Audit Identifies Issues in SSA’s Overpayment Notices, Impacting Beneficiaries’ Understanding and Program Integrity

The Social Security Administration (SSA), Office of the Inspector General (OIG), released a new audit examining the accuracy and completeness of Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) overpayment notices and the processing of explanation requests.

The report, OASDI Overpayment Notices, identifies gaps that affect beneficiary understanding, delay recovery efforts, and increase administrative costs.

OIG determined 46 percent of the overpayment notices it reviewed did not meet SSA’s policy requirements.  Deficiencies included missing explanations of how and when the overpayment occurred, omitted reconsideration and waiver rights, inaccurate dollar amounts, conflicting or unclear language, and insufficient detail on calculation methods.

The audit also found SSA employees incorrectly processed 63 percent of overpayment explanation requests—including misusing system indicators, issuing deficient written explanations, or failing to document requests.

Based on statistical projections, OIG estimates SSA employees incorrectly processed more than 469,000 overpayment notices and over 7,000 explanation requests in FY 2023.

“Clear, accurate, and understandable notices are essential to helping beneficiaries determine what happened and what options are available to resolve an issue.  When individuals receive overpayment notices, they deserve precise, complete, and easy-to-comprehend information,” said Michelle L. Anderson, Assistant Inspector General for Audit as First Assistant.  “Improving these notices will not only assist beneficiaries in making informed decisions, but it will also reduce unnecessary work for SSA employees, lower administrative costs, and strengthen public trust.”

Key Audit Findings

• 46 percent of notices contained policy deficiencies, including missing required information, inaccurate calculations, and omitted appeal-related language.
• SSA employees incorrectly processed 79 of 125 sampled explanation requests (63 percent).
• Over 11,000 beneficiaries requested explanations, and more than 7,000 requests were likely mishandled, based on the auditors’ projections.
• Some explanation requests remained unresolved for more than 900 days, delaying recovery efforts and increasing administrative burden.

Recommendations

OIG issued six recommendations to strengthen controls, improve notice accuracy, require the use of policy-compliant templates, and ensure proper documentation and processing of explanation requests.

SSA agreed to implement the recommendations.

Read the full report here.

Download a PDF of this press release here.