Refunding, Redesignating or Reattributing an Excess Contribution
An excessive receipt is not a violation the moment it arrives. A committee has a defined period and three available cures, but two of the three require a written instruction from the contributor, and each of them is reported in a different way.
The rule in short
A committee that receives a contribution exceeding an applicable limit must resolve it within a defined period. It may refund the excess, redesignate it to another election in which the candidate participates, or reattribute it to a contributor with authority over the funds. Redesignation and reattribution each require a written instruction signed by the contributor. The committee must keep funds sufficient to cover the excess while the question is open, and each disposition is disclosed.
An excessive receipt is a common event rather than an exotic one. Contributors lose track of what they have given, joint accounts produce a single instrument for two people, and money designated for an election arrives after the candidate has left it. The regulations anticipate all of this and supply a window in which the receipt can be resolved, together with three ways of resolving it.
The Window and What Must Happen Inside It
The period runs from the treasurer's receipt of the contribution, not from the date the committee notices the problem. Inside the window the committee must either refund the excess portion, obtain a valid redesignation, or obtain a valid reattribution. If none of those occurs, the receipt is an excessive contribution accepted in violation of the limits, and the failure is complete whether or not a refund is later made.
A committee has a choice at the outset between depositing the receipt and declining to deposit it. Declining is permitted and is the cleanest course where the excess is apparent on the face of the instrument. If the committee deposits, it must maintain sufficient funds to cover the potential refund for as long as the question remains open, which means the money cannot be spent in the meantime on the assumption that a cure will be obtained.
The window is also the period in which the committee's notice to the contributor must go out. That notice explains the problem and asks for the instruction the chosen cure requires. Committees that send the notice late frequently find that the response arrives after the period has closed, at which point the only remaining disposition is a refund, which the committee must then make from funds it should have been holding.
The Refund
A refund is the simplest cure and the only one that requires nothing from the contributor. The committee returns the excess portion, or the whole contribution where the entire amount is impermissible, and reports the payment as a disbursement identifying the recipient. No instruction, no signature and no agreement is needed, which is why a refund is the default where the contributor cannot be reached.
The refund must be made from committee funds and must actually clear. A refund check that is never presented does not resolve the receipt, and committees that carry stale refund checks on their books for extended periods are treated as still holding the excess. Where a contributor cannot be located, the practice is to make the payment to the Treasury rather than to retain funds the committee is not permitted to keep.
None of the three dispositions erases the original receipt from the record. The contribution is reported as received and the cure is reported as a separate event, so the sequence remains visible. Committees that adjust a prior report to remove the receipt entirely, rather than reporting the receipt and the cure, create a discrepancy in cash on hand that is more conspicuous than the problem they were addressing.
Redesignation and Reattribution
A redesignation moves a contribution from one election to another. It is available where the candidate is participating in the other election and where the contributor has room under the applicable limit for that election. The instruction must be in writing and signed by the contributor, and it must identify the election to which the amount is redesignated. A contribution designated for an election the candidate does not reach is the classic occasion for this cure.
A reattribution moves a contribution from one contributor to another. It is available where the second contributor has authority over the funds, which in practice means a joint account or a comparable arrangement. The instruction must be signed by each contributor to whom an amount is attributed and must state the amount attributed to each. A committee cannot reattribute on its own initiative, and a verbal assurance from one account holder does not satisfy the rule.
The regulation also provides a presumptive route in defined circumstances. Where the committee sends the required notice explaining the redesignation or reattribution and offering a refund, and the contributor does not respond within the stated period, the committee may treat the cure as effective on the terms set out in the notice. The route is conditioned on the notice containing specified content, and a defective notice does not support the presumption.
| Disposition | What changes | What is required | How it is reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refund | The money is returned | Nothing from the contributor | An itemized disbursement to the contributor |
| Redesignation | The election the contribution applies to | A signed written instruction naming the election | The receipt, then the amount against the new election |
| Reattribution | The contributor the amount is charged to | Signatures of each attributed contributor | The receipt, then the amount against the second contributor |
| Presumptive cure | Either of the above, by default | A conforming notice and no timely objection | As for the cure the notice specified |
| No cure within the window | Nothing | Not applicable | An excessive contribution accepted |
Contributions from a political committee follow the same structure with one difference. A committee contributor may authorize a redesignation or reattribution in the same way, but the authority to sign rests with its treasurer, and the instruction is written on behalf of the committee rather than by an individual. Where the excess arises because two affiliated committees each gave the maximum, no cure is available beyond a refund, since the shared limit was already exhausted.
