Social insurance · United States
Notice of Overpayment from Social Security
Two clocks start at once: one before money is taken from the next payments, and a longer one for disputing that the money is owed at all.
How serious: enforcement closeAlso called: overpayment letter, SSA overpayment notice, notice of change in payment
The Social Security Administration has decided that more was paid than it should have been — through a change in income, work, living arrangements, marital status, or an agency error — and is asking for the money back.
The notice states the amount, how and when it happened, and asks for full refund. Where benefits are still being paid, it proposes to recover by withholding from them if a refund does not arrive within 30 days of the notice date.
Two different routes exist and they answer different questions: reconsideration disputes whether the overpayment or the amount is right; waiver accepts the figure and asks not to have to repay it.
Who sends it
The Social Security Administration — a processing centre or the local field office, whose address is printed on the notice.
A Social Security letterhead, the words 'overpayment' and 'refund', an amount and the months it covers, a request for repayment within 30 days, and paragraphs headed with appeal and waiver rights.
The deadline
Reconsideration (disputing that the money is owed or the amount) must be requested within 60 days after the date you receive the notice, and a notice is presumed received 5 days after the date printed on it (20 CFR 404.909(a)(1), 404.901). A waiver of recovery has no such deadline.
Reconsideration must be requested within 60 days after the date you receive the notice, and receipt is presumed 5 days after the date printed on it (20 CFR 404.909(a)(1) and 404.901). Separately, the notice proposes to start withholding if a refund is not received within 30 days of the notice date. A waiver request has no deadline.
If you do nothing
The notice states 'the proposed adjustment of benefits if refund is not received within 30 days after the date of the notice' (20 CFR 404.502a(c)) — Social Security begins recovering from ongoing benefits. Where no benefits are payable, the debt can be referred to the Treasury and set against other federal payments, including income tax refunds. The 60-day reconsideration window also closes, and reopening it then requires showing good cause.
Compute your date
The rule above is what the law sets. Put in the dates on your own letter and it becomes a date.
How it escalates
- 01Withholding from monthly benefits starts once 30 days from the notice date have passed.
- 02Where nothing is being paid, the debt can go to Treasury offset against federal payments and tax refunds.
- 03The 60-day reconsideration period lapses; a late request must show good cause (20 CFR 404.909(b)).
- 04Collection costs and interest can be added to a debt referred for collection.
How to respond
Response types
- File the objectionRequest for Reconsideration (Form SSA-561) · 20 CFR 404.909 · Form SSA-561-U2, Request for Reconsideration
- Ask for clarificationRequest for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery (Form SSA-632) · 20 CFR 404.506 · Form SSA-632-BK, Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery or Change in Repayment Rate
- Ask for instalmentsRequest for a lower rate of withholding or repayment by instalments · 20 CFR 404.502a(d) · Form SSA-632-BK (the change-in-rate part), or a written request to the office on the notice
- Confirm receiptAcknowledgement of the notice while records are gathered
Common questions
What is the difference between reconsideration and waiver?
Reconsideration asks Social Security to look again at whether there was an overpayment and whether the amount is right. A waiver accepts the amount and asks not to have to repay it, on the grounds set out in the regulation.
Can I file both?
Yes. They answer different questions and the waiver has no deadline, while the reconsideration does.
Money is already being taken from my payments. Is it too late?
A waiver has no filing deadline and can be requested after recovery has begun; a request for a lower rate of withholding is also available at any time.
Sources
Facts verified against the sources below on 10 September 2026.
- 20 CFR 404.502a — Notice of right to waiver considerationofficial
- 20 CFR 404.909 — How to request reconsiderationofficial
- 20 CFR 404.901 — Definitions ('Date you receive notice')official
- 20 CFR 404.506 — When waiver may be appliedofficial
- SSA Form SSA-632 — Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recoveryofficial