If you get a Notice of Overpayment, there are four things you can do:
- Ask for reconsideration of the overpayment if you don’t think you were overpaid or you think the amount is wrong. It’s important to ask for reconsideration quickly – within 35 days of the date of the overpayment notice, if possible.
- Ask for a waiver if you agree that you were overpaid but you want to be excused from paying the money back.
- Use the budget part of the waiver form to show your financial hardship and ask for lower amounts to be taken out of your SSI check.
- If Social Security terminates you from the SSI program completely for your earnings but you are so disabled you now cannot work at all, or you can’t work more than a couple of hours at minimum wage, you can ask for expedited reinstatement during the following 60 months. Expedited reinstatement means you will get up to six months of SSI while Social Security decides if you are still disabled. If you don’t get expedited reinstatement, you will need to reapply for SSI and meet all the eligibility requirements to be granted SSI again.
You must ask for reconsideration within 65 days of the date on the notice. If you ask within 35 days of the date on the notice, Social Security won’t take money out of your SSI check while they are making a decision on your reconsideration request. If you request reconsideration within 65 days of the date on the notice, Social Security should stop taking money out of your SSI check until they make a decision on your request.
If you have a good reason for asking for reconsideration after 65 days, explain your reasons to Social Security and send in the form late with your reasons on it.
You can ask for a waiver at any time. Asking for a waiver will also stop Social Security from taking money out of your SSDI check while they are making a decision on your waiver request. You may want to wait to ask for a waiver until you find out if your reconsideration is denied.