Collecting Title II Overpayments from Contingently Liable Beneficiaries
- Audit report number
- A-07-16-50089
- Management challenge
- Improve the Prevention, Detection, and Recovery of Improper Payments
- Full report
- /~assets/audits/full/a-07-16-50089_0.pdf
- Summary report
- /~assets/audits/summary/summary-50089.pdf
Our objective was to determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) had maximized overpayment recovery efforts by attempting to collect Title II overpayments from contingently liable beneficiaries.
A beneficiary is overpaid when funds he/she receives for any period exceed the amount that should have been paid for that period. The overpaid beneficiary is primarily responsible for repaying the overpayment. However, any other beneficiary receiving benefits on the same earnings record as the overpaid beneficiary can be held liable for repaying the overpayment. This is known as contingent liability. When SSA cannot collect an overpayment from the overpaid beneficiary, it should attempt to collect the overpayment from contingently liable beneficiaries.
