As of March 25, 2024, the agency will collect ten percent (or $10, whichever is greater) of the total monthly Social Security benefit to recover an overpayment, rather than collecting 100 percent as was previous procedure. There will be limited exceptions to this change, such as when an overpayment resulted from fraud.
10-percent limitation of recoupment rate—overpayment.
If you agree that you have been overpaid, but you feel you should not have to pay it back because you did not cause the overpayment and you cannot afford to repay it, you should file Form SSA-632, Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery.
They can also “garnish” your wages. Garnish means that money is taken out of your wages to repay SSA. SSA must give you notice 60 days before it can take steps to get your tax refund or garnish your wages. This gives you time to contact SSA to ask for a repayment plan.
2. Garnishment Limits: How much your Social Security benefits can be garnished is limited. For example, under the Federal Payment Levy Program, the IRS can garnish up to 15% of your monthly Social Security benefits for unpaid taxes.
Yes, Social Security may forgive overpayments under certain conditions, such as you are not at fault and the repayment would cause you financial hardship. You generally have 60 days from the date of the Notice of Overpayment to file a Request for Reconsideration. A Waiver can be filed any time.
If you agree that you were overpaid, you can still ask SSA to waive it so that you don't have to pay it back. Ask for a waiver if you think that the overpayment was not your fault, and you can't afford to pay the money back. Ask for a Payment Arrangement.
Where the overpayment is $2,000 or less and you file a request for reconsideration or waiver, Social Security will waive any collection of the over-payment (unless you were at fault in creating the overpayment). This is known as the SSI $1,000 Rule.
If you qualify for SSDI and SSI, there's no set back pay maximum for either. Essentially, you can estimate your potential back pay by multiplying your average monthly benefit amount by the number of months you are eligible to receive.
Generally, the burden of proof is on the Social Security Administration to provide a logical explanation of why the overpayment happened and how it was calculated. The request must be filed in writing, within 60 days. The form that should be used is Form SSA-561.
RECOVERY PROVISIONS
A few states provide that, if the overpayment is without fault on the individual's part, the individual is not liable to repay the amount, but it may, at the discretion of the agency, be deducted from future benefits.
If you no longer receive SSI, we may withhold your overpayment from a Federal Income Tax refund and/or from any future Social Security benefits you may receive. If you become eligible for SSI in the future, we will withhold your overpayment from future SSI payments.
If you receive Social Security retirement benefits, one of the best ways to prevent overpayments is to check the earnings history Social Security has on record for you. You can do this before you retire.
If the benefits office decides that the overpayment was not caused by your misrepresentation or failure to disclose, the overpayment will not be recoverable and you cannot be made to repay it. No civil penalty can be imposed if the overpayment is not recoverable.
If the value of your resources that we count is over the allowable limit at the beginning of the month, you cannot receive SSI for that month. If you decide to sell the excess resources for what they are worth, you may receive SSI beginning the month after you sell the excess resources.
Currently, there is no limit and the agency can try to fix errors that are decades old. In 2020, we told you about a Georgia woman who was told she received a notice saying she owed money from a mistake SSA made four decades ago.
Exactly how much in earnings do you need to get a $3,000 benefit? Well, you just need to have averaged about 70% of the taxable maximum. In our example case, that means that your earnings in 1983 were about $22,000 and increased every year to where they ended at about $100,000 at age 62.
Generally, the maximum Federal SSI benefit amount changes yearly. SSI benefits increased in 2024 because there was an increase in the Consumer Price Index from the third quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023. Effective January 1, 2024 the Federal benefit rate is $943 for an individual and $1,415 for a couple.
Yes, Social Security may forgive overpayments under certain conditions, such as you are not at fault and the repayment would cause you financial hardship. You generally have 60 days from the date of the Notice of Overpayment to file a Request for Reconsideration. A Waiver can be filed any time.
The SSA is required by law to attempt to recoup any overpayments it has issued to people, even if these overpayments were made by mistake. To accomplish this, the SSA in many cases would withhold entire checks from recipients it had overpaid.
Payment for covered items and services that are documented to be medically necessary – This is not an example of overpayment because these payments are valid as they correspond to covered services.
There is no time limit for filing a waiver. If your overpayment is $2,000 or less, you can request a waiver by calling 1-800-772-1213 or your local Social Security office. We may be able to process your request quickly over the phone.
Your employer should adjust the excess for you. If the employer doesn't adjust the overcollection, you can use Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement to claim a refund. Attach copies of your Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement for the year to Form 843.
In the event that a beneficiary's appeal or waiver of overpayment is unsuccessful, SSA will withhold 10% (or $10, whichever is greater) of each SSI or SSDI check. If this payment amount causes financial hardship, the beneficiary can request that the repayment be reduced to a manageable amount (no less than $10/month).