Department of the Treasury – Budget in Brief 

Treasury Forfeiture Fund 

Program Summary by Budget Activity 

 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2018 TO FY 2019

Budget Activity Actual Estimated 3 Estimated $ Change % Change

Mandatory 1 $479,446 $489,833 $450,000 -$39,833 -8.13%

Secretary’s Enforcement Fund $7,014 $25,898 $10,000 -$15,898 -61.39%

Strategic Support 2 $39,768 TBD TBD NA NA

Total Cost of Operations $526,228 $515,731 $460,000 ($55,731) -10.81%

Rescissions/Cancellations ($1,398,050) ($1,397,700) ($400,000) $997,700 -71.38%

Contingent Liabilities $387,011 $355,000 $355,000 ($5,000) -1.41%

Total FTE 25 26 26 0.00%

1

 The Treasury Forfeiture Fund is staffed by Departmental Offices employees and positions are funded via reimbursable agreement.

The FTE are shown here for clarity, but are also reflected in the Departmental Offices chapter in the reimbursable FTE total. 2

 For fiscal years 2018 and 2019, Treasury will revise Strategic Support (formerly known as Super Surplus) based on enacted 

appropriations and submit a plan to Congress if funding is available, once more is known about actual collections and expenses. 3

 FY 2018 full-year appropriations were not enacted at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, the budget assumes this 

account is operating under the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 (Division D of P.L. 115-56, as amended) and that the 2017 

enacted rescission recurs in FY 2018. 

Summary 

The Treasury Executive Office for Asset 

Forfeiture (TEOAF) administers the Treasury 

Forfeiture Fund. The Treasury Forfeiture 

Fund (the Fund) is the receipt account for 

deposit of non-tax forfeitures made pursuant to 

laws enforced or administered by participating 

Treasury and Department of Homeland 

Security agencies. The Fund was established 

in 1992 as the successor to what was then the 

Customs Forfeiture Fund. The Fund supports 

Treasury’s goal of Enhancing National 

Security. 

The enabling legislation for the Treasury 

Forfeiture Fund (Title 31 U.S.C. 9705) defines 

the purposes for which Treasury forfeiture 

revenue may be used. 

Explanation of Budget Activities 

Mandatory ($450,000 from 

revenue/offsetting collections) 

Mandatory expenses represent operating costs 

of the Fund, including storing and maintaining 

seized and forfeited assets, valid liens and 

mortgages, investigative expenses incurred in 

pursuing a seizure, information and inventory 

systems, remissions, victim restoration, and 

certain costs of local police agencies incurred 

in joint law enforcement operations. 

Following seizure, equitable shares may be 

paid to state and local law enforcement 

agencies that contributed to the seizure activity 

at a level proportionate to their involvement.

Secretary's Enforcement Fund 

($10,000,000 from revenue/offsetting 

collections) 

Secretary’s Enforcement Fund (SEF) expenses 

are funded from revenue from equitable shares 

received from Department of Justice (DOJ) or 

U.S. Postal Service (USPS) forfeitures. These 

shares are proportionate to Treasury’s 

participation in the overall investigative effort 

that led to a DOJ or USPS forfeiture. SEF 

revenue is available for federal law 

enforcement-related purposes of any bureau 

participating in the Fund.

Strategic Support (TBD from 

revenue/offsetting collections) 
Department of the Treasury – Budget in Brief 

Strategic Support (formerly known as Super 

Surplus) authority, established by Congress in 

31 U.S.C. 9705(g)(4)(B), allows TEOAF to 

fund priority federal law enforcement 

initiatives with remaining unobligated 

balances at the close of the fiscal year, after an 

amount is reserved for the next fiscal year’s 

operations. Recently-enacted large rescissions 

have had a severe negative impact on the 

participating member agencies’ investigations. 

Insufficient and inconsistent funding support, 

uncertainty about future funding, 

investigations disrupted by cash flow 

problems, and inability to obtain necessary 

technology/infrastructure in the absence of 

Strategic Support all undermine both current 

and future financial investigations and 

forfeitures.

Contingent Liabilities ($350,000 from 

revenue/offsetting collections) 

TEOAF tracks future remission payments to 

third parties as contingent liabilities. 

However, these amounts are not recorded as 

obligations from the Fund until the 

Department of Justice grants the petition for 

remission. The third parties are predominantly 

victims of crimes that triggered the forfeiture 

(e.g., Ponzi scheme or kleptocracy victims). 

Amounts recorded are significant because 

remission payments from multiple years are 

recorded and carried forward. The amounts 

change constantly as payments are made and 

amounts for new remission cases are added. 

TEOAF considers the amounts recorded as 

contingent liabilities as unavailable and 

believes that consideration of contingent 

liabilities provides a more accurate 

representation of the financial position of the 

Fund. 

Legislative Proposals 

P.L. 114-113 rescinded $3,800,000,000 of the 

$3,838,800,000 forfeited by BNP Paribas in 

2015 and prohibited Treasury from obligating 

the remaining balance. However, the 

remaining balance will remain in the Fund 

unless returned to the General Fund. Return of 

these funds to Treasury is being done solely to 

remove them from the Fund’s account, but will 

not count as savings because the funds are 

already precluded from obligation.

TEOAF Performance Highlights 

FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019

Budget Activity Performance Measures Actual Actual Actual Target Target

Treasury Forfeiture 

Fund

Percent of Forfeited Cash 

Proceeds Resulting from HighImpact Cases98.25 89.09 81.79 80.0 80.0

Description of Performance 

The TEOAF continues to measure the 

performance of the participating law 

enforcement bureaus through the use of the 

performance measure: percent of forfeited 

cash proceeds resulting from high impact 

cases. This measures the percentage of 

forfeited cash proceeds resulting from high 

impact cases, which are cases resulting in a 

cash forfeiture deposit equal to or greater than 

$100,000. 

Focusing on strategic cases and investigations 

that result in high impact forfeitures will do 

the greatest damage to criminal organizations 

while accomplishing the ultimate objective, 

which is to disrupt and dismantle criminal 

activity. Member law enforcement bureaus 

participating in the Fund have met or exceeded 

the performance target since FY 2013. 

However; the performance declined from 

89.09 percent to 81.79 percent from FY 2016 

to FY 2017. This is attributable to large 
Department of the Treasury – Budget in Brief 

rescissions leading to no Strategic Support 

funding available to the participating agencies 

in FY 2015 and FY 2016. For FY 2018 and 

FY 2019, the target will remain at 80 percent. 

The Fund maintains a target of 80 percent 

because some cases may be important to 

pursue, even if they are not high-impact cases 

and result in deposits of less than $100,000.