Receipts After the Election and Net Debts
Money designated for an election already held raises a further constraint. A contribution may be accepted for a past election only to the extent of the committee's net debts outstanding from that election, calculated according to a defined formula. Where the committee has no such debts, the receipt cannot be retained for that election and must be refunded or redesignated in the ordinary way.
The calculation is made at the time of receipt and must be documented, because it is the fact on which the committee's authority to keep the money rests. A committee whose debts are extinguished part way through a fundraising period will find that receipts before and after that point are treated differently, which is why the debt schedule described in the reporting calendar is consulted contemporaneously rather than reconstructed.
Excess receipts are not the only category requiring disposition. A receipt that is lawful in amount but comes from a source that may not give at all is not curable by redesignation or reattribution, and the only dispositions available are those described in the prohibited sources rules. Whether the receipt is excessive in the first place is answered by the attribution analysis in the limits and attribution framework, and an uncured excess proceeds through the sequence in the enforcement process.
Points to carry away
- The committee has a defined period from receipt in which to refund, redesignate or reattribute.
- A redesignation moves the contribution to a different election; a reattribution moves it to a different contributor.
- Both cures require a written instruction signed by the contributor or contributors involved.
- A presumptive cure is available in defined circumstances where the committee notifies the contributor and receives no objection.
- Sufficient funds must be kept on hand to make the refund while the question remains open.
Questions readers ask
Can a committee simply hold an excessive receipt until it decides?
Only within the window and only with the money available. A committee may deposit the receipt, but it must then maintain sufficient funds to make the refund throughout the period in which the question is open. Spending the money and relying on later receipts to fund a refund defeats that requirement. A committee may also decline to deposit the receipt at all and return the instrument, which is the cleanest disposition where the excess is apparent on the face of the contribution.
Whose signature does a reattribution require?
The written instruction must be signed by each contributor to whom the amount is being attributed. A reattribution between the holders of a joint account therefore needs both signatures, not merely the signature of the person who wrote the instrument. The instruction must state the amount attributed to each. A committee that reallocates a receipt on its own initiative, or on a verbal assurance, has not made a valid reattribution, and the receipt remains excessive as originally recorded.
How does the disposition appear on the report?
Each cure is disclosed rather than netted away. A refund is itemized as a disbursement to the contributor. A redesignation is shown by reporting the original receipt and then the redesignated amount against the new election, so the movement is traceable. A reattribution is shown by reporting the amount now attributed to the second contributor, with that contributor identified. Where the cure occurs after the report covering the original receipt was filed, an amendment to that report is generally required.
Sources
- 11 CFR § 110.1 — Contributions by persons other than multicandidate political committees (Cornell LII)Contains the designation, redesignation and reattribution mechanics and the written instruction requirement.
- 11 CFR § 103.3 — Deposit of receipts and disbursementsSets the period for resolving a questionable or excessive receipt and the duty to retain funds.
- 11 CFR § 110.9 — Violation of limitationsStates the prohibition that an uncured excessive receipt violates.
- Federal Election Commission — Remedying an excessive contributionAgency guidance on each cure and the notice a committee must send.
- 52 U.S.C. § 30116 — Limitations on contributions and expendituresThe limits themselves and the per-election structure a redesignation operates within.
- 11 CFR § 104.3 — Contents of reportsHow refunds, redesignations and reattributions are disclosed on a report.
Pinnacle Law Review is a publication, not a law firm. This article states general rules and cites its sources; it is not advice about any particular case, and the law differs by state and changes over time.
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