Do you suspect you may have gotten extra money in your Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits? This may be an overpayment that will need to be repaid to the Social Security Administration (SSA) immediately. If your monthly benefit amount seems to have suddenly increased without you submitting any updated paperwork, you might be getting extra money from the SSA. But how do you know if you are getting extra money?
If you have received extra money from the Social Security Administration by mistake, the SSA will be sure to inform you by sending you a notice detailing the overpayment and requesting a reimbursement.
Keep reading below to understand everything there is to know about overpayments.
What is an Overpayment?
When the SSA sends you more money than you are entitled to, this extra amount is known as an overpayment. Overpayments can occur for a number of reasons, some of which are specific to the sort of benefits you get (such as retirement, survivorship, disability, etc.)
It’s possible that you began working a new job while receiving Social Security disability benefits, but you forgot to inform the SSA about the changes in your income. Or, your disability status improved, allowing you to return to work part time while still maintaining your eligibility for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.
Overpayments to beneficiaries of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a program available to people who are disabled, blind, or suffering from a disability, are possible for a wide range of reasons. SSI benefits are not based on work experience but on limited income and assets, the amount of which differs from state to state. One of the reasons for the overpayment could be an increase in the beneficiary’s income or mistakes in the information submitted to the SSA.
The most common reason for overpayments is when a recipient fails to report a change in their circumstances to the SSA.
There is also the possibility that a beneficiary took the initiative and informed the SSA about these changes; but the SSA may not have recorded the change in its system in a timely manner, which resulted in the beneficiary continuing to receive the same benefit amount month after month.
How to Know if SSDI is Giving Me Extra Money
The administration will either send a notice to you directly or to the individual who was designated to collect your benefits in the event that you are unable to do so yourself.
According to the Social Security Administration, the letter will inform you of the amount that you have been overpaid, the reason that you have been overpaid, how you can refund the overpayment, and what your options are to dispute or forego the overpayment.
You must take prompt action upon receiving a notice. Go through the notification and make sure that all of the information, including the dates and the amounts, is accurate.
What to Do If the SSA Is Giving Me Extra Money
If you believe that you have been overpaid, you shouldn’t spend the extra cash. You will receive a notice from Social Security that will detail the overpayment and include a request for you to refund the amount within thirty days of receiving the notice.
This amount may be deducted from your benefits. Unless you ask Social Security to withhold a smaller percentage of your monthly SSDI payout, they will withhold the whole amount.
If you are receiving Supplemental Security Income, the Social Security Administration will deduct 10% of the federal benefit rate from your payment each month in order to recoup any overpayments.
In the event that you get a notice that you have received an overpayment and are receiving monthly benefits from Social Security, you can learn more about how Social Security will ask you to repay the overpayment by visiting their official website.
You have the option of filing an appeal using Form SSA-561 if you disagree with the determination that you have been overpaid or if you find the amount given as the overpayment to be erroneous.
In your appeal, you must specify why you were not overpaid or why the amount reported as an overpayment is inaccurate. You have sixty calendar days from the day you were given notification of the overpayment to submit your appeal in written form.
You might want to think about submitting Form SSA-632, Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery, in order to explain why you think you qualify for a waiver. This means that you believe you shouldn’t be required to pay the overpayment amount back.
There is no deadline for requesting a waiver, but you will need to show that you have been unable to repay the overpayment due to financial difficulties or that doing so would be unfair for some other reason.
Meeting with social security staff and providing documentation of income and expenses may be required for appeals and waivers.
How are “Waiver” and “Reconsideration” Different?
If Social Security grants you a Waiver, it means the SSA will not attempt to collect the overpayment from you since doing so would be an undue burden on your finances, and you did not do anything wrong to get the extra money in the first place.
You can make a waiver request at any time, but Social Security rarely approves them.
When you ask for a Reconsideration, however, you are essentially appealing your case, which means that you are stating that you disagree with the reasons that Social Security believes you were overpaid.
The only way to demonstrate to Social Security that they made an error regarding the amount of the overpayment or if there was even an overpayment at all is to request a reconsideration of their decision.
Your request for reconsideration is to be submitted no later than sixty days after the day you were notified of the overpayment.
What Happens If You Don’t Return an Overpayment?
It is crucial that you respond immediately if the Social Security Administration issues you a notification of an SSDI overpayment and you are receiving payments from them. If you owe the SSA money and don’t pay it back, you could face serious consequences.
Your future disability benefits are the first thing that could be affected. It’s possible that the Social Security Administration will deduct money from any government refunds or checks you receive from your employer.
