Department of the Treasury – Budget in Brief

Treasury Forfeiture Fund

Program Summary by Budget Activity

Dollars in Thousands

 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

Budget Activity Actual Estimated3 Estimated $ Change % Change

Mandatory Obligations 1 $451,581 $621,232 $450,000 ($171,232) -27.56%

Secretary's Enforcement Fund $57,165 $7,075 $30,000 $22,925 324.03%

Super Surplus Obligations 2 $0 $114,634 $100,000 ($14,634) -12.77%

Total Cost of Operations $508,746 $742,941 $580,000 ($162,941) -21.93%

Rescissions/Cancellations4 ($4,839,128) ($969,783) ($876,000) $93,783 -9.67%

Contingent Liabilities $485,421 $352,054 $300,000 ($52,054) -14.79%

Total FTE 25 25 25 0.00%

FY 2017 TO FY 2018

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 Treasury will revise the FY 2017 Super Surplus plan based on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, and resubmit the FY 

2017 Super Surplus plan to Congress. For FY 2018, Treasury will submit a spending plan to Congress for the FY 2018 Super 

Surplus amount.

3

A full-year 2017 appropriation for this account was not enacted at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, the budget assumes 

this account is operating under the Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 114–254). The amounts included for 2017 

reflect the annualized level provided by the continuing resolution.

4 FY 2017 rescissions/cancellations include sequestration.

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 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 Obligations ($450,000,000 from 

revenue/offsetting collections)

Mandatory Obligations are incurred to meet 

the operating costs of the Fund, including 

expenses of 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 

($30,000,000 from revenue/offsetting 

collections)

Secretary's Enforcement Fund represents 

revenue from equitable shares received from 

Department of Justice (DOJ) or U.S. Postal 

Service (USPS) forfeitures. These shares are 

proportional 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 law enforcement organization 

participating in the Fund.
Department of the Treasury – Budget in Brief

Super Surplus Obligations ($100,000,000 

from revenue/offsetting collections)

Super Surplus authority, established by 

Congress in 31 U.S.C. § 9705 (g)(4)(B), 

allows TEOAF to fund priority 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. This balance can be 

used for any federal law enforcement purpose.

Contingent Liabilities ($300,000 from 

revenue/offsetting collections)

Contingent liabilities represent the known 

future remission, refund, and mitigation 

payments.

Legislative Proposals

P.L. 114-113 permanently rescinded 

$3,800,000,000 of the $3,838,800,000 

forfeited in United States v. BNPP, No.14 Cr. 

460 (S.D.N.Y.). Treasury is unable to obligate 

the remaining $38,800,000 due to a provision 

in section 405, Title IV limiting the use of 

these funds. Treasury proposes to return the 

remaining $38,800,000 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 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018

FY 2014 –

FY 2016

Budget Activity Performance Measures Actual Actual Actual Target Target Trend

Treasury

Forfeiture Fund

Percent of Forfeited Cash 

Proceeds Resulting from HighImpact Cases

86.73 98.25 89.09 80.0 80.0

Description of Performance

($580,000,000 in obligations from 

revenue/offsetting collections): 

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. 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. 

The member bureaus exceeded the target 80 

percent by 9.09 percent for FY 2016. For 

FY 2017 and FY 2018, the target will remain 

at 80 percent.