Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Child Care Subsidy Administration

Wisconsin Shares Handbook

Appendix VII Client Sanctions

Overpayments

An overpayment occurs when a parent spends more subsidy funds than they were eligible to receive due to a client error, agency error, or Intentional Program Violation (IPV). All parent overpayments, whether due to an administrative error, client error, or IPV, must be formally established to be repaid by the client (see 21.1).

Overpayments must be established in a timely fashion. Parent overpayments should be entered into the Benefit Recovery (BV) subsystem of CARES within 30 calendar days after the overpayment is calculated and/or IPV is approved. An overpayment notice will be systematically generated, and a manual overpayment notice must be sent to the client. For additional overpayment procedural guidance, refer to the Child Care Program Integrity Resource Library.

When establishing an IPV, local agencies must:

Contact the Bureau of Child Care Subsidy Administration (BCCSA) through the Child Care Help Desk at childcare@wisconsin.gov.
Attempt to contact the parent before establishing an IPV. All attempts to contact a parent regarding an overpayment or IPV must be recorded in CWW case comments.

If a client overpayment has been entered in BV incorrectly, the agency worker must make the correction. If the system is not allowing a correction, the Request For Write-Off or Adjustment form (DCF-F-140-E) must be completed and submitted to PACS.

IPV overpayments are approved by the administering agency, including the department, and local agencies under contract with the department. A Wisconsin Shares IPV must be approved by BCCSA prior to its entry in CWW. Local agencies must wait until an IPV has been approved before an authorization may be changed or ended due to fraud.

Overpayment Dates

If the error occurred during:	Overpayment begins:
Application	at application date
Renewal	at renewal date
Any other point in time	on the 1st day of the following benefit month

If there is fraud or if adverse action rules apply the local agency should contact the Child Care Help Desk at childcare@wisconsin.gov for assistance.

Overpayment end dates are the last day of the month in which the overpayment was discovered, or the last day of the month in which the last subsidy payment was issued. The overpayment end date is whichever is later.

Client Overpayment Information Chart

Overpayment Type	Statute of Limitations	Sub-Type
Client Error Overpayment	Six (6) years after the first day the error impacted the case	Untimely or unreported change of approved activity   Untimely or unreported income change that impacts subsidy amount  Untimely or unreported change in household composition  Untimely or unreported change in residency  Untimely or unreported change in child care need  Untimely or unreported change of provider or provider location number  Untimely or unreported provider discount   Paying the previous provider after a hardship was approved  Paying a provider that a child has not attended in the previous 30 calendar days Paying more than the cost of care
Agency Error Overpayment	One (1) year after the first day the error impacted the case	Incorrect entry of eligibility information  Failure to enter a reported change that affects eligibility
Intentional Program Violation Overpayment	Six (6) years after the first day the error impacted the case	Misrepresentation of income   Misrepresentation of household composition  Misrepresentation of child care needs  Misrepresentation of residency  Misrepresentation of participation in an approved activity  Selling access to a subsidy account (Trafficking)  Providing false or fraudulent documentation  Misrepresentation of hardship need  Using child care subsidy (as a parent) to pay themselves as a provider  Collusion

Overpayment Notices

The department and local agencies are required to send system-generated and manual overpayment notices. Notices must be mailed to the parent. Overpayment notices are generated to all liable individuals on the claim and mailed to the individuals’ last known address in CWW. If the person liable for the claim is no longer active on the case but is active on another case, CWW generates a separate overpayment letter to the primary person on that case. CWW generates an overpayment notice to the person who is liable for the claim even if the person liable is not the primary person.

Overpayment Notice Types

System-Generated Notice	Manual Notice	Additional Liable Individuals Notice
A Child Care (CC) Overpayment Notification that is mailed to the parents’ last known address in CWW	A Child Care (CC) Client Overpayment Notice (DCF-F_DWSW-11250-E)	If an individual is manually added as liable for an overpayment, the notice for the newly added person will be automatically generated from CARES. The added individual must be manually mailed the same CC Client Overpayment Notice (DCF-F_DWSW-11250-E).
A Repayment Agreement (RPA) will be sent separately on the second business day of the following month that the claim was entered	The CC Overpayment Worksheet (DCF-F-452-E) or its functional equivalent that shows the calculation of the overpayment	The added individual must be manually mailed the same CC Overpayment Worksheet (DCF-F-452-E) or its functional equivalent that shows the calculation of the overpayment.

IPVs

When an IPV is entered in CWW, eligibility for the individual will be systematically denied for the following durations:

First Violation (1R): Parent is denied Wisconsin Shares benefits for six (6) months.
Second Violation (2R): Parent is denied Wisconsin Shares benefits for 12 months.
Third Violation (3R): Parent is permanently denied Wisconsin Shares benefits.

The denial of benefits during the IPV penalty period will be imposed whether the case is open for other programs or closed. Only the individual(s) determined to have committed an IPV may receive the penalty. For additional IPV procedural guidance, refer to the Child Care Program Integrity Resource Library.

Collusion

Collusion is defined as multiple parties, such as providers and parents, collaborating to defraud the Wisconsin Shares program to receive financial benefit. Collusion is an IPV. Local agencies must contact the Child Care Help Desk at childcare@wisconsin.gov for further instruction when potential collusion is identified.

Examples of collusion include:

Cash refunds or “kickbacks”
Paying for care for children not on the case
Giving a MyWIChildCare EBT Card, account number, or PIN to a provider or other individual
Parent issuing payments to a provider who never opens for operation
Creating a shell company

Criminal Prosecution

After the local agency determines the IPV has occurred, the local agency may decide to take additional enforcement action(s). The additional enforcement action(s) include referral for criminal prosecution. The local agency should communicate with its legal counsel to discuss and establish thresholds and criteria regarding when to refer individuals to local law enforcement or the district attorney for consideration of possible criminal prosecution.

Cases of collusion and other highly egregious cases may be referred for criminal prosecution. BCCSA should be notified of any cases referred for criminal prosecution through the Child Care Help Desk at childcare@wisconsin.gov. When notifying BCCSA, agency workers must include the parent’s name, case number, violation type, and other programs that are involved with the charges. Local agencies may determine the appropriate timeframe to alert BCCSA.

This section last updated 11/1/2024