If you agree that you were overpaid, but you don’t think you should have to pay it back because the overpayment was not your fault, you can request to have the overpayment waived.
To get your overpayment waived, you have to meet two conditions. First, you have to show that the overpayment was not your fault. Social Security can assume you are not at fault if one of the following is true:
- Less than $2,000: The overpayment is less than $2,000
- Timely reporting: You reported everything you were supposed to report, at the time you were supposed to report
- Continued issuance of payment after reported changes: You reported a change that should have affected your benefit, but Social Security kept the payments the same
- Incorrect change in benefit amount after reported change: You reported a change, and Social Security paid you too much after you reported the change
- Incorrect benefit rate: Social Security calculated your benefit amount incorrectly, and paid you the wrong amount
- Overpayment due to earnings (SSDI only): You were on SSDI, working, and you fall under one of the situations listed in this Social Security policy
- Other situations: See 15 more situations listed in this Social Security policy
If none of those situations applies to you, you can still meet this condition if you did not:
- Make an incorrect statement that you knew was incorrect
- Withhold information that you knew was important
- Accept payments that you knew were incorrect
<aside>
✅
To Do: Do you meet one of the conditions above? If so, write down which one fits and why.
</aside>
The first condition is to show Social Security that the overpayment is not your fault. The second condition has to show that the overpayment would be counterproductive for Social Security to recover (basically, it’s not worth their effort or works against their purpose). There are 4 main ways you can meet this condition.
- Less than $2,000: The overpayment is less than $2,000
- Low income and resources: Your household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level and your resources are no more than $6,000 for a single person, or you access a needs-based benefit like SSI, TANF, SNAP, or Medicare Part D Extra Help
- Need all income and low resources: After paying ordinary and necessary living expenses, you have no more than $250 left, and your resources are no more than $6,000 for a single person
- Against Equity and Good Conscience: You were given misinformation that caused the overpayment from an official source, you misunderstood the rules and thought that Social Security would only count your take-home pay instead of your before-tax pay, you were overpaid because of family maximum rules, Social Security can’t produce documentation to support the overpayment, you were overpaid as a child and had a representative payee at the time of the overpayment, or other less common reasons listed in the POMs
<aside>
✅
To Do: Do you meet one of the conditions above? If so, write down which one fits and why.
</aside>
Go to previous section: Paying the Amount Requested