In extreme cases, the SSA may inform credit bureaus about beneficiaries’ failure to make payments.
Reduction in Benefits
Your eligibility for future Social Security Disability Insurance benefits may be jeopardized if you fail to return any SSDI benefits that were overpaid to you. When an overpayment remains unresolved, the Social Security Administration typically stops sending out SSDI payments.
This might have a devastating effect on those who rely on their Social Security Disability Insurance payments to make ends meet.
To ensure that you do not lose access to your Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, whether temporarily or permanently, an attorney who specializes in disability law may assist you in responding quickly to a notification of overpayment.
Reduced Amount of Your Tax Refund Check
It is possible for individuals receiving SSDI to have a portion of their government refund check garnished if they fail to pay back an overpayment. When you submit your taxes and are eligible for a tax refund, the federal government will normally send you a check.
The Social Security Administration is a federal entity, which means that it has the authority to readily deduct money from your refund check and apply it toward the payback of any SSDI benefits that were overpaid.
Reduced Employment Income
Some people who receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits continue to work part-time jobs so that they can increase their income while still falling below the substantial gainful activity criteria.
In the event that you owe money to the Social Security Administration for a disability check that was issued in error, the SSA may deduct money from your paycheck in order to compensate for the overpayment.
What Happens If You Do Not Get an Overpayment from SSDI?
What should you do if the Social Security Administration sends you a notification of overpayment but the numbers don’t seem right? Do not repay any recent SSA overpayments without first speaking with a disability lawyer or an SSA advocate.
An SSDI beneficiary may, on extremely rare occasions, receive an inaccurate overpayment notice from the Social Security Administration.
After receiving a notice, it is reasonable to expect that beneficiaries will want to take prompt action and pay the difference to the SSA as soon as possible. Make sure to get in touch with the SSA first to clear up any errors.
The Social Security Administration might have issued an incorrect notice of overpayment due to clerical mistakes or other factors.
A lawyer can review the Social Security Administration disability benefit checks that you have previously received to determine whether there has been a recent modification.
In addition, an attorney can investigate the Social Security Administration’s justification for an overpayment to establish whether or not it is accurate. A legal team can also help you find errors in the Social Security Administration’s processing of your Social Security Disability Insurance claim.
You will not be required to reimburse the Social Security Administration for the disability payments that are rightfully yours. In the event that the Social Security Administration sends you a wrongfully issued notice of overpayment, a disability attorney can assist you in submitting an appeal to the agency in order to rectify the situation.
How to Avoid Consequences for Not Paying Back an SSDI Overpayment
Failure to refund an overpayment of SSDI benefits to the SSA is a major problem. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with a SSA advocate or SSDI lawyer if you find yourself in this position. You can prevent any potential consequences by consulting with an attorney, who can assist you in taking the appropriate actions to immediately reimburse the SSA.
If you get a notification of overpayment from the Social Security Administration, you must respond within 30 days. This is hardly a lot of time, especially considering how many people forget to check their bank statements each month.
A delayed response to the SSA could be the consequence of problems with the mail or a change of address. Don’t risk legal trouble by ignoring an SSDI overpayment.
Assembling the evidence required to verify an overpayment and remit payment to the SSA without delay is very important to do so as soon as possible.
What is the Oldest Social Security Overpayment?
You should expect that Social Security will make an effort to retrieve any overpayments made to you in the form of disability benefits if the SSA made a mistake and paid you more than you were entitled to.
You may also have to pay back overpaid Social Security or Disability Insurance benefits, even if it was years ago. However, Social Security can only investigate potential overpayments up to a certain date in the past.
Social Security overpayments are not subject to a specific statute of limitations, but the SSA is only able to collect them if they are assessed in a “timely fashion.”
The Social Security Administration is required to locate the overpayment, conclude that you are liable for repaying it, and send you a notice of the overpayment within this allowed period of time, typically two years for SSI or four years for SSDI.
If the Social Security Administration first sent out the overpayment notice within the above-mentioned time period, then they are permitted to attempt to collect overpayment debts that are considerably older than two or four years.
How to Prevent an Overpayment from Happening
According to the Social Security Administration, beneficiaries of SSDI and SSI are required to report their changes in jobs or income within the first six days of each calendar month and continue to do so on a monthly basis.
This ensures that the benefit amount they receive appropriately reflects their current earnings status.
Conclusion
If you suspect you have received extra money from SSDI, you will probably receive a notice outlining this overpayment. Once you do receive the notice, though, it is important to take action as soon as possible.
