Accounting.

4.   If the warrant needs to be reissued, your agency must reissue the warrant through STARS in the same manner as other disbursements are made.

Once the SCO receives the form and warrant, the Current Status on the Warrant Control File will be changed to show as a C for cancel, with a new status date showing the date of cancellation.
 

C - EFT cancellation

Once a payment is processed, transmitted by EFT, and accepted by the vendor’s financial institution, you cannot recover the cash by using the cancellation process.  In other words, the EFT transmission is similar to a redeemed warrant.  Contact the vendor for a refund since the state cannot take money out of a vendor’s bank account once it is deposited.

 

If the financial institution cannot locate the vendor’s account information, they notify the State Treasurer’s Office through a Notice of Change report.  This report will show if the account is closed or if they cannot locate the account number.  The SCO cancels the electronic funds transfer only upon notification from the State Treasurer’s Office that a vendor’s account information is incorrect.

 

To cancel an EFT: 

1. The SCO will complete a CANCEL form and attach the Notice of Change report from the State Treasurer’s Office.

2. The SCO will update the STARS Vendor Edit Table record by changing the prenote indicator on the vendor’s record to an R for reject.  Future payments to this vendor will be made by a warrant until the vendor provides new account information.

3. The SCO will send a copy of the CANCEL form and documentation to the agency.

4.  Your agency must reissue the warrant through STARS in the same manner all other disbursements are made.

 

Once the SCO receives the report and creates a CANCEL form, the Current Status on the Warrant Control File will be changed to show as a C for cancel, with a new status date showing the date of cancellation.

 

Your agency is then responsible for obtaining corrected bank account information.  Until the new account information successfully completes the prenote process and the prenote indicator on the Vendor Edit Table – SO21 changes to Y for yes, the vendor will continue to receive warrants.

 

L- Lost warrant cancellation

The lost cancellation process is used when, for example, a vendor does not receive a warrant,  misplaces it, or accidentally destroys it.

1.        The Agency and payee will complete a Certification form for cancellation of a warrant.  If you have created the warrant payable to more than one payee, they must all sign the Certification.

2.        The Agency will complete a CANCEL form.

3.        The Agency will send the completed CANCEL and the Certification form to SCO, Division of Statewide Accounting.

4.        The Agency must reissue the warrant through STARS in the same manner all other disbursements are made.

Once the SCO receives the forms, the Current Status on the Warrant Control File will be changed to show as an L for cancel lost, with a new status date showing the date of cancellation.
 

F- Forgery warrant cancellation

A forgery cancellation is used when a warrant has been cashed by someone other than the intended vendor or payee of the warrant. If a vendor says they have not received payment, check the Warrant Control screen to see if the warrant status is an R for redeemed status.

 

Request a copy of the redeemed warrant from the State Treasurer’s Office, giving them the warrant number and redeemed date. When you get the copy, ask the vendor to review the signature. If the vendor determines that the signature on the back of the warrant is not theirs, you should begin the forgery cancellation process.

 

Upon receipt of a signed forgery affidavit, the State Treasurer will return the redeemed warrant to the bank. The bank will then return the warrant to the party that originally cashed it. The steps for the forgery cancellation process are:

 

1. Agency and payee will complete a FORGERY Affidavit form for cancellation of a warrant.  All payees must sign the affidavit.

2.  Complete a CANCEL form.

3.  Send the completed CANCEL form and the original FORGERY Affidavit form to the State Controller’s office, Division of Statewide Accounting. NOTE:  If this is a payroll warrant, send the forms to the Office of State Controller, Division of Statewide Payroll.

4.  Send a copy of the completed FORGERY Affidavit form to the State Treasurer’s Office (STO).

5.   Your agency must reissue the warrant through STARS in the same manner all other disbursements are made. NOTE:  The Division of Statewide Payroll will reissue the payroll warrant.  The warrant will be sent to the agency to be forwarded to the employee.

6.The State Treasurer will return both the copy of the forgery affidavit and the original warrant back to the bank.

 

Once the SCO receives the forms, the Current Status on the Warrant Control File will be changed to show an O for outstanding and then to an F for forgery cancel, with a new status date showing the date of cancellation.

 

M- Miscellaneous warrant cancellation

A miscellaneous cancellation is used when you do not have the warrant in your possession, and the vendor is not due the money for some reason.  Examples of valid reasons for a miscellaneous warrant cancellation could be: the warrant is a duplicate payment, is issued in the wrong amount, or is made payable to an incorrect vendor. If the vendor is not due the money, do not use the Certification for Cancellation of a Warrant because the signer must certify that they are entitled to receive that money.  The steps for the miscellaneous cancellation process are:

 

1. The agency’s Fiscal Officer or Department Head must write a memo on agency letterhead addressed to the State Controller’s Office, Division of Statewide Accounting explaining the reason for the cancellation and a description of why the Certification for Cancellation of a Warrant is not appropriate.

2. Complete a Warrant Cancellation form and attach the memo to the form.

3.  Once the SCO receives the form and memo, the Current Status on the Warrant Control File (Screen 47) will be changed to M for miscellaneous cancel.  The new status date will be the date of the cancellation.

 

If any payment is to be re-issued, the re-issue should be done through STARS in the same manner that all other disbursements are made.

P- Prior year warrant cancellations

Prior year cancellations are warrants that have been outstanding for at least one-year, per Idaho Code 67-1213. The State Treasurer’s Office is required to refuse payment of outdated warrants.

Warrants that are considered outdated are presumed to be unclaimed property (Idaho Code 14-513).  The state must follow the unclaimed property laws regarding outdated warrants.

