Manually Posted Supplemental Security Income Overpayments to Surviving Spouses
- Audit report number
- A-13-14-14058
- Management challenge
- Improve the Prevention, Detection, and Recovery of Improper Payments
- Full report
- /~assets/audits/full/a-13-14-14058_0.pdf
- Summary report
- /~assets/audits/summary/summary-14058.pdf
Our objective was to determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) had manually transferred Supplemental Security Income (SSI) overpayments to the surviving individual of an eligible couple.
SSI improper payments can occur if recipients or "deemors" (parent or spouse) fail to timely report changes in any eligibility factors. An SSI overpayment occurs when a deceased member of an eligible couple has an overpayment that may qualify for transfer to the surviving spouse. The Agency’s decision to transfer the overpayment to the surviving spouse and notify him/her of liability for repayment of a deceased individual’s overpayment requires development by SSA staff if the surviving spouse was a member of the couple during the overpayment period.