As part of the fiscal year-end close process, the SCO cancels these outdated, outstanding warrants.  The SCO transfers the cash to the State Treasurer’s Office, Unclaimed Property Division or back to your agency, depending on Idaho Code.

Prior Year Encumbrance Warrants

When you cancel a warrant that was issued against a prior year encumbrance, STARS does not reestablish the prior year encumbrance. The SCO changes the transaction code from a TC 236 R to a TC 230 R, using the current year budget fiscal year. This transaction increases an agency’s current year appropriation. When you reissue the warrant, use current year information so that the cancellation and reissuance total to zero.

Since the warrant cancellation does not reissue the warrant, you will have to process a transaction if you want to create a new warrant.  Normally, you would process the same transaction as the original warrant.

In the case of a prior year encumbrance warrant cancellation, you reissue it with a TC 230 transaction against the current year appropriation. You can reissue the payment at the same time you submit the cancellation to the SCO, unless you do not have enough cash or spending authority.

If you need the cash or spending authority to reissue the warrant, you will have to wait until the cancellation process is complete.  We recommend that you reissue the warrant in the same month as the warrant cancellation was made.

Fiscal Year End Warrant Cancellation Report

DAFR0149- Warrant Cancel Preliminary

Around mid-March, your agency will receive a preliminary Fiscal Year End Warrant Cancellation report (DAFR0149).  This report will show all outstanding (or stop payment) warrants that are old enough to be cancelled at the end of the year.  The outstanding warrants must have an issue date older than July 1 of the current fiscal year. A warrant that shows a stop payment status is still considered an outstanding warrant.

Contact the vendors on this report to determine why the warrants have not been cashed. 

You may need to cancel and reissue the warrant(s), since they may have been lost in the mail, etc.  Follow the cancellation steps described earlier.

[SCO ONLY:  To run this report, update the STARS Descriptor Table 75 with the date of the first day of the current fiscal year.]
 

DAFR1149- Warrant Cancel Final

At the end of the fiscal year, SCO will cancel any warrants still outstanding on the Fiscal Year End Warrant Cancellation report.  Any warrants from the preliminary report that you cancel and reissue will no longer show on the final report.

During the first part of July, the SCO will run the final Fiscal Year End Warrant Cancellation Report (DAFR1149 Final). This shows all the remaining outstanding warrants with an issue date older than July 1 of the previous fiscal year (the fiscal year being closed). A copy of this report will be sent to all agencies that had warrants cancelled.

The SCO will run a program (a job) to transfer the cash for these cancelled warrants to the State Treasurer’s Office, Division of Unclaimed Property, unless an agency can cite statutory authority that precludes the transfers. 

The SCO uses the STARS Descriptor Table 22 as a tool to identify the funds that should revert to the agency or transfer to Unclaimed Property.

The return fund indicator (RT) on the Descriptor Table 22 (Fund) can show one of two options:

0 - for sending cash shows the cash is to be transferred to State Treasurer’s Office Unclaimed Property. The recipient must go to Unclaimed Property to collect the cash.  Used for most funds.

1 - for sending cash to agency shows the cash is reverted to the agency into the fund from which it was written. The recipient must go to the agency to have the warrant re-issued. Idaho Code normally identifies these funds/agencies

Per the Administrator of the State Treasurer’s Office - Unclaimed Property, the state agencies will have the following reporting requirements:

AMOUNTS GREATER THAN $50.00

The report for cancelled warrants that are greater than $50.00 requires the following information:

1.        Warrant number, date issued and amount.

2.        Full name and last known address of payee.

3.        Social Security number, if available.

Forward this information to the Unclaimed Property Section of the State Treasurer’s Office no later than July 31.

 

The State Treasurer’s Office Unclaimed Property Section can furnish report forms for your use.  Please contact them for additional information on the availability of this form.  Computer printouts (such as spreadsheets) are acceptable, but must include all the required information.
 

AMOUNTS $50.00 OR LESS

For items with a value of $50.00 or less, you do not have to report detailed information to the Unclaimed Property Section.  However, your agency must then maintain a record of the amounts, payee names, and last known addresses.  To comply with Idaho Code 14-531, your agency must retain these records for seven years.

 

Once the SCO cancels the warrants, the Current Status on the Warrant Control File will be changed to show as a P for prior year cancel, with a new status date showing the effective date of cancellation (June 30).

Cancelling Payroll Warrants

The SCO Division of Statewide Payroll will reissue all payroll warrants.  Agencies should send all payroll-related cancellation forms and supporting documentation to the Division of Statewide Payroll.  Upon receipt of the documentation, the Division of Statewide Payroll will correct payroll, initiate the cancellation, and reissue the warrant.  The reissued warrant will be sent to you to be forwarded to the employee.

The Payroll Cancellation line on the CANCEL form is for use by the SCO, Division of Statewide Payroll only. This is for warrants that have been voided through the state payroll manual void process. Agencies should not use this type of cancellation.
 

lost Payroll warrant cancellation

A lost payroll cancellation is when a state employee does not receive a payroll warrant or misplaces or accidentally destroys it.  In accordance with Idaho Code 67-1022, have the employee sign and notarize an affidavit form.

1. Your agency and payee should complete a Certification for cancellation of a warrant.

2.  Complete a CANCEL form. Fill in 142 in the agency code field.

3.  Attach the completed Certification form to the CANCEL form and send them to SCO, Division of Statewide Payroll.  After processing, they will send the forms to SCO, Division of Statewide Accounting, for cancellation of the warrant.

4. Personnel in the Division of Statewide Payroll will reissue the payroll warrant.  The warrant will be sent to your agency to be forwarded to the employee.

Once the SCO cancels the warrants, the Current Status on the Warrant Control File will be changed to show as an L for cancel lost, with a new status date showing the date of cancellation.